Willow Queen

My husband now calls me the Willow Queen. I guess it could be worse. I have been wandering muddy areas around Jupiter getting willow cuttings. It started with a park we are working on with Glatting Jackson in Boynton Beach. We wanted to provide sensory experiences with plants and came up with willow tunnels as a good way to provide green play things. Of course, it hasn’t been done in South Florida. All of the information we could find on the web came from England. You can actually order live kits for a variety of willow constructions. Unfortunately, the willows that live in England do not live in South Florida.

While there are probably a large number of plants that would work, coastal willow is native to South Florida and we decided to try it. Unfortunately, local nurseries don’t grow many Coastal willows; we could only find two trees in our area.

The RFA team planted the two store bought willows 5’ apart at Terracon Services out in Jupiter Farms. (picture above) These willows can become stock and will also allow us to at least tie together and braid some taller established willows. We also grouped some cuttings we made in groups of three and planted them in three gallon pots in the garden area behind our office. They rooted quickly and easily and we hope to plant them somewhere close by so that we can keep an eye on them as they grow and start the braiding process when they get to be about 4-5 feet tall. We’ll post quarterly pictures once they are planted in the ground.

Sprouted willows ready for transplant.