Willow trees

RHS Genus Guide

Fast-growing, graceful, spreading or weeping, willow trees are a good choice for larger gardens with damp soil. They also make excellent screening trees and windbreaks, and their early and abundant catkins are a valuable food source for bees.

Botanical name: Salix

Common name: willow

RHS / Barry Phillips

Appearance

Willow trees tend to be large, with long, slender stems. They are often the first tree to come into leaf in early spring, with bright green or silvery grey-green foliage. Their abundant fluffy catkins in spring are a magnet for bees. The weeping willow has gracefully arching branches.

Preferences

Willow trees like full sun and deep, fertile, moist but well-drained soil. Many even thrive in permanently wet conditions.

Dislikes

They don’t generally thrive in very dry, shallow or chalky soils, and dislike shade.

Did you know?

The contorted willow (Salix babylonica var. pekinensis ‘Tortuosa’) not only has curiously twisted and contorted stems but also twisted leaves too.

RHS Growing Guide