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The Willows

It usually happens from early to mid-April that some people enjoy their annual spring ritual of venturing into the countryside to cut a bouquet of Pussy Willows. Perhaps this year some of these age-old favorites will be seen against a white backdrop…of snow.

Back in the mid-to-late 1930s, along would come a pleasantly mild spring Sunday afternoon and my dad would say, “Come on boys; let’s go find some Pussy Willows.” How we looked forward to and cherished those simple adventures.

This huge Golden Willow might become Door County’s biggest Willow.

Our favorite place for cutting them was along the Green Bay and Western Railway tracks west of Kewaunee, near the “foot bridge.” There the track bed had been built up as the railway went through the margin of a very wet site, ideal for the willows. Spring just wasn’t spring without a vase of Pussy Willows in the center of the living room table.

Recently we’ve been slowly cruising some quiet side roads in search of migrating birds and other signs of spring. How beautiful it is to see the huge towering Golden Willows appearing like giant, flowing gilded fountains. This surely has to be one of the most spectacular of 80 or more willow tree species in North America.

Willows as a group are very likely the most widely distributed woody plants in the Northern Hemisphere. Usually quick to hybridize, making them quite difficult to identify, these sun-loving plants have a fascinating history of growth and uses.

The Golden Willow (Salix vitellina), like the yolks of eggs in color, is a variety of the White Willow native to Eurasia and North America. Actually what many nurseries offer today is Salix x chrysocoma, an artificial hybrid between two natives, the Weeping and the Golden Willows. The first provides the frost hardiness and the second parent the strong weeping habit. They do best in deep loams, or along stream banks and in wetlands.

We haven’t had any difficulty in locating Golden Willows that were slightly more than 16 feet in circumference. The state record is more than 23 feet around, measured at 4 ½ feet above the ground. Bear in mind that most willow tree species are extremely fast growers. Newly planted small trees may reach more than 10 feet tall during their first year of growth.

Nick Anderson and Dave Link admire the largest Peachleaf Willow in Door County, presently the largest of all Willow species.

One of my very best natural history mentors in past years was the brilliant Dr. Jim Zimmerman of Madison. I still cherish a field trip he led to the so-called Hungry Settlement Bog southwest of Sturgeon. The route to the bog took us along a stretch of the Ahnapee and Western Railroad tracks, now a state recreational trail, whose ditches and lower side banks were very wet. It didn’t take Jim long to locate five different species of Willows, including what eventually became one of my favorites, the Bebb’s Willow, found growing throughout Wisconsin. Being a butterfly aficionado, an interesting feature of Bebb’s Willows is that they are one of the several larval host plants upon which Mourning Cloak and Viceroy Butterflies lay their eggs.

Bebb’s Willow, Salix Bebbiana, is named in honor of Michael Scheck Begg (1833 – 1895), an American who became well known for his interest and skill with the difficult Willow genus, Salix. All species in the genus Salix share the unique character of a single bud scale. All others have two or more scales covering each bud. Now is the time to check this feature out before the leaves emerge.

Bebb’s Willow, also called the Beaked Willow, is a large, fast-growing, multiple-stemmed shrub or small shrubby tree, seldom taller than 18 feet and most often much shorter, which often forms dense thickets. What helps make identification fairly easy is that this is the only Wisconsin tree willow with entire leaf margins, or with a few irregular teeth. All other willows have leaves with toothed margins. This also is the most important species of Diamond Willow, a type of willow which produces fine, colorful wood used for carving and especially for making unique, beautiful and durable hiking staffs and canes. Native Americans used the pliable and tough twigs for basket-weaving and arrow-making.

I’ve always preferred using a hiking staff whenever traversing trails. My favorite wood for the staffs to date has been Serviceberry with Green or White Ash a close second. Now that I’ve come across the possibility of using Diamond Willow for a staff I plan to get going soon with this interesting project.

I’ve learned that the Itasca Wood Products Co., Deer River, MN 56636, offers high quality, kiln-dried, unfinished 5-6 ft. staffs of this beautiful wood at very nominal prices. I’d suggest you check on their prices, shipping costs etc. before ordering.

As boys we were Kewaunee’s experts at finding the shortest distance between two points – shortcuts, that is. One that we took often, going to or returning home from school, was a diagonal cut through the southwest corner lawn of Mr. and Mrs. Ed Claussen. That is, we took it whenever their elderly gardener, Julius Wadtke, wasn’t in sight. It went right past one of our favorite trees, a huge Weeping Willow, Salix babylonica. What great whips they produced for our home-from-school games. These trees, which need a very special setting to bring out their beauty, are native to western China.

A beautiful, untrimmed Weeping Willow is left to grow naturally.

Because some exotic species of willows have attractive form or color, or both, many have been introduced to our country. In fact the largest of any willow growing in Wisconsin is a White Willow, Salix alba, growing near Lake Geneva. It is close to 23 feet in circumference.

The largest willow we’ve measured so far in Door County has been a Peachleaf Willow, about 17 feet 3 inches in circumference. Once the weather warms up and all the snow has melted we’ll be back measuring trees.

A few days ago Charlotte and I made approximate measurements of one of the large Golden Willows growing near the Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal. It was 16 feet 1 inch in circumference and 108 feet tall. I’m predicting that, once all of the measurements have been carefully made, including the tree’s unusually large crown spread, this mighty tree will become our new Door County willow champion.

How grateful we are in many ways to the willows, but especially for helping usher in spring by way of something as simple and beautiful as a bouquet of Pussy Willows.