Salix gracilistyla Mount Aso - Black Willow

Salix chaenomeloides 'Mount Aso', also known as Salix gracilistyla 'Mount Aso' (m), is a recent Japanese variety, derived from a very hardy small willow native to Japan, Korea, and China. It is distinguished by its lovely fluffy pink-red catkins, which bloom in late winter on its still bare branches and provide a unique and decorative display. Named Mount Aso to pay tribute to the beauty of this volcano, which is almost as famous as Mount Fuji, this small willow with reddish young shoots and beautiful autumn colours will be superb as a standalone or in a bush grove for much of the year. Its branches are beautiful in bouquets.

Salix chaenomeloides belongs to the willow family. It is a deciduous botanical species of modest size, with a spread crown, whose trunk is covered with a grey, dull bark that cracks with age. While in its natural environment, this small tree reaches 10 m (32 ft) in height, it rarely exceeds 3 m (9.8 ft) under our climates, especially since it can easily be contained by annual pruning. According to some taxonomists, 'Mount Aso' is a cultivar of Salix gracilistyla, another Japanese species known as the pink pussy willow.

'Mount Aso' forms a multi-branched bush, with a fairly compact habit. It is a particularly interesting variety for its beautiful 2.5 cm (1 in) long catkins, beautifully coloured in pink-red rather than grey. If they form very early in autumn, sheltered under red scales scattered among the yellow-orange foliage of October, they develop in March, before the leaves, along branches covered with a brown-pink fuzz. Before their blooming, they are covered with a "fur" of red hairs at the base, pink at their tip, playing an obvious role in protection against the cold. As soon as the temperature rises, they open up, releasing yellow and red stamens, as in most willows. Its foliage resembles that of Japanese quince (Chaenomeles). Its young shoots, tinged with red, turn a matte grey-greenish-blue in summer, with a pubescent underside.

Equally charming in a mass planting as in a large container on a terrace, 'Mount Aso' is perfectly resistant to heavy frosts and proves to be very easy to grow in soil that remains moist, whether it is light and sandy or even clayey and heavy. Prune it every 2 or 3 years to encourage it to thicken and produce numerous flowering branches. It can be placed in a hedge, in the centre of a low shrub bed, or even as a standalone, surrounded by early-blooming bulbs (snowdrops, crocuses, fritillaries, hyacinths). Consider creating bouquets with its branches adorned with pink catkins. In a vase, they beautifully accompany those of Prunus triloba, flowering cherry and plum trees that the warmth of the house will awaken.