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Scoulers' Willow · Salix scouleriana

Description: A deciduous shrub or slender tree (15-30 ft.) with somewhat wooly leaves and an elliptic shape. The very furry catkins appear before the leaves in late winter/early spring, making good cut flowers. Scoulers willow grows in shrub swamps and moist woods, along steambanks and lakeshores. It can grow far from water in upland forests, and tolerates the driest conditions of all our native willows. The native plant gardener will appreciate its tolerance for wet and dry conditions, as well as its wildlife values. As with many other willows, it helps control erosion and shades fish habitat when planted near water, its stems and foliage are enjoyed by deer and rabbits, small game-birds and songbirds eat the catkins and buds and the insects that live among the leaves and branches, butterflies and bees enjoy its nectar, and some native butterfly larvae use willows as their host plant. Sun, regular water.