Shouldn't…but Do

Salix discolor is a willow indigenous to North America.  Known by its common name Pussy Willow, this native plant holds a place in the minds, and memories, of many.

For that reason, each year, when the catkins on mine are full out – burnished silver, with deep, almost purple heart,  I cut branches, trimming and bundling, to fill my red rubber garden carry-all.

Until they are gone,  I give them away to those I meet – at local schools, people I visit, neighbors – friend and stranger alike.  Always nice to spread a little spring.

Pussy willows produce plentiful, high quality nectar and provide an assist to the first bees and insects of the year.  Underground, their roots are passionately devoted to finding moisture, sometimes entangling plumbing along the way. Above, they grow quickly, and unless pruned, can take the form of a tree, rather than a shrub.

Some years back,  my neglected pussy willow did just that – funneling its energy into two or three scrubby trunks reaching high into the sky.

There is a point, with plants and life, when things are too committed, when form taken doesn’t suit the direction of energy present.  In response,  I pruned my willow to the ground.

Following dramatic change, or restorative prune, any gardener will experience  moments of doubt.  Will it come back, was it too much, did I kill it?

Because nature is rarely so generous, answers never come quickly.  Above ground, worry for the growth that is not forthcoming.  Below ground, below ground – one can never tell.

As it turned out, by the next year that shrub was young again, slim canes reaching skyward, no longer restrained to a form conferred by neglect.

I was out today in the mud, with hacksaw, working on the willow again.  Slowly making room for new growth.  Judiciously removing gnarled, thickened stems that crowd and speak of limitation.

In time the willow will rise from its ground, in multiple ways I can only guess at.  More space, less neglect, sufficient moisture – small, but important things that return life from the underground in spring.