Salix sachalinensis ‘Sekka’ Tree/shrub, hardy to zone 4. Grows 12-20 feet, or can be kept smaller with pruning. Airy, graceful, almost tropical habit. Produces highly ornamental flattened, contorted branches covered with catkins – like nothing you’ve ever seen! Rich, reddish-brown bark in winter along with unusual shape and texture look great against a backdrop of snow. Lovely in floral arrangements.
Contorted branches harvested in February and dried. Not all branches on a Fantail look like this. Others are straight sticks with regular pussy willow catkins.
A Japanese Fantail Willow planted in 2010 and pruned to a “standard” (one trunk) in 2012. This tree will now grow taller, since I’ve restricted it to one trunk. Fantail naturally wants to grow into a large multi-stem shrub, but you can prune it any way you want. Do your pruning in early spring. If you wait until fall, you’ll be cutting off your future blooms- the catkins (same goes for lilacs and other flowering shrubs).
Look at all the cuts I made. Don’t worry, you cannot hurt a willow- they respond well to pruning. This will now grow much taller- 15-20 feet. My personal preference is to let a tree/shrub grow the way it wants to for 2 years before I shape it. BTW, use a sharp pruning saw and make a clean cut as close to the branch or trunk as possible. This will enable proper healing and look more attractive as well. If you have a dull pruning saw, go out and buy another $8 saw. Yeah, I know it’s annoying but these cheap tools just don’t last long. I end up buying 2-3 per year. If you think that’s excessive, you do not want to know how many watering wands I go through in a year!
Note: All willows can be cut to the ground each spring if desired, and they will grow back 4-8 feet per year, in the form of a multi-stem shrub. You might want to consider doing this if you don’t have room for a tree, or if you want to harvest lots of branches for floral arrangements- willows throw out more stems when pruned hard. The other advantage to doing this is that you’ll get a more proportionate shrub, with fresh, young, more attractive growth.
