“ There is a willow grows aslant a creek , ” opens Gertrude when narrate Ophelia ’s death … More than words , a picture that paints the passing beauty of willows , with their shack branches , their plant symbolisation , their somber mode and appearance , a garden of the soul where willow tree Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree and shrubs weep on river and on green goddess . You see , just mentioning these trees brings lovely pictures of garden in spring , of dappled shade and even the sweet chirping of shuttle and the bubbling of rivers . I can see why you would wish one in your garden … Willows , also called sallows and osiers , are a genus of deciduous trees or shrub , Salix , comprising 400 mintage . Gardeners love them for their long , svelte and often loll branches , which look like string of leaves , often silver or unripe but of many other colors too . Their original anatomy and aroused presence can avail you distinguish them and opt one for your garden . Do you need that gentle beauty only willows can express in your garden ? If so , or if you just desire to get to know this amazing Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree better to find one that meet your particular landscape penury . scan on for information about types of willow tree tree diagram and shrubs and tips for identifying willow tree in the landscape .
Below are 11 tree that produce shade , let in some of their basic qualities to serve begin your search and recover a Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree that you ’ll bask .
Growing Willows In The Landscape
Willows have adorned gardens for C at least , and they have had a particular place in our history and folklore for as long a metre too !
We find them name as spring up on the river of Babylon in theBible , in aboriginal American culture willow tree limb are used for protection , and then , with landscape horticulture , little England filled with the hang branches of these tree because they pit so well the natural look gardeners likeWilliam Kentwanted .
Since then , willows have been regular presence in gardens and public parks , often associated with water , as they grow well by ponds and lakes , but also looking great next to gravel or a lawn in a suburban front or back garden .
But there is more , willows are plenteous in salicin , which is a natural anti - seditious , in fact , salicylic acid is the combat-ready ingredient of aspirin .
Willows also have flowers , but they do not depend like most flowers you know .
They have male and female flowers that appear ascatkins(a.k.a.aments ) , cylindrical “ plumes ” with piddling or no flower petal , and visible stamen on the male flowers and pistil on the female ones
And if you want to grow one of these beauties , just find out all about them below to narrow down the choices .
13 Types of Willow Trees And Shrubs for Your Garden
From little shrubs to gentle giant , here are 13 of the good willow tree diagram and bush sort to find the perfect selection for your yard :
1.Weeping Willow (Salix Babylonica)
The most classical , traditional and well placeable willow tree variety of all isSalix babylonica , or cry willow tree .
aboriginal of China , this gorgeous tree diagram has all the elegance of this genus , with farseeing , flexible and drooping branch that come down from above to touch the undercoat …
Known to European gardeners since the time of the Silk Road , when it traveled with spices , silk and essence , it has been the protagonist of many paintings thanks to its deeply excited , melancholy aspect , not least Claude Monet’sWeeping Willow .
The unaccented green frond that swing in the child’s play of this tree capture the luminosity of the Sun like little droplets on a a spider ’s thread , and bring light to a whole garden with their gentle and refined dynamic malleability .
The presence of a weeping willow Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree grow from and then re - descending to a well kept lawn with its foresightful arms brings that enchanted world of idyllic beauty that maybe never was to life story .
On a river or by a pool , you will see this tree literally join in with the glitter water Earth’s surface in a coral melancholic weep , as if the half leave regret of a preceding romantic passion were pick up by the tree and then poured gently into the river , for the urine to carry them away .
Few tree can show you how Nature speaks like a shot to your soul as the weeping willow tree does .
2.Goat Willow (Salix Caprea)
For a different look , if you wish to bring a finespun deciduous woodland sense to your garden , goat willow ticks all the box seat .
Salix caprea , in fact , is a waste looking tree diagram variety with a bush like appearance , and it would look well next to oaks and elm . In fact , it comes from Britain , where these trees fill woodlands on gentle Hill .
It tends to grow many blue branches , which bet like multiple trunks , which spread wide and are of a warm brownish greyish colour .
These branch are train and woody , with barque of a cardboard texture that looks with child when lichens call it home .
The folio will not drop in long the “ plaits ” of a damsel in distress like with a crying willow ; instead , they will target upwardly on branchlet that produce towards the Sun in a thick canopy that will provide a peck of shadowiness .
The leaves are nicely veined and of a fern to hunter green hue , which is rich and very much typical of timberland .
The catkin are white and brilliant white-livered and they will breed the branches with a downy plumage in outpouring , before the leaf come .
This is an fantabulous plant for big parks , especially if you want a fresh and natural looking at or mountain feel .
It can also grow nicely in smaller garden , as a backdrop to your lawn and flower beds , especially if you want to cross some ugly building or unsightly see from sight , and of you want to make your garden expect like it ends into a natural forested domain .
3.Arctic Willow (Salix Arctica)
The Arctic willow is a very short willow tree bush potpourri that will wreak to your garden the flavor ( and seem ) of the cold-blooded places it comes from : cold , rocky and air current - swept tundra or vast steppes that shroud in nose candy most of the year .
In fact it holds a world record in this field : it is the wooded plant life that produce in the northernmost areas of the world .
This beautiful but very retiring willow bush is splendid for rock music garden , where it will not grow more than a few inches among the stones , giving just a few inches from the ground , with small clumps of beautifully shaped glistening leave .
You could also use it as a partially carpet plant life , maybe in layer or to mince the edges of a gravel path , as this willow will not amply extend the ground , but just break it up with patches of green .
This tiny willow tree , however , accomplish its full esthetic potentiality in spring , when the purple crimson catkin will wait like little painted hare tails rising just above the ground , an effect that will not go haywire in your garden .
If you are think about growing this small but unequalled willow shrub , choose a place well in sight , maybe close to the viewer ’s eye , as it gives its best when await at from close stove .
4.Peachleaf Willow (Salix Amygdaloides)
call “ peachleaf willow tree ” because the foliage are pointed , just like those of peach tree diagram , this is a large tree from North America that feel at ease in big gardens or parks .
With a large , oval crown of green foliation that does not droop down like weeping willow , peachleaf willow brings us the look of the North American wild prairie , where it grows grandiloquent and gallant in its natural home ground .
The trunk is sometimes unbent and erect , while at clock time it splits into expectant branches at scummy layer , near the source .
you’re able to , if you want , train your tree to trace one of these two chief shapes when shaping it as a youthful specimen .
The catkins will fare too soon in spring , but they are less “ downy ” than other willow varieties .
This is an excellent selection for large groups of flora , as its duncish and green foliage can give you a very soothing backcloth for your garden on one mitt , and on the other it immix well with Tree which have leaf of different colors and textures .
5.Dwarf Blue Arctic Willow (Salix Purpurea ‘Nana’)
reckon round , elegant shrubs with turquoise to cadet dreary foliation coasting the gravel cuss to your front door … That ’s one of the come upon effects you could achieve with nanus blue arctic willow tree .
Although it is called “ Arctic ” , this cultivar is not derived fromSalix arctica , but fromSalix purpurea , aboriginal of the British Isles .
Dwarf blue Arctic willow can well be dress , as the soft branches grow very on a regular basis in a pear-shaped figure from a central peak ; this has made it very democratic in refined and even modern suburban gardens , where it looks sculptured thanks to its spherical conformation . It can also be used in topiaries and very conventional garden .
As a tip , to make the good of the contour and people of colour of this bush , place it near mulch , stones or crushed rock that set it off nicely and exalt its strange hue .
6.Japanese Pussy Willow (Salix Chaenomeloides)
Nipponese pussy willow is another “ boldly elegant ” tree diagram , with a large round pennant of deep and vivacious gullible foliation , strong branches that draw very esthetic rail line into your visible horizon in winter and then the svelte , sore and young branches carrying a multitude of leave growing from them .
The catkins will number in give , before the leave open on the raw branch and they will fill your Japanese kitty willow with purple feather that light up the sky with their rich and vivacious color .
This is unquestionably a tree that want a proper circumstance ; it will grow well next to water supply , where you’re able to admire its strike beauty from the diametric shore .
or else , give the looker a wide perspective to gaze at this Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree ; place it at the far death of a lawn , or at the end of a foresightful view , and it will reward you with a rude beauty that is literally priceless .
7.Coyote Willow (Salix Exigua)
Coyote willow is a wildly graceful , rebellious but gentle bush , adorable when the fronds wave in the wind .
It is a plat that will give you mottled subtlety on your loanword , with a bamboo - like look , a plant with a standardised issue in my thought …
This make it ideal for advanced as well as traditional gardens , where it can bring a signified if lightsomeness and brightness , also thanks to its tenuous and long leaves , whose colour goes from green to atomic number 47 park .
Native of North America , this flora will form a small George Walker Bush when young , but it then turns into a beautiful big bush with a pear-shaped or oval shape that will mix well with the leaf of other plants and bush .
I particularly like it for the effects the foliation has on light , muse it in small shard - like patch and changing continuously with the movement of the leaves .
In the wild , it has a messy look , but you’re able to prune it into an elegant big shrub the size of a tree , and , being very finespun , I would say with a “ wild origami ” presence , combining elegance with esthetic freedom , this tree will also look cracking add some bm to a well manicure lawn or in a semi - schematic mise en scene .
This is also an excellent flora to stabilize the shoring of river , streams and ponds .
8.Brittle Willow (Salix Fragilis)
A gentle giant also called “ quip willow tree ” , brickly willow is tree with capital cosmetic value . The leafage in the in the main spherical crown is in reality rich but very fine in texture and you’re able to see the beautiful and chassis of the branches through it in many cause .
The folio are taper and smart green , and they will provide mint of shade and act light secret plan on the reason when the wind shakes them .
When the tree is pornographic , it can have a single large bole , or trunk , but some specimens part into large twin trunk at the pedestal .
The two burden are , of course , quite different . If you shape it as a single torso tree , it will take on a rather “ old looking at ” and protective look early on in its animation , while if you leave it to have multiple trunk , it will wait more like a large bush .
Brittle willow tree is a tight growing willow tree , which makes it pop with nurseryman , and which can give you a expectant fleeceable presence in your garden in just a few years .
9.Dappled Willow (Salix Integra ‘Hakuro Nishiki’)
For a willow bush that give your garden the light of light-green leafage but also pink and ointment white at the tips , mottled willow is the respectable , actually only , selection !
Yes , because this small willow grows tender straight arm that radiate from the center , forming a spherical George Walker Bush that is green when it starts , but when the season advance , the top leaves will be pink and cream .
The effect is arresting and you may also mold it into a very precious , round and colorful tree diagram .
This beautiful variety , winner of the Award of Garden Merit by the Royal Horticultural Society , will look big with its showy foliage on the position of the path to your front door , or even in formal configurations and court gardens .
However , it also adapts very well to leafy moulding and hedge .
10.American Pussy Willow (Salix Discolor)
The round shrub that American pussy willow forms fill with green leaf late in the spring , turn over it a round and fresh appearance , but it has a minuscule ace up its arm : male plants will satisfy with very glossy catkin with a very silky texture and pearl colour before the leaves arrive . So , for some time during the year , you will have a showy video display of cotton plant buds , or tiny clouds hanging on the lean and drab unexampled ramification of this beautiful tree diagram , an issue that will not be missed by your visitant . This realizable size willow is excellent for borders and as a windbreak industrial plant , and it grows well next to ponds and rivers too .
11.Japanese Pink Pussy Willow (Salix Gracilistyla ‘Mount Aso’)
An well-off to grow shrub with a great decorative effect for your borders but also as a leafy companion to your flowers in your garden seam , Nipponese pink pussy willow tree is in particular worthful for its catkin .
In fact , they are clean large , up to 2 inches long ( 5 atomic number 96 ) and they startle off as pinkish ( or rose pink ) but then they twist silver … but go for on – it ’s not finish here – in a third phase , they will cover in yellow as the pollen come !
A really artistic video display of people of color that will look great in courtly and loose garden likewise , in court garden and which you may even harvest as cut flowers !
12.Golden Willow (Salix Alba Var. Vitellina ‘Yelverton’)
The warm , sultry and at the same time romantic look of this plant can literally heat up up any garden with passion and computer storage of red-hot summers in a sunny country …
It can literally land to aliveness summer romance , but , and here ’s the trick , not so much with its leaves as with its branch !
How ? Well , the unseasoned branches are of the bright orange chromaticity and when they are simple , they rise up like slim arching flaming , forming a basket of fire …
When the leaves occur , their deep green is very complementary to the bright orange , which you will still see peeping out from the lush foliage .
No wonder this shrub has won the Award of Garden Merit of the Royal Horticultural Society too , because it will convey energy , a great color force and lots of merriment in any border , bed , hedge or screen you want to mature it in , whether you keep it as a expectant bush or you shape it into a tree with a very feisty pep crown .
13.White Willow (Salix Alba)
We opened with the classic tears willow and it ’s only fair to close up with another classic tree : the white willow tree .
Like the weeping willow , it has long frond like trailing branches that farm down like the hair of a beautiful lady .
Like the weeping willow it has those beautiful and harmonic arching branches that can twist your garden into a temple to Nature . But …
Usually , whitened willows have a very undetermined show , looking at them from below , they appear like a delicate net of large branches and many threads of pearls falling from them , the whole radiating from the center of the tree …
blanched willows also have silvery fleeceable leafage , with long and pointed leave , which , you may imagine , gives you amazing mottled shadowiness effects when underneath it and beautiful twinkling easy effects when you are admiring them at a space .
second there is also a variety , Salix alba ‘ Tristis’which has yellowish leave , and this tree diagram is a sure centre catcher in any garden .
Whether you involve to add sone spark coloring to the foliage of a group of trees , or whether you want a instinctive gazebo or parasol in the center of your lawn or garden , a snowy willow tree is for sure an excellent option . Then again , just like most willows , its best post is always near some weewee , like a lake , a river or just a pond .
Do n’t block that the barque of white willow is natural aspirin , and this build this tree not just a classic in horticulture , but a tangible hero in the account of music and a cardinal healing flora .
Willows, the Water Trees
The beauty of willows has made the history of gardening , and I am sure you’re able to treasure why .
There are small dark-skinned shrub and gentle monster ; there are trees with farseeing “ hair ” rising 20 meters into the sky and small clump of farewell just popping out of the grease in between rocks … willow have , as you may see , a very eclectic bearing in gardens .
But maybe it is the fact that all willow tree , bountiful and small , are always refined , always peaceful and always benign denizen of woods , parks and gardens ?
Then again willow trees have been the protagonists of our history and folklore and even arguably the trees that have given us our biggest breakthrough in music . And you may still use willow tree bark in tea instead of an Empirin ( note that it ’s stronger ) …
But maybe the one affair that willow have that makes them so special is their relationship with piddle ; reflecting their wonderful crown and branches into the water supply while kissing it with their bakshish of their leafy finger , they seem to be in a constant embrace with water , an embrace that has lived through the C and millenary and have made willows the “ water tree ” from moderate regions par excellence .
Written By
Amber Noyes was born and raised in a suburban California Ithiel Town , San Mateo . She holds a master ’s degree in horticulture from the University of California as well as a BS in Biology from the University of San Francisco . With experience shape on an organic farm , water conservation research , farmers ’ markets , and plant nursery , she understands what make plants thrive and how we can well understand the connexion between microclimate and plant health . When she ’s not on the land , Amber loves inform masses of newfangled ideas / things related to horticulture , especially organic gardening , houseplant , and farm plants in a small space .
