Salix caprea
Willow
Common names: Willow of the marsh, Cat's willow
Photo: Kurt Stüber [1] · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source
This description was machine-translated.
Description
The willow (Salix caprea) is a key native shrub for wild bees and bumblebees. Its silvery-haired catkins open in February or March, providing one of the first major pollen and nectar sources of the year, long before most other plants flower. The botanical name Salix caprea refers to a robust, fast-growing shrub or small tree that thrives on almost any soil. After flowering, green foliage dominates the rest of the season, making the willow especially valued as a spring bee plant along garden borders or in hedges.
Care instructions
The willow requires little care and tolerates poor soil. Water it regularly only during its first year; thereafter, natural rainfall is usually sufficient. Pruning is rarely necessary; if you wish to shape it, cut immediately after spring flowering so as not to remove the catkins. Leave dead wood in place, as it provides shelter for many insects.
Soil & site
Soil pH
Soil type
moist, humus-rich, loamy, nutrient-rich
Feeding
Light feeder
Pruning
Notes from real gardens
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From the magazine
Weaving natural fences: willow, hazel and deadwood
Your winter prunings are fencing material: willow rods strike root and turn into a living fence, hazel poles stay dead and last 5 to 10 years as a weave, brushwood becomes a Benjes hedge. Weaving technique, cutting season CW 46 to 9, service life honestly counted, and what neighbour law has to say about it.
Cuttings and layers, the way it used to be done
Propagating without equipment: softwood cuttings in summer, hardwood cuttings in winter, layering on the berry bush. Where the cut goes, which species rot in a glass of water, and what rooting powder and willow water really deliver.