I purchased and collected the willows from Yorkshire Willow...
they came as 10" cuttings... well, lengths...
of one year old stem with about six to ten buds.
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| The willow sticks in their nursery bed... some were too young to leave home!! |
The idea is to plant each length of willow stem where it is going to finally be...
in our meadow?
You are joking!!...
it was difficult enough to find them the way I planted these ones.
The willows were of seventeen different varieties in bundles of ten.
One hundred and seventy twigs...
what we bought are listed below [the ones introduced as 20cm cuttings]...
and these should be buried with around two inches/two buds above ground.
So I decided to create two nursery areas...
the one pictured above and another one in a damp spot out in the meadow.
I have altered the table below to show the survivors... some have thrived....eg: Bay Willow and Cohu Blue.... others I have struggled with... and some, like the Sekka pictured below... have succumbed because they are not suited to this environment.
On each row I used a Crack Willow stick to hold the label on the left in the photo above...
this year I will plant out the twenty-odd young Crack willow volunteers that were the result...
they will form a coppice area towards the riverbank.
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| These are the Sekka catkins... grey against the red bark. And, in 2017 the last Sekka had vanished... |
but the success rate was poor in the meadow.
That wasn't surprising...
I purchased them in late March and planted them in early April...
not really the right time...
and as we were still in the UK for much of 2010...
they weren't able to be regularly watered either.
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| These are the wonderful Cohu Blue catkins... they start steel blue-grey, then "heat-up" and, finally... catch fire. |
These young trees were then planted out in blocks...
or patches where there were only two or three survivors...
last year...
the year of the very hot, dry summer....
again not at all good for young trees that haven't got roots down deep.
If you look at the tree list page, you will see a column marked survivors 2012...
I will be going round next week trimming the survivors down to two or three buds on each shoot...
[and planting the cuttings deep, in situ, to extend the blocks/patches].
Tree Table of those species on site
| English Name | Species | French name [if any] | Survivors
[2011] [2017] |
Uses | Comments |
| Crack Willow | Salix fragilis | Saule fragile | N/A | Crop for biomass | On site |
| White Welsh | Salix fragilis decipiens | 1 ex 10 2017 none! |
Coppice for colour | Introduced from 20cm cuttings | |
| White Willow | Salix alba | Saule blanc | (3) ex 10 2017....one left! |
Coppice for rods and biomass | Introduced from 20cm cuttings |
| Scarlet Willow | Salix alba 'Chermesina' | 10... 2017 one! |
Coppice for colour | Introduced from cuttings | |
| Flanders Red | Salix alba fragilis | 3 ex 10 2017 one! |
Coppice for colour | Introduced from 20cm cuttings | |
| Golden Willow | Salix alba vitellina | Osier doré | 5 ex 10 2017 one! |
Coppice for colour | Introduced from 20cm cuttings |
| Dog Willow or Sage-leaf Willow | Salix candida | 6 ex 10 2017... two left! |
Introduced from 20cm cuttings | ||
| Tora | Salix viminalis tora | 5 ex 10 2017.... None left! |
Coppice for rods and biomass | Introduced from 20cm cuttings | |
| Continental Purple | Salix daphniodes | Saule faux-daphné | 10 ex 10 2017.... eight left... not happy!! |
Coppice for rods, colour and biomass | Introduced from 20cm cuttings |
| Black Willow | Salix nigricians | 2 ex 10 2017....one left! |
Coppice for rods and biomass | Introduced from 20cm cuttings | |
| Bay Willow | Salix pentandra | Saule a cinq étamines | 9 ex 10 2017.... No change! |
Coppice for rods and biomass | Introduced from 20cm cuttings |
| Purple Osier | Salix purpurea | Osier rouge | 5 ex 10 2017.... two left! |
Coppice for colour | Introduced from 20cm cuttings |
| Cohu Blue | Salix purpurea | 8 ex 10 2017.... No change! |
Coppice for colour | Introduced from 20cm cuttings | |
| Green Dicks | Salix purpurea | 3 ex 10 2017.... two left! |
Coppice for colour | Introduced from 20cm cuttings | |
| Sekka | Salix sachalinensis | 9 ex 10 2017.... None left! |
Coppice for rods and biomass | Introduced from 20cm cuttings | |
| Black Maul | Salix triandra | 11 ex 20 2017.... None left! |
Coppice for colour | Introduced from 20cm cuttings | |
| Common Osier | Salix viminalis | 5 ex 10 2017....one left! |
Coppice for rods, colour and biomass | Introduced from 20cm cuttings | |
| Grey Willow | Salix cinerea | Saule cendré | 1 2017.... No change! |
On site | |
| Eared Sallow | Salix aurita | Saule à oreillettes | 1 2017.... No change! |
Self seeded at allotment | |
| Pussy or Goat Willow | Salix caprea | Saule marsault | 1 2017.... three more self-seeded! |
Plant more as early bee fodder | Self-seeded - On site by bridge |
2 comments:
I was wondering about Salix caprea and then it appeared at the bottom of the list as self-seeded. I love tough plants. This is a survivor and we have a pot full of cuttings we hope to find homes for in the autumn of this year. Amelia
Amelia, it is a long established native.... as is Bay Willow....
oh, and Cohu Blue....which is a sport from Salix purpurea, and is also a very early catkin for your bees!
They've been and gone now, but the Pussy Willow....is still producing.
But we've now got all the prunelles coming in in succession....though all are alive with bees....
as is the Dog Willow...another shrubby willow with furry leaves.
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