Salix caprea ‘Pendula’
caprea = goat pendula = weeping
Weeping Goat Willow
This willow grows absolutely prostrate along the ground so it makes a very unusual ground-cover for sunny locations; also it will grow down a bank or over rocks. It can also be trained as a single stem tied to a stout support and become a weeping standard. It is often sold in garden centers and nurseries as a top-grafted plant. It is grafted anywhere from 5-10ft on top of a different willow species and allowed to cascade. The catkins are silver; female catkins turn green and male catkins turn bright yellow. Hardy to Zone 3.
USES: As an ornamental shrub in a large rock garden or as a ground cover.
As a standard it can be used as a specimen plant.
Here is the Weeping Goat Willow growing over a mulch of Eastern White Pine needles in one of my growing areas--one of the best mulches I know.
Flowering for the first time in 2013 for me
If you train the branches of the weeping goat willow to grow on a domed metal cage or curved dried willow sticks,
you can get this arching effect. Internet photo from France.
Young shoots appear after flowering and grow erect (photo at right)
or curving upright at first (above photo).
Both will eventually get the genetic message to grow downward!
Here is another specimen, seen at the Arboretum of the Ottawa Experiment Station in Ottawa, Canada.
This has a trunk that is leaning to the right, probably from the weight of the branches!
left: young shoots that are growing vertically at first but will get a genetic message to turn down.
left: this is a trio of plants grown as one in the Trondheim Botanic Garden in June 2017. Probably gives more stability to the plants.
right: detail of the foliage of the plant at left.
WillowWorld
of Michael Dodge