daphnoides ‘Red Rocket’

A selection of the Violet Willow whose origin is unknown (we’d love to hear from anyone who does know from whence it came!) It gets its name from the young, erect-growing  red branches of coppiced plants. They shoot up with a few side branches much like ‘Ovaro Udine’, but red-stemmed. The young twigs are a delightful pale violet and then turn red  with a white bloom in the second year. The male flowers of this selection open in early spring from flower buds produced the previous summer. Our cuttings came from the Arboretum of the Canadian Experimental Farm in Ottawa, in return for helping them verify the identification of the Salix in their collection!