Thank you so much. I’m so glad it can help you in some way. I did a lot of stuttering in this video lol. I’m an introvert so it was quite an effort to get over my shyness and talk to a camera. I’m hoping to get better at it over time 😄 thanks for watching! 😊
Great video! I bought a dappled willow when my father passed away 20 years ago. It's gone through some stages but after proper pruning, it's more beautiful than ever. After seeing it, 2 of my friends bought bushes. During spring mine gets an angelic light pink pop along with the white. So awesome!
Mine gets those pink tips too 😊. It’s so beautiful in spring... Wow, after 20 years your willow must be quite a sight to see. The oldest one I have is 6 years old and I’ve noticed it gets more beautiful with each passing year, with the branches getting denser and denser. The two trees I have in the front yard have gotten countless compliments from the neighbors and even prompted some of them to get one of their own. Dappled willow is truly one of my favorite plants of all time ❤️
Best video indeed, you answered the question I have which is why my dappled willow is all straight and rocket high, so different from those in the nurseries, the ball shape tree.
Yeah, they tend to do that, get crazy tall and unruly. It’s amazing how well they respond to pruning. They get prettier after every trim. You can actually see the difference right away. It’s great 👍
Hi fab video. Can you please tell me what month you did this pruning please. I planted my willow ealy this year it has grown well with very long branches now. Leaves are only just started to go little green When is it best time to prune back. Am in the uk. Thank you.
As far as I know, UK and the US are in the same hemisphere so experience the seasons at the same time. And I’m on the upper east coast so my seasons happen pretty much almost exactly the same time as yours. Typically, once your willow matures, you will need to trim it twice because of its vigorous growth habit. I usually trim in mid to late July, depending on how fast it grew that particular year (more rain that season usually means more growth. And less rain that season, less growth).. but anyway, I’m rambling. lol. So currently you can go ahead and trim it now. But later, you’ll probably be doing it in July and again some time after it’s lost all its leaves during winter (because by then the branches will have grown again). Doesn’t matter when during winter. You could cut it as soon as it loses its leaves or wait till just before spring. It will be asleep so it won’t know the difference either way.
I have a video on clearance hydrangeas but that works for all plants if you want to give the roots a good drink. And you’re very welcome! The willow in this video was actually bought off the clearance rack too 😄 twins!
Thank you for the video. Very useful information. I just purchased my 1st dapple willow couple days ago. Do you cut it all the way back in fall or just a light trim?
Way back. Same as I did this one, which was in the summer. When you’re starting to train it, and it’s still very small, you’ll want to trim off the new branches by half because at that point the whole thing is new branches. But as it ages, you’ll want to cut it about a foot or two smaller than you want to be in spring. Because those new white branches that emerge in spring will take up room so you’ll want to leave that dead space around it for them to occupy. I hope I made sense there lol
I also have two dapple willow shrubs. Im noticing mine are branching wide. It’s reached 4x4’ in 3yrs. I haven’t done a hard coppicing prune yet. I want to do that this coming Spring. I’m just curious why you chose to prune in Sumner & Fall?
I get a denser bush faster. Because they grow so incredibly fast, I can get what would have been two years of branching in one season. Normally, with other plants, you’d prune once a year and then they take the rest of the year to slowly grow out, like for example with a boxwood. Dappled willow is the only plant you can prune twice and it’ll look better/fuller after each prune. Hope that helped 😊. And no more than two prunes. They do need some time to recover. By the way, if you have a tree form, it would be the same process. I have two in my front yard and they look spectacular in spring 👍
Ok I see. So you prune in July then again in December? I like to leave their branches for winter interest so I normally shape them in Spring. Then I cut back hard in Summer. I’ll try your technique. Just curious what zone are you in? I’m in zone 7b here in NY.
@@sammysworld5485 but that’s exactly what I do too. It seems you prune twice too. Once they go to sleep in fall, it really doesn’t matter when you prune them. You could prune them after the first frost like I do, or you could leave the branches till spring and cut right before they wake up. It’s all the same.. then there’s the second cut in summer when they become unruly and lose the white variegation. We’re on the same page lol.
I’m in New Jersey, zone 7a. But you can prune the way I do in any area as long as the plant is at the stage I describe. The only difference would be if you were in a warmer zone, then your willow will have woken up sooner than mine so will be further along and will turn green before mine ( because it woke up before mine, if that makes sense). But no matter what area you’re in, when it loses the white color, that’s when you trim it. Then it will grow again and by late Autumn will have grown long branches again, so you cut again. (Or you could leave the branches till late winter and cut right before spring) as long as you have them trimmed before they wake up in spring, the timing of the second cut makes no difference since the plant will be asleep/dormant. I hope that made sense. And don’t be nervous about trimming your dappled willow. They are extremely tough plants and will respond positively to trimming. Just make sure it gets a plenty of water 👍 it will be fine 😊
@@SP_REX I did it in July but the month varies for different people because of our different climates. For example, people in zone 4 are a full month and a half behind my zone 7. Because when my plants are leafing out, zone 4 still has snow on the ground. So instead I gave you a better way to figure out when it’s time to trim it. When the leaves go from white to green, that’s when I trim it. You could trim it a little before too, but I like to enjoy the white color as long as I can.
