purpurea ‘Vermont Red’

A selection found in Plainsfield, Vermont by the State Botanist and sent to the USDA at Big Flats NY for evaluation in 2010. Although the USDA at Big Flats NY rated it very highly they decided not to introduce it. I received cuttings from Prof. Larry Smart of Cornell University several years ago and I am very impressed by this selection because of its fine dark red stems. I contacted the USDA and was given permission to name this selection and offer it for sale. We suspect that this selection, or one of its parents, may have been brought to Vermont by French Canadians who made their home in Vermont when England and France were doing battle over Canada. They brought with them several willows originally from France for basketmaking and these willows escaped into the wild and naturalized. I have found several ‘wild’ purpurea in our hometown of Fairfield and nearby St. Albans. This selection is shrubby, not tall and slender like some purpureas. With full sun it produces the deepest red colored stems; it produces lots a slender rods. A female selection.