Black Pussy Willow Salix gracilistyla 'Melanostachys'

I was delighted to see one of my Black Pussy Willows begin popping their little black catkins yesterday.
It is my second year for these bushes and the first year of catkins. I took a picture which I will share with you. I went out to see them this morning and something has cut numerous little new branches off and just left them lay as well as eaten some of them. I recovered the ones I could and put them in water, hoping to root them, but I feel that is not going to work. They are only a few inches long and just new sprouts.
To say I want to kill the critter is an understatement. I love critters, but when they do this to me I get so angry I just want to destroy them all. Grrrrrrrrr!

Do you like Bambi?

How apt that you should be telling us this. Today is the first day of the Chinese New Year, and one of the symbols is pussy willow with catkins, indicating the start of spring.

Or Thumper?

Squirrels regularly eat magnolia buds. Worse they just take one bite, throw it on the ground and grab another one. Squirrrels also tip pruned my Malus sargentii 'Tina' last winter by breaking numerous branch ends as they ate the fruits. Maddeing. Nothing more than tree rats!

Happy New Year to Thumper and Bambi.....we now have a fenced in area for our little black pussy willows. I fixed their little butts. Ah HA!!!!! We do not have a problem with deer, but groundhogs and rabbits really give us a hard time. Our groundhogs are as big as our dogs. LOL

Sounds like rabbits to me, from my experience. Want to know the best repellent? An old farmer told me years ago, and it really works. Human urine. I'll leave it up to you how to apply, but little boys love to help. Just "trace" a line around the plant, not ON the plant itself. Works with larger areas too. (My son "helped" me for years in our garden, starting when he was three. Luckily, we live in the country!)

Hmmmmmmmmm HoosierGreen, it is too cold for me to try and do this myself and I have no male kids here on the farm and I am sure my SIL would take a dim view of helping me, so I thank you anyhow. That is hysterical. How about dog urine? got that.

It might work. I have a dog, too. But dogs work best just chasing the bunnies away!

Three years later, these black pussy willows are doing their best to survive in the miserable winter we had this year. This is a picture of some of those babies I planted when I started this thread. This was taken Feb. 2011

I took cuttings a week ago they have been in water in a clear container on the East Window of the bird room. This is how I begin to propagate them. I seldom put them in soil until the roots are several inches long. The make lovely patio shrubs also.

Yeah! Triumph out of tragedy!

Be sure to not wait too long to put the rooted cuttings in soil as the "water roots" sometimes don't make an easy transition from water to soil. Once the roots are about an inch, the cuttings are safe to put in potting soil for further growth. That said, willows are tough and I've had good success just sticking prunings into soil and keeping moist.

Have fun.

Hi Hoosier, Yes, you are correct, one inch roots do o.k. for me at times, then again, I have had them just die. Hopefully there is a happy medium. They must be kept moist when in soil, that is for sure. One problem I have when they are in the greenhouse and it gets too warm. They dry out before some of the other cuttings. I also am starting some in test tubes. I like doing them in single containers and watching them progress. I get as much fun out of watching as I do at cutting and planting. Have a great day. JB