Brown woven wood willow - domed shape

Willow with braided brown wood and a rounded shape, in Latin Salix purpurea 'Americana', is a variety of red willow whose branches have been skillfully braided and bent to evoke a superb living purple osier aviary. Its dark reddish-brown and shiny framework, crowned with leaves with bluish and silvery reflections, has a fabulous design, bringing immediate and extraordinary impact to the garden or terrace. More hardy and less invasive than bamboo, this colorful bush takes up little space on the ground and can compete with it in elegance and flexibility, whether as a standalone specimen in a green room or in a container on the terrace. It accepts pruning very well at any time of the year, this willow bends to all desires.

Salix purpurea belongs to the willow family. It is a deciduous botanical species widely distributed in Europe, central Asia, Japan, and also in North Africa. In its natural environment, this pioneer species colonizes the banks of rivers and ponds, on sandy or gravel-rich soil. While it appreciates a certain level of humidity, the purple willow does not tolerate constantly flooded soils that suffocate its roots. It is capable, like the Salix alba (white willow), of withstanding periods of moderate drought. Its lifespan is around 20 years. The long and flexible branches of this willow have the ability to twist and propagate very easily, which allows creative gardeners and horticulturists to shape it according to their desires. It is sometimes cultivated in the shape of a "pollard" for the production of purple osier. The cultivar 'Americana' has been selected for the length and fineness of its stems, as well as its very fine foliage.

The braided brown-red willow will need to be regularly and severely pruned if you do not want it to reach a height of 10m (32.8ft) and produce a large number of long coloured stems. The young and very flexible branches are a shiny mahogany red and then become more brown with age. The buds are also purple in colour. The deciduous foliage falls in early autumn. It consists of thin leaves arranged in an opposite, not alternate, manner like most other willows. They are thin and narrow, elliptical in shape, measuring 3 to 5cm (2in) long. The lamina is light green-silver on the upper side, while the underside is more bluish and traversed by prominent veins. The foliage turns yellow in autumn. The flowering, quite discreet, takes place in March-April, before the appearance of the leaves. Male subjects bear silky catkins 3-5cm (2in) long, silver-green punctuated with purple stamens. Female subjects bear shorter and very discreet catkins. The fruit is a fluffy capsule that releases seeds covered with long decorative bristles.

Install your braided brown-red willow in a strategic location in the garden, as a standalone specimen or in groups of 3 subjects. Also place it in a large carefully chosen pot on the terrace or balcony, monitoring watering: it will have a great effect and earn you compliments from your visitors! You can also plant several subjects in a row to form a small graphic hedge that will delimit a vegetable garden square or elegantly hide your compost, clotheslines, a small tool shed... The stems of this willow intertwine to form magnificent geometric figures, overhung by a dense foliage, creating a true living sculpture that is constantly evolving.

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The red willow is a homely plant, also widely used in basketry. Its ability to stabilize unstable soils along riverbanks through its extensive and ramified root system is used in bank restoration.