Willow, Salix udensis 'Sekka'

We love all our willows which are great plant for many insects including our honey bees.
The early flowering catkins provide an abundant food source early in the year in March and April when little else is in flower.
We have many varieties of willow, both native species and others.
Salix udensis previously known as Salix sachalinensis and also known as the Japanese Sekka Willow, is one of our favourites.
It is also sometimes referred to as the Fasciated Willow due to some stems being curiously flattened and twisted.
Fasciation naturally occurs in plants, looking like multiple stems and sometimes flowers have been compressed together.

It produces lots of very large catkins very early in the year, sometimes even in February, that provide a copious amount of pollen at a time just when the bees need it when they are expanding their colonies with many young mouths to feed.

Like most willows, it is fast growing but produces a rounded shrub, 2-3m high, instead of the very tall trees that many willows form.
It can be pruned hard or coppiced in winter that will encourage new growth covered in catkins and enable it to be managed to any size and shape required.
This makes it particularly useful in providing a screening hedge at the side of an apiary not only providing shelter and a windbreak but also but also a valuable food source. See - Position & Site a Bee Hive

Prefers a moist, well drained soil and will grow well from hardwood cuttings.
We usually have cuttings available for sale during November to February.