‘Frances Red’ Basket Willow

bare-root plants

Salix purpurea

8-10'

We grew these plants from cuttings we got from basketmaker Johnny Suderman in Ontario. He describes the plant as having long non-branching purplish-red rods with blue-green leaves. When he soaks them for basketmaking, the stems turn “dark grey with some purple-red.” This is his favorite willow for baskets.

Once established, you can coppice it annually for a perpetual source of basketmaking material. Z4. (1-2')

NEW!

ships in spring

7570 ‘Frances Red’ Basket Willow

A: 1 ea

$20.00

Check for new listings in early September

Shipping

Items from our perennial plants warehouse ordered on or before March 7 will ship around March 31 through late April, starting with warmer areas and finishing in colder areas. Orders placed after March 7 will ship around late April through early-to-mid May, in the order in which they were received.

Additional Information

Small Trees and Shrubs

As Green’s Nursery catalog from 1904 explains, “There are many trees that by pruning can be made to resemble shrubs, and many shrubs that by different pruning may be made to produce medium-sized trees.”

Willows Salix spp.

The genus Salix comprises hundreds of different species of plants most commonly called willows but sometimes called Osier or Sallow. Willows grow all over the world. Some, like the weeping willow, are towering specimens. Others are short scrubby bushes; willows growing in the arctic can be 100 years old but only 2' tall! Uses include ornamental landscaping, shade, basketmaking, erosion control, timber, fuel and medicine. All parts, especially the bark, contain salicin, used for relief of pain and fever for hundreds, or even thousands, of years. Aspirin is a synthetic analog of salicin. Willows feed local wildlife, insects and birds. We plant them near the orchard to provide early season forage for our native pollinators. All prefer sun and loamy wet soils, but are adaptable, easily transplanted and fast growing.