An acquaintance wanted a pussy willow because they reminded her of her Canada childhood, so I bought three and planted two at her place and the third at mine. Hers were mowed down by the yard guy, and maybe they’ll resprout. Willows are tough, but hers will face even tougher competition from fiercely competitive Appalachian Mountain natives.
Mine was planted where it would get plenty of water when it rains, as willows generally grow in wetlands, and I plan to keep the homies at bay. The NC Extension Service says there are at least four species of willows that are commonly called ‘pussy willows,’ so I don’t know exactly which one mine is. Maybe Salix discolor, maybe a different species.
A deer browsed the very top of my tree last summer despite it being within a six-foot-tall surrounding deer exclosure. Wanting to see how tall this willow can grow, I was annoyed at the loss of its apical meristem. Some tree species can redirect terminal meristem growth hormones into buds below a lost central stem, so I applied a splint to the next side branch down to see if it would transform. Now, almost a year later, you can see that the lateral-cum-terminal branch has indeed shouldered the imposed responsibility. The small brown spot to the left of the lower string is the only evidence of the deer damage other than a radical reduction in stem diameter at the center of the photo below. I believe this first splint is no longer needed, but I want to leave it alone until autumn leaves drop to ensure the plant thickens up enough to keep the trunk straight.
Sadly, this morning I noticed (below) that all of its top
branches were whorled outward rather than one being a central stem.
Looking closer, I saw that something has killed this year’s central meristem (below). It was not bitten off; it instead simply died, from what I do not know. Several side branches show similar tip death and replacement (not pictured). My guess is that the early spring warm spell initiated post-winter new growth, and then later freezes did the deed.
So, figuring that what worked once might work twice, this midmorning I placed a second splint above the first splint onto the next whorled side branch down. The below photo shows two strings tying together both splints. I wanted the second splint to be directly in line with the first splint so that the trunk would be as straight as possible. This is a second reason to keep the first splint for another growing season.
The last pic demonstrates that by midday today, the tree’s center once again had a central meristem. Will it take as well as the first splint? I think so. Will I need to add a third splint next year? It’s an arms race. Or is it more properly called a heads race?
