Nishiki Willow's
Red Twigs in Winter,
Catkins of Spring,
& Pink Leaves of Summer
"In a branch of willow hid
Sings the evening Caty-did."
-Philip Freneau
(1752-1832)
(1752-1832)
The first photo, taken in early December 2001, is a willow shrub with nearly all the leaves gone, showing the startling limb-color it develops this time of year; a larger portrait from winter 2003 can be seen on the Nishiki Willow Page along the Winter Bark Garden Walk. The bark is not red in other seasons. A good plant choice for creating gardens that retain interest when leaves have fallen.
This cold-hardy cultivar is Salix integra 'Hakuro Nishiki.' It is also sold 'Fuiji Koriangi,' 'Fuiji Nishiki' or 'Albomarginata,' & occasionally with the name 'Hakuro Hishiki' which appears to be a common mispelling as on the commercially printed label on the specimen we obtained some years ago.
It is also variously sold with such common names as Dappled Japanese Willow, Variegated Willow, & by other names. I once saw it offered as "Red Twig Willow" but since the limbs are only red in winter most nurseries don't try to draw attention to this feature which won't be evident when they're selling them. Nishiki Willow has over time come to be preferred. This Japanese name alludes to a brocade design evoked by the leaves & frequently used in obi or kimono-girdle cloth.
We've permitted ours to go twiggy & wild as we don't prefer shrubs that look in any way poodled, but it is quite amenable to pruning, & regular pruning can even be recommended to increase the coloration of the winter limbs, since newer growth will be the reddest.
It is spectacular in all seasons. It has yellow catkins in early Spring, shown in the early April (2002) close-up at the right more than twice life size. The catkins are followed by mottled green & white foliage which turns salmon-pink by summer. The third photo, taken mid-June, shows the shrub just as it is becoming pink. The close-up of a pink leaf was taken in July.
It does not drop its long-lasting leaves until rather late in autumn, & will have very pleasant yellow coloration especially in October & November, shown on the Nishiki Page of the Autumn Leaves Gallery. When leaves have finally fallen the limbs will have become showy, either pink or dark red for winter (when, as the December photo shows, it may still have a few of those long-lasting leaves).
In much colder regions than ours, only the tips of winter branches will turn coral, but in temperate climates the whole length of the limbs turn red.It likes sun. It also likes lots of water in the springtime when it's putting on its main growth; the rest of the year it's best if it never entirely dries out, yet it is more tolerant of occasional drought than it is of being deluged with waterings.
When young it does not weep much, having a striking stiff-limbed starburst form. As it ages the limbs take on more of a willowy droop.
It requires very little pruning if one eventually wants a to-die-for eight-foot to ten-foot tall eight-foot wide fountaining shrub, or an even taller upright tree if one obtains the grafted trunked version.
Since the pink-as-flowers summer leaves are most numerous on new branches, plus some gardeners will not want it to get quite so wide & big, it can be pruned back early Spring to maintain the starburst appearance & maximize new growth that'll have the best summer leaf color & winter twig color.
For our own specimen, we will continue to encourage ours to get bigger & bigger. In July 2002 it was still only about four & a half feet tall & six feet wide, more than twice the size as when we planted it.
After a slow start, the amount of growth it put on through 2003 was extravagant. It self-selected its own crooked leader which sprang up to ten feet high, & the whole huge fountaining pyramid began to require some side-pruning to keep it out of a path.
To look at it now, it's hard to believe it slightly disappointed us its first two years in the yeard, having been slow to establish, but by its fourth year it became a fantastic showy shrub.
First introduced to the west in 1979, it has become a very widespread nursery offering both as a fountaining shrub & as a slender-trunked sapling of a tree.
To me the grafted one-trunk specimens look kind of weak for far too many years, though at some point they begin to get enough weight on them they do look like real trees instead of bent dustmops. For my tastes the ideal Nishiki are those which look natural & form a spraying bush.