Salix discolor after a fall coppice pruning, as the spring catkins are forming. Source: Lorin Nielsen While it’s definitely a relative of the willow family, it often grows more as a shrub. Older specimens do become trees, but they tend to have weaker branches that don’t support much weight. Seeds form in the female catkins. When they are ready, the catkins will begin to release their seeds still attached to some of the white fluff. The Chinese use pussy willows as a decoration during part of the lunar new year. It’s believed to bring prosperity for the coming year. It’s also a popular Easter decoration.

Use the above guidelines to develop soil for container-grown trees. Pussy willows can grow in sandy soil, but they often don’t grow as large as they could in richer soil conditions. It all depends on the amount of water they have. Be sure you plant them far away from septic tanks, sewer lines, and water lines. Their roots grow very deep and will bore through pipe walls! They love to grow along creek lines, rivers, and riparian areas. Humidity is great for pussy willow trees. Soil

Trying to grow longer stalks requires more nitrogen to spur plant growth. If you’re trying to grow long stalks to harvest, you should add some extra nitrogen in the fall to encourage early development. If you’re repotting cuttings that you have rooted into a pot, double the size of your pot with each repotting. Try to separate the root mass when you repot. If they have become rootbound, this may be difficult to do, but it’s necessary for the health of the plant. Buff Willow are rods that have been boiled in tanks for 8 to 10 hours and then stripped of their bark - the tannin in the bark turns the rods a copper colour. When planting in the ground, you don’t need to fertilize. Its roots will extend quite a ways out and find better soil. Regular applications of compost or leaf mold mulch spread out around the base is about all it’ll need to thrive. You can either wait for roots to develop or plant straight in the soil. If you wish to develop roots, place your cutting into a container of water. Change the water every few days. It can take a couple weeks for roots to begin to form.

The common name of these plants may have originated in an old folk tale. The story goes that kittens playing along a riverbank fell in, and the willow trees reached into the water to save them. Thus, the development of pussy willow trees. But what exactly is this plant? Is it a tree or a shrub? How does it grow, and how can you maintain it? Brown Willow (which can actually be any colour rod with it's bark on) are dried rods with the bark intact The imported willow leaf beetle,Plagiodera versicolora, causes skeletonization of leaves in its larval form. The adult form can leave large holes in leaves. Eliminate this beetle using BT, but the same caution holds true as above. DiseasesPowdery mildew is a less-damaging problem and is treatable. You can use neem oil or copper fungicides to eliminate this issue as well. In fresh arrangements, the catkins will continue to develop into full flowers as the stalks will still have access to water. These fluffy blossoms are often used as part of Chinese New Year celebrations, tied together in clusters with red felt. As they will develop roots in water, it is possible to use them as a fresh arrangement and then plant them later! At the tail end of winter, fuzzy nubs start to appear along the branches of pussy willows. These soft silver tufts—as well as the plant itself—are named for their resemblance to tiny cats’ paws, and they feel so much like fur that young children often wonder if they are animals instead of plants. What are those little nubs? Are they seeds? Fruits? And why are they fuzzy?