Saw a guy pruning a massive willow in a park near Seattle last week and he was doing it all wrong

2 comments

2 Comments

Six years ago I would have agreed with you, but last spring I watched an old arborist butcher a willow in Ballard and it came back better than ever the next year. Turns out willows are tougher than most people give them credit for, they can take a lot of abuse and still bounce back fast. I used to cringe at heavy pruning, now I figure as long as you don't kill the tree it's probably fine.

xena_williams22d ago

That bit about "as long as you don't kill the tree it's probably fine" is spot on. Willows are basically the weeds of the tree world. I've seen one in my neighbor's yard get hit by a truck and it was throwing out new shoots within a month. They root from cuttings like nobody's business, you could probably just jam a branch in the ground and it'd grow. Compare that to something like a oak or a maple that sulks for years after a bad trim. Willows are built different, they don't hold grudges.