petiolaris

A low maintenance, tough as all-get-out native willow that grows from the Northeast, through most of Canada and down to Colorado. It naturally grows in damp meadows, marshes, man-made disturbances, fens, shores of wetlands and by rivers and lakes. Beavers love it and ours are chomped down regularly to a few inches resulting in a mass of excellent rods the following year. Beavers don’t eat it for a couple of years after as they need denser wood! It forms dense spreading tidy clumps (no, it’s not invasive like S. interior), but is good for erosion control. It grows to a height of 5–10ft and up to twice as wide. Twigs are yellow, green, reddish or brown and the young growth is covered with dense hairs before turning smooth (glabrous). Leaves are lance-shaped; up to 3in long by 3/4in wide; plain green to silver-gray with finely serrated edges and whitened underneath. Catkins are small and appear just after S. discolor struts its stuff and before S. bebbiana. A well-behaved and useful garden plant that requires a little space and very little attention.