{"id":3364,"date":"2021-04-12T06:13:56","date_gmt":"2021-04-12T14:13:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/?p=3364"},"modified":"2021-04-12T06:13:56","modified_gmt":"2021-04-12T14:13:56","slug":"goat-willow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/goat-willow\/","title":{"rendered":"Goat Willow"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Pussy<\/a>When I go outside in spring, I look for the signs of hope that are symbolic of the season.\u00a0 The other day I saw an inspiring one–a Japanese cherry tree in full bloom.\u00a0 Its bark had the deepening furrows that develop as trees age, much like human wrinkles.\u00a0 The clouds of overhead blooms were lovely, but the tree\u2019s most heartening production was a single, six-inch root sucker at the base.\u00a0 The little sprout was making its own spring show, with a brave puff of white flowers and nascent green leaves.\u00a0 It was an old tree\u2019s leap towards new life.<\/p>\n

New life is also flourishing on my dining room table, in the form of a small, weeping<\/p>\n

pussy willow tree, known more formally as Salix caprea \u2018Pendula\u2019.\u00a0 The species is also known as \u201cgoat willow\u201d, from the same Latin root that gives us the name of the constellation Capricorn.<\/p>\n

I am not sure about the goat association, but in milder climates than mine, the catkins may appear at the end of winter.\u00a0 This would coincide with the final days of the astrological sign, Capricorn, which runs from December 21 through January 20.\u00a0 Some sources also suggest that the fast-growing, readily self-renewing plant was used in its native Eurasia as a \u201cbrowse\u201d or fodder for goats.\u00a0 Though less poetic, it may be a more likely explanation for the name.<\/p>\n

Right now, my domestic \u201cgoat\u201d is about 30 inches tall.\u00a0 When it arrived two weeks ago, the slender, arching branches sported the soft, dove-gray catkins that give the willow its best known common name.\u00a0 Now, the catkins are falling off, clearing the way for fresh, narrow green leaves.<\/p>\n

My daughter spotted the potted tree in front of a florist\u2019s shop the week before Easter.\u00a0 She decided to bring it home because she knew that while I have always loved pussy willows, I have never gotten around to buying one.\u00a0 We used it as an egg tree, hanging decorated eggs and egg-shaped ornaments from the branches.\u00a0 Soon, the decorations will go back into storage and the little tree will go out to its new home in the back garden.<\/p>\n

Florists\u2019 plant labels are designed to attract potential buyers by providing a few details about the individual specimen\u2019s basic needs.\u00a0 The labels generally leave out certain other details that might scare those buyers away.\u00a0 This is why information about mature size is usually missing.\u00a0 When my daughter brought home our \u201cgoat\u201d, she had no idea what size animal we would end up with.\u00a0 Fortunately horticultural reference sources are plentiful, and it was easy to find out that our grafted specimen had the potential to develop into a small tree, rising to about ten feet tall, with a spread of up to six feet.<\/p>\n

I hope to keep it a bit smaller, perhaps by growing it in a large container and\/or pruning it regularly.\u00a0 I follow this practice with its relative, the coral bark willow, which grows in my front border.\u00a0 The results are excellent, except at times when my good intentions are eclipsed by the realities of other personal and professional responsibilities.<\/p>\n

Various gardening guides suggest that my Salix caprea is deer resistant and tolerant of wet soil and the roots black walnut trees.\u00a0 The varmint resistance will not please Mr. Antlers and his harem, who are regular denizens of my property, but it will save on deer spray.\u00a0 I appreciate the tree\u2019s toughness, even though black walnut is not a worry in my neighborhood and the soil is usually moist enough to sustain life, but never swampy.<\/p>\n

Goat willows are dioecious, which means that trees are either male or female.\u00a0 The male specimens bear larger catkins, so I presume that a florist\u2019s plant would be male.\u00a0 Again, the plant tag makes no mention of this, so I cannot be completely sure.<\/p>\n

My little goat willow is a personal celebration of all the newness that the season brings.\u00a0 After the physical and psychological storms that we have all endured over the past year, it puts me in mind of the wonderful song, \u201cIt\u2019s a New Day\u201d, made famous by singer Nina Simone.<\/p>\n

\"Cherry<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 If you need the same kind of personal celebration, you can buy Salix caprea at large garden centers or, sometimes, big-box stores. \u00a0It is occasionally sold under the varietal name, \u2018Kilmarnock\u2019, after a specimen that was discovered in Kilmarnock, Scotland, in the mid nineteenth century.\u00a0 To be sure of buying a tree-form or standard variety, make sure it is a grafted plant.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I go outside in spring, I look for the signs of hope that are symbolic of the season.\u00a0 The other day I saw an inspiring one–a Japanese cherry tree in full bloom.\u00a0 Its bark had the deepening furrows that develop as trees age, much like human wrinkles.\u00a0 The clouds of overhead blooms were lovely, … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,2,5],"tags":[2496,257,2494,2493,2492,1204,2495],"class_list":["post-3364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall","category-general-interest","category-spring","category-winter","tag-catkins","tag-deer-resistant-plants","tag-goat-willow","tag-pussy-willow","tag-salix-caprea","tag-small-trees","tag-standard-pussy-willow"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3364"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3364\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3367,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3364\/revisions\/3367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}