Trimming the Curly Willow in Winter [Bonsai]

This is the Willow family in my collection.

No, I'm not talking about the fantasy film about a magical dwarf who teams up with cocky Val Kilmer rescue a baby of prophecy from an evil Sorceress. Though this is an excellent film. And I have always wanted to grow the infamous Blackroot.

Today I am going to share photos of some general clean-up I made on two of my Willow trees. They are both members of the Curly/Corkscrew Willow variety. They produce long slender green leaves much like a Weeping Willow, except the branches spiral upward and do not grow as long and thin as Weeping Willow.

This Curly Willow was not pictured above. I found it buried deeply beside my house. Almost forgot it was there.

In Winter this tree looks quite sickly doesn't it?

You think it's ugly now?

Wait until you see what it looks like after I removed all of the dead wood from it.

Nice parrot stand.

Very sad. This one has jumped up to the top of my list as my ugliest tree. It has no small branches, and just two big fat stubby branches. I would have left more branches on it, but they were all dead with no buds or green wood.

Most people would probably throw out this tree into the garbage, and buy something that looks better.

Instead, I just turn it around, and say, "I think that side looks better."

Maybe next year it will look better. And if it gets better every year, one day I will have a nice bonsai tree.

That's been my strategy with saving crypto-currency so far, too. We'll see how that works out in five years.

Here is another Curly Willow in my collection.

It has a piece of wood I wedged into the middle, because I am training the branches to open outward more. I didn't want to cut off either of the two main branches because they both have a nice thick twisting shape, and I didn't want to end up with a tall and skinny trunk. That piece of wood has been wedged in there for over a year now, and probably isn't needed anymore since the branches are becoming hard in this area.

I'm going to remove all of the dead wood on this tree, and cross my fingers it ends up looking better, rather than worse.

Here is the end result.

Not too bad.

The silhouette of the wiggly edges around the tree are much more vivid.

There are some lessons I am learning about Curly Willow. This tree is very challenging to maintain fine branches on, because they die back very easily when the tree becomes dormant. As long as I can keep the roots strong, I know it will continue to age and grow. This kind of tree is designed to grow along rivers and ponds where the stormy mudslides often tear trees apart. Willows sacrifice off the weakest branches, and stores growth for buds along the branches and trunk. Those buds will become long twisted suckers for the new year.

Because of this strange growing habit of Willows, many people coppice (cut down the entire tree) Willows to re-invigorate the tree to put full energy into growing new thicker tall branches. They can use these new branches for basket weaving and decoration in floral displays. All of my Curly Willows were originally rooted from floral cuttings.

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That's all the time I have to share today.

Is this a tree that grows in your area? It is certainly an unusual one to find as a bonsai. Please share your comments below.

Until we meet again...