Salix alba Pamiati Bażowa - White Willow

Salix alba 'Pamiati Bażowa' is a hybrid willow characterised by its beautiful weeping habit and well-coloured branches. It is a medium-sized deciduous tree, decorative throughout the year. Magnificent under its lush foliage with a bluish sheen, covered in golden catkins in March, it is even more impressive in winter, when its long, pendulous, intense orange bare branches sway with the wind. This weeping willow 'Pamiati Bażowa' is ideal for parks and large gardens. It will look stunning near a pond or lake.

Salix alba 'Pamiati Bażowa' is a hybrid variety obtained by cross-breeding the silver willow (Salix alba) and the weeping willow (S. sepulcralis 'Chrysocoma' = Salix alba 'Tristis'). This hybrid was selected in Russia by V. Shaburov and I. Belyaev at the botanical garden of the Ural branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. All willows belong to the salicaceae family.

This weeping willow 'Pamiati Bażowa' is a fast-growing tree with a sturdy trunk that develops an upright crown when young. Over time, this crown expands and becomes weeping, graceful, and airy, sometimes irregular. Its eventual dimensions reach approximately 13 m in height and 4 to 5 m in spread, with its crown potentially wider depending on how it is trained. Its long, flexible, trailing, yellow branches turn bright orange under the influence of winter cold. They bear deciduous, lanceolate leaves, with a shiny green top, more bluish underneath, which turn yellow in autumn before falling. It is a male cultivar that flowers between late March and early May depending on the climate, before the leaves appear. It develops yellow 4 to 8 cm long, decorative and honey-producing catkins.

Salix 'Pamiati Bażowa' naturally finds a place as an isolated specimen or at the edge of a body of water in large gardens. It has an incredibly romantic silhouette, and its stature needs no companion plants. However, it is perfectly acceptable to plant spring bulbs at its base, particularly snowdrops and daffodils.

Advice: Collect fallen leaves in autumn and burn them if the tree shows black spots (anthracnose) or yellow-orange (rust) during its growth. Once all the leaves have fallen, treat with Bordeaux mixture.