Back in April when I began my adventures in blogging, my first entry revolved around a branch in a Christmas-themed urn that had taken root and was subsequently producing leaves. This is what it looked like way back on April 27th. I proclaimed that I was
Crazy For Corkscrew and jumped to the conclusion that I had a corkscrew hazel on my hands.
Well it turns out I was wrong. At the risk of being wrong again, I'm now prepared to announce that I've got a corkscrew willow instead. I suspected I had misidentified the plant for some time now. The leaves on the sprouted tree were too long and narrow to be corkscrew hazel. I kept expecting them to get thicker and denser but that never materialized. Then the other day I saw a reference to corkscrew willow somewhere and had an epiphany. Just because my branch was twisted didn't make it a corkscrew hazel. A Google image search of "corkscrew willow" turned up dozens of pictures that looked just like my little tree.
Now I was happy to have a corkscrew hazel. But I think I'm even happier to have a corkscrew willow. The mature trees I saw on the internet were way more appealing to me than a mature corkscrew hazel. And judging by the growth spurt I've seen this summer, this little tree should be a big tree in no time.
Back in April when I began my adventures in blogging, my first entry revolved around a branch in a Christmas-themed urn that had taken root and was subsequently producing leaves. This is what it looked like way back on April 27th. I proclaimed that I was Crazy For Corkscrew and jumped to the conclusion that I had a corkscrew hazel on my hands.
Well it turns out I was wrong. At the risk of being wrong again, I'm now prepared to announce that I've got a corkscrew willow instead. I suspected I had misidentified the plant for some time now. The leaves on the sprouted tree were too long and narrow to be corkscrew hazel. I kept expecting them to get thicker and denser but that never materialized. Then the other day I saw a reference to corkscrew willow somewhere and had an epiphany. Just because my branch was twisted didn't make it a corkscrew hazel. A Google image search of "corkscrew willow" turned up dozens of pictures that looked just like my little tree.
Now I was happy to have a corkscrew hazel. But I think I'm even happier to have a corkscrew willow. The mature trees I saw on the internet were way more appealing to me than a mature corkscrew hazel. And judging by the growth spurt I've seen this summer, this little tree should be a big tree in no time.
3 comments:
Someone gave my husband a small corkscrew willow early this spring in a small pot. I transplanted it to a much larger pot and it has doubled and possibly tripled in size this summer! It is a quite a water hog, but after losing leaves a couple of times because being too dry, they readily sprout again from the stem and grow away. I like my corkscrew willow! :-)
I think they are a wonderful plant, too. In the winter the interesting twists and turns are real head turners. I (almost) hate when it starts to leaf out in the spring, and the interesting lines are covered up with leaves. I think I might plant another one and then purposely kill it? Nah... I could never do it.
I have (had) both corkscrew willow and corkscrew hazel. You are right that that is a willow. The advantage to having a willow is that they are not subject to disease like the corkscrew hazels are (I lost mine to Eastern Filbert Blight). The willows grow fast and huge, though. If you plant it in the ground instead of a pot, it will quickly grow into a large tree (and I mean QUICKLY).
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