Re: Pussywillows

Marge,

Thank you for your response; Sorry aboaut the post to the wrong listserv;
I'm on woody perennials too and forget which I'm writing to. I guiess I will
have to keep looking at florists and catalogs to discover the beige one.
Your description of the new stems of melanostachys sounds like Dirr's, so I
will buy one of those. I also was at the PHL flower show early this month
and hve succeeded in rooting some of the "fan" or "French" or "Japanese"
willows that are twisted and contorted. Altho my soil is pretty sandy over
here in Centreville (MD) I kept a curly willow rooting alive last year by
putting it by the hose so I'd remember everytime I watered something (or
washed the car) to give it a drink too.

Thanks again.

Regina Moore Zone 7a
With a bunny nest among the roots of Anemone japonica discovered while
cleaning up last week.

At 01:42 AM 3/23/00 -0500, you wrote:
>Well, not actually about perennials - sorry Chris - but for years I
>had S. melanostachys.  Only the very new stems have a red/purple
>cast, they turn brown with age.  Majority of stems on a shrub will be
>more beige in color.
>
>The catkins do start out black, have red anthers and then show
>yellow.  They dry well and make nice bouquet material - lovely shrub.
> Gets, if not pruned back hard, quite large.  Did, once or twice,
>pollard mine, but basically let it grow and it reached a good 10 feet
>tall and maybe 5 feet in diameter. 
>
>Sent cutting grown bits to numerous people over the years and if any
>of them read this and still have it, would love a cutting back as my
>shrub died - willows are subject to a lot of diseases and not always
>long-lived.
>
>Mine lived for over 10 years on the top of a berm in what started out
>as a fair amount of sun, but got increasingly shady as the years went
>by.  Still, they prefer moist soil and sun to really flourish.  Very
>easy to root from cuttings as all the Salix are.
>
>Have two other Salix....S. purpurea 'Nana', the Arctic blue leaf
>willow, a relatively small shrub with silver-gray leaves on long,
>vertical pliable stems, often used for basket making. Have never
>noticed catkins on it.  Not an astounding plant, but I enjoy
>it....would probably be happier in more sun and wetter soil.  The
>other one is S. caprea 'Pendula', a weeping rather dwarf form with
>small, beige catkins on warm brown stems...can be used as a ground
>cover.....nice little plant, esp. when draping itself over the edge
>of a raised bed or wall.
>
>Salix is a genera that has always fascinated me...keep meaning to get
>more of them.
>
>Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
>mtalt@clark.net
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>----------
>> From: Regina S. Moore <rmoore@esrl.lib.md.us>
>> Date: Saturday, March 18, 2000 5:57 PM
>> 
>> 2. At the Philadelphia Flower Show, the sales booths were offering
>cut
>> branches of "black" pussywillows. These were ordinary
>yellow-brown-ish
>> colored stems with coal-black pussywillows. This doesn't agree with
>what I
>> read about in Dirr for Salix melanostachys: "stems...a rich purple
>black
>> color ... male catkins open a deep purple-black kwith brick red
>anthers and
>> finally show yellow."
>
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