Kilmarnock Willow (Weeping) Care Tips

KE7285

Hi everyone.

I have the most beautiful weeping kilmarnock willow in our front yard which i absolutely love! We've been in our home for 2 years now and havent really had to do anything with it apart from the odd trim but Im worried that i'm neglecting it. Does anyne know if there is anything i should be doing regularly to keep it nice and healthy?

I have noticed that underneath the thick layer of foliage, there are loads of dead stems but they dont seem to want to come out when they are pulled - should these just be left?

Pippilongstocking

Hiya
Willows are resiliant beasts so you probably don't need to do much, but I would think that if there is a thatch of dead stuff developing underneath the thick layer of foliage, you'd best get rid of it or thin it out each year to let the tree breathe a bit and be nice and healthy.

The three d's for pruning are dead, diseased or damaged - so if you can spare the time to take a pair of sharp secateurs - and go underneath the willow you can carefully select branches to thin out - clean cut near the top of the stem will do it, they won't pull out! Up to you when you do it, if its in leaf it might be easier to see which branches are dead, but winter is good too.

If you arent sure and think its too late this year, then leave it until it comes into leaf next spring and take out some of the branches with no obvious regrowth.

Goodluck

KE7285

Thank you very much!

Hee hee - though the dead ones would just pull out, lol! Ill get the dead stuff pruned this weekend i think - still a fair bit of foliage on it so should be quite easy to work out whats dead and whats not! :j

Pippilongstocking

Just a thought when pruning like a crazy beast, its got to get through the winter too so not too harsh, harsher cuts are for the spring time!

And although willows come easy from cuttings, if you fancy trying any with wood thats not dead, mind on Kilmarnock willow is a grafted plant, so you wont get the same kinda plant as your one (your one is actually two plants the up bit (stem) and the flopsy bit (droopy leaves) are two things stuck 'grafted' together - as far as I remember)

Then again if you dont mind what you end up with they are very easy, just pop something the size of a pencil into some earth/compost and leave it alone, it should sprout next year. Then you might have some things to swap with.