Salix caprea
Goat willow
Common names: Pussy willow, Great sallow
At a glance
- Light
- Full sun
- Hardiness
- Hardy
- Pruning
- Feb–Mar
- Flowering
- Feb–Mar
- Origin
- Native to Germany
Photo: Kurt Stüber [1] · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source
Description
The willow (Salix caprea) is a key native shrub for wild bees and bumblebees. Its silvery-haired catkins open in February or March, providing one of the first major pollen and nectar sources of the year, long before most other plants flower. The botanical name Salix caprea refers to a robust, fast-growing shrub or small tree that thrives on almost any soil. After flowering, green foliage dominates the rest of the season, making the willow especially valued as a spring bee plant along garden borders or in hedges.
Care instructions
The willow requires little care and tolerates poor soil. Water it regularly only during its first year; thereafter, natural rainfall is usually sufficient. Pruning is rarely necessary; if you wish to shape it, cut immediately after spring flowering so as not to remove the catkins. Leave dead wood in place, as it provides shelter for many insects.
The care notes were machine-translated from German.
Garden year
FloweringFeb–Mar
Soil & site
Soil pH
Soil type
moist, humus-rich, loamy, nutrient-rich
The goat willow likes fresh to moist, nutrient-rich soils and keeps growing without complaint even on heavy loam. It tolerates waterlogging better than most woody plants, because it comes from riverbanks and woodland edges. On dry, lean sites it stays much smaller and grows more slowly. A spot in sun to partial shade with enough soil moisture makes it shoot most vigorously.
Feeding
Light feeder
As a native wild woody plant, the goat willow manages well without extra feeding. A mulch layer of leaves or chipped bark in the root zone is enough to supply the soil with nutrients and keep the moisture in. In its first years in place, it appreciates a little well-rotted compost in spring.
Pruning
Regular pruning is not necessary for the goat willow; it grows naturally attractive as a loose shrub or small tree. If you want to thin the crown or remove branches that are too crowded, prune in late winter before growth starts, weeks 6 to 10. That way the valuable catkins for the first bees are largely preserved, as long as you thin only gently.
Overwintering
The goat willow is fully hardy in Central Europe and needs no protection at all. It forms its catkins as early as autumn, so in early spring, often already in February or March, it is one of the first bee pastures. Young potted plants benefit in their first winter from a place sheltered from wind before they are planted out.
Propagation
Methods
- Cuttings
- From seed
The easiest way to propagate it is by hardwood cuttings, cut from one-year-old shoots in winter and pushed directly into the ground outdoors or into pots. The goat willow roots very readily, often even without rooting aid. Sowing is possible, but the seeds stay viable only for a few days and must be sown fresh, which makes it impractical in the home garden. For quick results, cuttings are therefore the more reliable choice.
For your garden
Grow Goat willow yourself
Gartenkern tells you when frost is coming, when to sow and when to harvest, for your location.
Free, no time limit
Notes from real gardens
What other gardeners have written down about this variety, anonymous and voluntary.
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From the magazine
Weaving natural fences: willow, hazel and deadwood
Your winter prunings are fencing material: willow rods strike root and turn into a living fence, hazel poles stay dead and last 5 to 10 years as a weave, brushwood becomes a Benjes hedge. Weaving technique, cutting season CW 46 to 9, service life honestly counted, and what neighbour law has to say about it.
Cuttings and layers, the way it used to be done
Propagating without equipment: softwood cuttings in summer, hardwood cuttings in winter, layering on the berry bush. Where the cut goes, which species rot in a glass of water, and what rooting powder and willow water really deliver.