Pussy Willows are for pollinators

Wed. Feb. 19, 2020

Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: Pussy Willows are for pollinators

This native shrub provides some of the earliest flowers which means pollen for our native bees and honey for we humans! The foliage is also host to native butterfly caterpillars!  And they love cold climates! 

Salix discover aka Pussy Willow catkins

Catkins are typically downy, pendulous, composed of flowers of a single sex, and wind-pollinated.

 

Pussy Willows (the native variety is Salix discolor) are fast growing, up to 15 to 20 feet tall and prefer wet sites but will tolerate a wide variety of soils. These shrubs are either male or female, they both have flowers but the male’s are showier! The female flowers can disperse and move with the wind….similar to cottonwood flowers, which, admittedly, can be a nuisance. Male flowering plants are usually what is sold in the garden centers.

 

Salix discolor male in bloom photo by minnesotawildflowers.info

The good thing is, you don’t need plants of both sexes to get flowers…planting one male plant will give you showy flowers. Pussy Willows are vigorous growers. Cut them back to the ground and you’ll get more shoots and more flowers.

Pussy Willow Friends School Plant sale photo by Pat T.

Cuttings can be used to make a wattle fence or woven to make a living garden fence. Take a look at weaving using twigs of any sort on GrowVeg.com. Take a look at living willow hedges by insteading.com 

Living fence photo by insteading.com

The Laid Back Gardener has some very cool information on pussy willows as well as some pretty pictures!

Salix discolor is the native but there are also cultivars. Goat willow or French pussy willow, Salix caprea, is native to Europe and Asia, and has many cultivars grown for their attractive stem color or shape.

Don’t be nervous, these Weeping willows will only grow to about 8 feet!

salix caprea ‘Kilmarnock’ willow from Monrovia
Salix caprea – Weeping Willow ‘Pendula’ from Northern Pines Greenery

A ‘Corkscrew’ willow can grow big! Check it out at Monrovia.com. And if you want PINK catkins…

Salix gracilistyla by gardenia.net

And here’s another super cool thing… Cornell University is working extensively on willows for bioenergy, see Willopedia. Wood chips made from willows can be dried and pelletized to produce heat and/or electricity and biofuels such as ethanol. They have a “low nutrient and nitrogen demand compared to other [energy] crops.”