Goat Willow (Salix caprea)

Goat Willow (Salix caprea)

Why Goat Willow? No-one seems quite sure - it's nothing botanical. It might have been grown to feed goats - who knows. It's the odd one out, as Goat willow (or Pussy Willow, or Great Sallow) doesn't necessarily need wet, although it grows as quickly as our other native willows. Salix caprea is dioecious too - male and female flowers appear on separate trees. As other true willows - as opposed to hybrids - it won't grow from a rod stuck in the ground. The male flowers are in the form of yellow catkins (as pictured), which are an important source of early pollen and nectar for bees in the critical period of early spring.

Value For Wildlife

In the female form Salix caprea has silver catkins, which are also an excellent source of early season nectar. There was a beautiful old Goat willow tree in our old village that was covered with our bees as soon as it came into flower - like the one pictured! Useful for the church flowers, too. Among its dependent species is the spectacular Purple Emperor, for which it is a foodplant. They seem to be second only to the oaks in terms of dependent species, which include several small mammals.

Plants For Sale

Like all the native trees we sell, our Goat willows are grown in the UK from UK origin seed. We sell 2 year old 60/90cm plants in multiples of 5.

We sell larger plants as either "feathered" or - the biggest we sell - standards. These are measure by their girth - so 6/8cm means 6 to 8cm around - and are typically over 6ft tall.

Suppliers: RV Roger, British Hardwood Trees.

See our planting and size guide for details and tips on planting. These Goat Willow trees are all bare root, and are consequently available for delivery from November until March. During the lifting season there may be up to a month's delay between placing the order and dispatching, due to weather conditions or pressure of orders, which are dealt with in date sequence. Orders for Goat Willows placed between March and September are confirmed in October ready for dispatch from November.