Please can anybody put the full name to this deciduous Salix with tiny leaves and upright red catkins. The parent plant was only 6 -9 inches tall and spreading horizontally. It seems to be very slow growing. Thank you.
Our plant is a rooted cutting from an old plant at Aberglasney, a recently restored garden, going back over 500 years, in Wales( SW Britain.).It is almost certain to be an introduced plant. Thank you glass brain but the leaves are much smaller than those described for S. comutata. Thank you Michael F, but according to our books, the leaf of S. repens is between 1cm-3.5cm(0.4-1.5in). Our biggest leaf is only 0.5 in long,most are only half as long.Also the catkins are much redder than those described for S. repens.
Hi Luddite, If it is introduced, that makes it trickier. It keyed out as S. repens in the BSBI Willows and Poplars manual, but that only covers native and commonly naturalised willows and poplars in the British Isles. If it is a recently restored garden, there may well be a head gardener who might already know what it is from restoration surveys. The leaf size may well get larger with further growth in the spring, so I'd still not like to rule out S. repens on that alone.
I'm cheating with the book by Christopher Newsholme: Salix lindleyana? He mentions that this is similar to S. hylematica (furcata).
That certainly looks a good candidate: http://www.alpinissimum.de/Homepage/gartenrdg/Fotogalerie/Salix%20lindleyana.jpg
Firstly a big thank you to KarinL for suggesting Salix lindleyana, and secondly to Michael F for taking the trouble to find the photo.That looks pretty darn good! The leaves look right ,as do the red catkins.
If looking up things is cheating, then, I am afraid, we are all headed for condemnation. :) Looking at the photo, I get the impression, that it would look really nice in my rock garden. I am certainly going to find out more about it. Thanks to all who contributed to this ID and, of course, to Luddite for bringing it up. Best, Olaf
When we first saw this cutie at Aberglasney,we didn't even recognise it as a willow! Even the curator could not tell us the name,only that it was a willow.But we knew we would like one, searched all over to try and buy one. No joy.Specialist Salix growers did not sell it and couldn't suggest a name,they suggested researching on the web,using key words like willow, red catkins.At this stage we didn't even know you could do this! Still no joy.In desperation,I sent £10 to the curator to beg for a cutting,by return,arrived 2 healthy rooted bits.Planted in September 2006,only now is it really big enough to photograph. Good luck Olaf, hope you manage to find one. By the way some years ago, Aberglasney featured in a T.V.series of programs about the restoration of the gardens. http://www.aberglasney.org/
What an incredible place! Happy to have helped with the ID. I said I was cheating because I didn't want to give the impression that I simply recognized it as though I were one of our horticultural gods... I have the book because I became enamoured of the small-leaved willows from a picture in an old plant encyclopedia - might even be in the current edition - of Salix x Boydii. I've never yet found that one, but I've had a few others, none of which I've grown successfully. The book hints at why in the instructions for growing S. lindleyana: "It should be totally exposed and never crowded or overhung by other species." Sounds like you've got it right, Luddite...
Update. Recently a keen plantsman and nurseryman visited our garden to take cuttings for propagating. When I pointed out our cute dwarf Salix he immediately said that is Salix hylematica! This was another that was suggested by KarinL over 3 years ago! Thanks again KarinL. Not much on www about it. But I found this link. At the moment the leaves are still green, but apparently in the autumn as they change colour they smell of honey. Will try to check this out shortly. http://portraitsofalpineplants.com/Portraits of Alpine Plants.htm#S