This is an old artificial cross thought to have originated in Germany around1831. It was first described by Andersson in 1867 as a specimen collected in a garden in Hessen, Germany, and later put into commerce by Späth of Berlin (Clarke, 1980). It is of the most widely grown weeping willows, especially in North America where it is also known as the “Thurlow Weeping Willow” and often mistakenly listed as babylonica.
The branches are thin, reach down to the ground, and tend to sway in the breeze. Our stock comes from the wonderful folks at the Holden Arboretum in Ohio. The catkins on ours are hermaphroditic, meaning they’re both male and female. Neat! Foliage begins light, and darkens during the year. The flashy undersides of the leaves put on quite the late summer show!