[scousemouse]

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if any of you experts could help me identify this willow-like tree?

It self-seeded onto my allotment a couple of years ago and is now 6 foot tall.  It doesn't look like any of the trees in the gardens that surround the allotments.  It's a bit like a willow but it's showing no signs of weeping, although there is a weeping willow not far away.

[Debz]

Not all willows are weeping and that looks like willow to me. 

[arugula]

This site:

http://www.jprwillow.co.uk/willow-varieties.htm

might help identify the variety.

[mumofstig]

It looks like pussy willow to me salix caprea

[arugula]

It looks like pussy willow to me

Well I thought that when I looked earlier... according to a quick google though, pussy willow is the same as goat willow - salix caprea - which I have in my garden and it doesn't look anything like the one in this picture...

[mumofstig]

OH!...........................

Googled ........may be the green female type............or I may be completely wrong

[arugula]

............or I may be completely wrong

Unlikely...

[scousemouse]

Thanks so much for your help.  It definitely is a willow looking at that website.

To me it most looks like daphnoides or a variety of purpurea.  When it self-seeded I didn't realise, but people have been growing living-willow fences further up the allotment field.  Although this isn't the same variety. 

I also noted that there were very few willow trees that grew less than 4m tall so it's definitely leaving the allotment!  I do hate to cut it down and chop it up though.  But we're not allowed tall fruit trees on our lotties, never mind 'ornamentals'.

[hamstergbert]

....er, rather than simply dig it up, you could instead kill two birds with one stone by using it as a source of peasticks etc while at the same time keeping the size under control....

[mumofstig]

but if you aren't very careful, every peastick you use will root

[hamstergbert]

Hmm, yes that is a risk.  But...

.... you could do your pea trench where you want to grow a living fence afterwards ....

....or simply boil a kettle full of water, pour it into a plastic bucket with a bit of old vinegar from a finished jar of pickled onions and stand the cut ends of the willow peasticks in there and leave them until the mix cools.....

.... or even make your mind up that rooting those 'cuttings' is vitally important, to which the goddess of gardening embeggerance will respond by ensuring that not a single one strikes...  (works for most cuttings.  No?  Just for me then)
 

[LittleRedHen]

That's definitely a pussy willow.  Those little 'pussies' will soon burst into bright yellow fluffy flowers that the bees are mad for!  These plants root very easily.

[sion01]

but if you aren't very careful, every peastick you use will root

wise words

[scousemouse]

Oh well, if the bees like it, it'll have a stay of execution until the flowers are over.  I saw the first bumblebee on Tuesday, which I'm a little worried about 'cos we had a frost today.  I must look up how tall they grow. 

[hamstergbert]

Oh well, if the bees like it, it'll have a stay of execution until the flowers are over.  I saw the first bumblebee on Tuesday, which I'm a little worried about 'cos we had a frost today.  I must look up how tall they grow. 

it varies - there are several different types of bumblebee.