alba v. sericea

A natural variety of the White Willow with beautiful silver foliage that comes from the silky, silver hairs on both sides of the leaves. One of the most beautiful of all trees. Driving around England in late September 2012 this silver beauty was the outstanding deciduous tree as all others were a fairly uniform green. Around Burlington, VT, there are many naturalized plants of this selection, plus some that have hybridized with S. x fragilis and have differing degrees of silver hairs. Our cuttings came indirectly from English plants and have very silver leaves. Grows best in full sun and average to moist soils. Medium-sized ornamental tree that can be pollarded to keep a manageable size or coppiced to produce lots of great twigs for supporting perennials, climbing annuals, including veggies; also, useful in summer flower arrangements.

description credit goes to Michael Dodge