sold out
for Spring 2017
Salix daphnoides ‘Red Rocket’
daphnoides = daphne like
Violet Willow
NEW FOR 2017
A selection of the Violet Willow whose origin is unknown (we'd love to hear from anyone who does know from whence it came!) It gets its name from the young, erect-growing red branches of coppiced plants. They shoot up with a few side branches much like 'Ovaro Udine', but red-stemmed. The young twigs are a delightful pale violet and then turn red with a white bloom in the second year. The male flowers of this selection open in early spring from flower buds produced the previous summer. Our cuttings came from the Arboretum of the Canadian Experimental Farm in Ottawa, in return for helping them verify the identification of the Salix in their collection! Hardy to Zone 4.
USES: great for ornamental uses in the garden, winter displays and cut stems; produces long rods for baskets and tall living structures.
This is the tree from whence our cuttings came. It is located in the Dominion Arboretum
of the Central Experimental Farm of Agriculture Canada in Ottawa, Ontario.
It is the only specimen of this striking cultivar that I have come across in my travels across North America and Europe. Now there are lots more--in our nursery. I was given cuttings in return for helping the Arboretum with the nomenclature of their Salix collection. Mid-May.
The male catkins open in early April along the dark red shoots of the previous years growth.
In mid-summer the shoots are a bright red.
Late September.
Here's the gray trunk and lower main branches of the above tree.
The shiny dark green leaves are typical of daphnoides foliage with serrated edges to the leaves. Late September.
As the stems age, they are covered with a waxy glaucous material that is supposed to hinder ants from crawling up the tree, ants carry aphids so that the ants can feed on the aphids waste products! Late May.
The red shoots grow vertically with a few side branches. This is a vigorous plant with exceptional stem coloring. left: late September, right: mid April.
The undersides of the leaves are glaucous; a gray waxy covering that reduces transpiration. Late September
The red coloration is also found at the base of young leaves and buds. Early August.
At the base of the curent year's shoots the red shoots are starting to produce the glaucous covering. Shown in September.
WillowWorld
of Michael Dodge