Planted three in summer 2007. These are 'Hakuro Nishiki'. They are on the east side of the house as screening at the edge of the neighbor's yard. I got them from Moscarillo's.
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| 6/1/2013 |
Prune 1/3 of oldest stems to ground in winter to get variegation.
Prune in late winter, but prune minimally to keep it a wild, arching shrub. Can reach 10 feet if not pruned. Or can coppice all down to 12” in winter.
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| May 30, 2011 |
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| June 2, 2011 |
In late winter 2012 I cut them all the way back to the ground. They regrew rapidly.
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| April 21, 2012 - resprouting, and the color is highly variegated. |
After the coppicing to the ground in spring 2012, they grew back fully in summer, but I can't say I liked the color or shape. They were not as arching and graceful as before. They were not as pink and variegated. There was whiteness on the leaves, but no real color.
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| July 1, 2012 Color and form were missing. These just look like big blobs |
I won't cut them all the way back again. One article I read says that they have the tight starburst form when young, but if left alone, they become more arching and drooping with age.
In 2013 I left the willows alone, no pruning at all. They were wild and spectacular and frothy and colored beautifully.
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| 6/1/13 |
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| 6/1/13 |
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| 6/23/13 |
In late fall and winter the stems are noticeably reddish.
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| 11/21/13 |
In 2014 I did not prune them back. I took out the sod below and make an island around all three (planted with vinca) since it was becoming too hard to get under them to mow. It's clear that the vinca patch below needs to be extended.
They came in very full and billowing and huge, with beautiful variegation in 2014.
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| 5/25/14 |
In winter and early spring the branches are a soft hazy red.
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| 4/6/15 |
I had Lisa from
Cultivated Gardens do some thinning pruning on these willows in spring, to keep them more open and to keep them from flopping over onto the lawn. It helps to have the sod removed and the patch of vinca growing under the willows, but that whole area needed to be much, much bigger in 2015.
Despite Lisa's pruning, the branches arched out, extended over onto the lawn, and Jim ended up chopping them back throughout the season so he could get the mower in under them.
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| 7/16/15 |
They are beautiful shrubs, huge and fluffy looking. I really don't know what to do about pruning now.
Cutting them to the ground seems like an enormous effort at their current sizes. Trimming out a third selectively, as Lisa did in spring 2015, didn't do much to control size or billow. Cutting off branches at eye level so the mower can pass encourages more branching at the point of the cut stems.
Not sure what to do.
