Salix repens Armando

Salix repens Armando is a variety of creeping willow that is particularly compact and adorned with decorative catkins. Over the years, this shrub forms a small central dome with its periphery pressed to the ground. Its miniature foliage is dark green, and lovely silver and then golden catkins appear as early as March. Thriving in wet to moist, non-limestone soils, this willow is perfect for dressing up a pond bank or a wet slope. It is also an original subject to cultivate in a pot.

Salix repens belongs to the Salicaceae family. It is a botanical species native to a large part of Europe and temperate Asia. This willow grows spontaneously on dunes, in wet heathlands, and sphagnum bogs. It is also found in mountain meadows, up to 1700 metres in altitude, always on acidic soil. There are several cultivars on the market, which are quite similar to each other.
The 'Armando' Salix repens is a variety that was identified and isolated within a population of Salix repens 'Iona'. Compared to the latter, it has a more creeping habit, even weeping when grafted on a stem. When planted in a pot, it will elegantly cascade all around its container. With very slow growth, it will reach a diameter of 50 cm after ten years and approximately 80 cm at maturity. As for its height, it will only vary from 20 to 50 cm. Fine branches emerge from the heart of the shrub, cascading to the ground and forming a dense carpet of reddish-brown twigs. From mid-March, silver-grey catkins with small purple dots appear, creating a beautiful contrast on the branches. Yellow stamens develop, giving the catkins a golden appearance and forming an interesting ornamental feature, despite their modest size (approximately 1.5 to 2 cm long).
The deciduous foliage usually emerges next. It consists of small leaves arranged alternately. With an elongated elliptical shape, the leaves are very small and narrow, measuring 2 to 3 cm long. The upper surface of the leaf is dark green, while the underside is bluish-green, covered with silver hairs and traversed by discreet veins. Very numerous and borne on short petioles, the leaves are closely spaced and form a dense vegetation, ideal for use as ground cover. In autumn, the foliage falls, revealing the plant's architecture.

This 'Armando' creeping willow will create an original scene on a terrace when planted in a decorative pot that highlights its weeping habit. In the ground, it will be perfect as ground cover in the foreground of a diverse flower bed. This shrub will provide a nice contrast at the base of a variegated dogwood such as Cornus alba Ivory Halo, with green and white foliage that turns orange in autumn, and whose upright red branches are stunning in winter. It will also be perfect in a moist area near a pond, where you can plant Astilbes with their beautiful white, pink, red, or purple plume-like flowers. And for a striking colour contrast, plant a Sambucus racemosa Goldenlocks behind it, a compact elderberry with extremely dissected golden foliage.