“What is that yellow fluff covering the bush in the corner?” I asked. It was my first spring living in the country, and I still had a lot to learn. I had been watching the snowdrops and the crocuses do their early spring color display, and I was keeping an eye on my lilac bushes, looking forward to their early burst of color and delicious aromas. But this yellow puffy stuff? Was it diseased? Even worse, were they plagued with large caterpillars?
I kept asking around and was finally given an answer: “Oh. That’s a pussy willow shrub.”
“嗯?”我查询。我曾看到过柳枝装饰春天的花卉,我记得我长大的院子里有一丛柳枝。但我所想象的那棵小柳树的枝条上散落着灰白色的毛球。不是这些黄色的大泡泡。
我的查询来源解释。“柳属物种的一部分。Salix discolour为阴部柳树,乔木和灌木,发现于加拿大和美国东部的湿地;Salix Caprea,或山羊柳,原产于欧洲和亚洲。”显然,我找到了一个精通拉丁文植物学名称的人。“阴森的柳树得名于它在早春冒出的灰色毛球。这些毛球是雄花在开花之前的柳絮。你现在看到的那些黄色的浮子,是正在盛开的柳絮。”
“Oh!” I was both thrilled and in awe that I had a pussy willow in my yard. I later discovered another one in a different part of the yard. I would have to observe more closely the next spring so I could see the catkins before they burst into flower, when the catkins were small, cat-like balls of fur. It is a rite of spring, after all, looking for those soft fur balls growing on branches. I couldn’t wait until the next spring when I would run my fingers gently over my very own pussy willows.
The following spring, my second year in the country, I greeted spring with a flooded yard and a sump pump working ferociously in the basement. I worried about my plants, most of which were totally submerged. But I needn’t have worried about the pussy willow. It thrives in damp, swampy areas. In fact, I soon learned that my pussy willow was helping with the drainage in the flooded area around it. Mother Nature once again taking care of things.
我艰难地穿过深深的泥浆,欣赏它们出现时的毛球。洪水退去,我的小柳树的柳絮变成了黄色的浮筒。我的灌木已经开花了。树叶很快就会落下。春天在这里。
I decided I wanted more pussy willows in my yard. The easiest way to grow more of anything, and it works most of the time, is to take a clipping and allow it to root. I decided to try this with my larger pussy willow. I waited until the catkins had finished their annual spring show and then pruned a newly grown twig, about a foot in length, off the shrub.
我把割下的一端插在潮湿的土壤里,连续几周保持充足的水分,直到我注意到新长出来了,对我的试验成功感到满意。杨柳喜欢阳光,但也喜欢好好浇水。因此,它们喜欢在湿地生长。
在我乡下的第二个夏天非常炎热和干燥。事实上,我周围的整个地区都遭受了干旱,我必须节约用水,以避免水井干涸。我的小杨柳也受到了影响,尤其是较大的那棵。秋天,我不得不修剪一些枯枝。但是,我发现,第二年,这两棵杨柳又恢复了生机,长出了许多新枝。我意识到,无论干旱与否,这棵也有可能变成树的灌木都长得更好,定期修剪以防止它变得太大、太任性。它看起来也更好。
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The best time to prune is always in the late fall or even in the winter months. I usually prune late fall, as winter always brings considerable snow and ice, making my pussy willows difficult to reach, at least safely.
I know many people like to prune their pussy willows in the spring and bring the clippings, full of those cute little fur balls, inside to enjoy. Kept in a vase of water, the clippings can keep for a week. After all, pussy willows love water. My preference is to keep them outside and enjoy them where they belong – in their natural environment.
They do attract wildlife. Those cute little puffballs are full of vitamin C and zinc, and wild animals like beaver, muskrat, deer, red squirrels, grouse and snowshoe hares like to add these puffballs to their diet. Fortunately, so far, only the red squirrels are a problem to my pussy willows. Though I have seen deer taking an interest, they tend to be distracted once they discover my hostas. And since I have full bird feeders scattered around the property, there’s plenty of nutritious seeds to detract many of these critters from my pussy willows.
Speaking of bird feeders, it’s good to know that my pussy willows are favored nesting sites for goldfinches and other songbirds. And I have a lot of songbirds that frequent my feeding areas. I keep hoping they’ll decide to nest in one of my pussy willows.
Yokosays
Pussy willows are great for soaking up water! A man from Charlotte came in and bought up the land behind our house to build his house. The land to him looked like and overgrown tangle of scrubland, but to us, we knew it was the watershed for the creek behind our house. After lots of heated arguments about what he was doing to the property, he ended up covering piping and covering most of the creek. What happened? Our yard Flooooded. Our solution? Pussy willows! (and buying a house to move to out in the country
Great tips on how to keep them happy and healthy!