Willow sticks as garden canes?

Viking_mfw

I have to severely cut back a very enthusiastic willow in my garden and I was thinking of retaining the trimmed wands to use as garden canes next year. Has anyone done this/ got any tips for drying them? 
Thanks in advance. 

greyteam1959

Make sure that they are very very dry or they will most definitely start to grow.

elaineruk

Willow whips are fantastic as garden canes - and that's what we all used before they started importing bamboo!!

Viking_mfw

Thanks both! 

Arthog

All this also applies to those lovely straight Elder tree sticks. (learnt that one the hard way!)

Apodemus

I use cuttings from a number of different shrubs as canes.  If they start to grow, then hey-ho! saves on the hassle of taking cuttings and easily passed on to local charity sales-of-work/coffee-mornings.  But I've found that simply making sure that I use the canes upside down means that fewer take root.