Violet Aglaia WillowViolet Aglaia Willow

Violet Willow Trees, Large

Salix daphnoides Aglaia (Standard)Plant guarantee for 1 yearFeefo logo

The details

Delivered in Large Sizes
  • European. Violet young branches. Wet, acidic sites.
  • Sizes: Saplings & Standard Trees.
  • Good screening tree, ornamental in winter.
  • Max. Height: 20m
  • RHS Award of Garden Merit
  • Bareroot Delivery: Nov-Mar
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Description

Salix daphnoides Aglaia Standard Trees

This ornamental Violet Willow, Salix daphnoides Aglaia, is a male variety of the Violet Willow, Salix daphnoides. It is often pollarded or coppiced to encourage a constant display of young stems, which have the best colour. Because all Aglaia plants are male, they won't make any seeds. The fluffy catkins (which appear before the leaves) are silver-grey when they are new, later developing a bright coat of yellow pollen. This contrasts wonderfully well with the young, brightly coloured bark. Several species of butterfly caterpillars eat the leaves of this tree and even though it is infertile, it still provides a source of early pollen for bees. Violet Willows love moist acidic, peaty soil and are often found on mountainsides in the wild, where they enjoy the high rainfall - we don't recommend this tree for a dry garden unless you are happy to water it frequently. However, it is one of the few willows that will really thrive on the coast. It's not suitable for chalky ground and needs a sunny position, though it is hardy.

Salix daphnoides Aglaia is an excellent choice for pollarding and our standards are good for doing so at a height of 2-3 metres). Cut back hard every 2 years for the best display of young stems. 
Standard trees are the largest size that we deliver, you can also buy wild Violet Willow plants in smaller sizes.

Browse our variety of willow trees or our full range of garden trees.

How Standard Trees are Measured: All our standards, are graded by their girth in centimetres 1 metre above ground level (basically, their trunk's waist measurement). They aren't measured by their height, which will vary. So, a 6/8 standard has a trunk with a circumference of 6-8 centimetres and an 8/10 standard has a trunk 8-10 centimetres around. This measurement makes no difference to the tree's final height. Standard trees are 2.5 - 4.5 metres tall (on average) when they arrive; they are the most mature trees that you can buy from us.

Did You Know? 

The Violet Willow is a European native, widely found in a belt between Greece and the Baltic Sea. It is mainly grown for its decorative bark

Planting Instructions

Notes on planting Violet Willow trees:
Violet Willow trees will grow well in any fertile soil, especially wet sites and acidic peat.
They will not grow well if the soil is poor or dry and they need more than half a day of full sun.

Prepare your site before planting:
It is good to dig over the site where you plant a tree several months in advance. Kill the weeds first: for tough weeds like nettles, brambles and ground elder, you will usually need a weed-killer to get rid of them. When you dig the soil over, remove stones and other rubbish and mix in well rotted compost or manure down to the depth of about 2 spades.

Watch our video on how to plant a tree for full instructions.
Remember to water establishing trees during dry weather for at least a year after planting.

Tree Planting accessories:
Prepare your site for planting by killing the weeds and grass with Neudorff WeedFree Plus.
You can buy a tree planting pack with a wooden stake & rubber tie to support the tree and a mulch mat with pegs to protect the soil around the base of your tree from weeds and drying out.
We suggest that you use mycorrhizal "friendly fungi" on the roots of all newly planted large trees: if your soil quality is poor, we strongly recommend it.
You can also improve your soil with bonemeal organic fertiliser and Growmore.