Sounds like a good spot to me. The only willow I've ever deliberately planted is in a relatively high and dry spot. It does fine.

Mulching can help a lot with soil moisture retention.

What kind of willow are you thinking about using?

I've noticed that my Salix 'Rubykins' attracts a lot of small pollinators when in bloom. It is male, so it makes a lot of pollen that is used by small, ground dwelling solitary bees that live in my sandy soil. I assume that they will pollinate the other plants blooming in the area. Pollination of this willow coincides with the early fruit blooms -- apricot, Jap and European Plum, through about peaches. Probably basically done about the time apples and pears get going, but of course, this varies due to weather. Last year, it was very warm, and everything kind of popped within a couple of days of each other.

Willows don't need a lot of water. It is just that they compete better around water. They actually have a wider natural range than any other tree on the planet. One Willow (Salix arctica) is even part of the tundra.
Your trouble I fear will be keeping them where you want them, not getting them to grow.

"They actually have a wider natural range than any other tree on the planet."

?

According to my dendrology teacher at Paul Smith's college yes, and we always believe our professors don't we? Of course he also claimed that Peanut butter kept him virile at near 80 years old. If I am wrong please let me know, then I can stop eating that vile Peanut butter as well.

I suspect the Salix claim is wrong. Quercus, for instance, seems to exceed Salix's range (or at least pops up in my head as a strong contender).

As for peanut butter, check out the link. And no, I'm not really suggesting you shouldn't eat it, just that you should obsess over the possibilities as you eat it. (-:

Here is a link that might be useful: What's in Peanut Butter

I think the issue is that 'wide' is undefined. Surely Salix is a component of the tundra and extends above the Arctic Circle and to the Alpine Zone, but I'd have to think about whether we mean altitudinally, hemispherically, geographically...geographically, I can see that.

Nonetheless, a related aside: one thing I like to say on nature walks when we come to one, is that the active ingredient in aspirin - salicin - was synthesized from willow into salicylic acid, but a more palatable form of salicylic acid was later synthesized from the Spiraea, hence Aspirin. This is one reason why we try and protect plants.

/geeky

Dan

Moving to trees so as not to hijack thread.

Just wondering about the fedge part of the question. The flowers appear to be one of the attractions to the OP but if it's clipped tight to keep the fedge shape I believe it is unlikely to flower.

If you want a tall narrow barrier you could do it with more fruit trees grown as espaliers. Then you get your fedge, your flowers and more fruit.

Here is a link that might be useful: Growing a willow fedge

Oops, it is the flowering part I want to keep intact. but I will be managing the size of any willows that I plant. I am planning to use them as a small scale windbreak too. So, technically not a clipped "fedge"--my apologies for the confusion. I am growing basketry willows (that I coppice) near a ditch that always has some level of water in it. Now I want to expand the varieties I grow near the drier orchard for the purposes indicated and experiment elsewhere with the living structures concept. Guess I've been bitten by the willow bug in the past couple of years.

Your professor was correct - willows are the most widespread genus of "trees" in the world. They are also one of the largest genera with over 350 species.

What's a "fedge"?? Do we mean hedge? Am I the only one confused by this - apparently - accepted terminology?

A fedge is planting willows at an angle and interwining them, creating a fence. It is a more specific than the general term of hedge.

Willows can be pruned after the Spring bloom...any time, really.
As others have said, Willows don't need to be sited near running water....mine, which I
think are Pacific Willow, grow along a seasonal creek bed that's bone-dry half of the year.
No supplemental water provided.

Josh

gardengal48 I am feeling very triumphant! I've found something about gardening that you don't know. That's a first for me :) Follow my link.

My point was that to keep a fedge a fedge and not a hedge it needs constant trimming to maintain its shape so would be unlikely to form much of the old wood which would produce the flowers.

Here is a link that might be useful: Fedges

Salicaceae,

Some sources suggest well over 500 pure species in the Salix genus. Maybe more have been downgraded to varietal status?

As for the claim about their being the most widespread, I think Dan's explanation makes sense. I hadn't even thought about the lack of specificity of the term (although the subject of this thread does seem to me to direct the interpretation away from geographical distribution).

Back to Sujiwan's willows...I don't think we ever figured out which kind was being proposed for the orchard fence+hedge=fedge.

I was using a conservative estimate on species (following Argus, I believe - need to check). There may very well be more and if you include hybrids, the numer of taxa goes way up. Of course, I really enjoy the genus and would love to see more of them. Sorry to take this thread off topic..

As for the original question, I would say a good species to try would be S. humilis. It grows in "dry prairies" and is definitely one of the most drought-tolerant of the native species in the eastern U.S. Whether it will grow fast enough and with the right charateristics for a fedge, I do not know.

Thanks for the link, flora, I enjoyed learning about a fedge.

Fedge?! I thought it was a typo for fudge! I've been waiting to see how to make willow fudge. I guess I'll wattle on out of here.

tj

not much to offer specifically ....

except to note that you are contemplating an EXTREMELY HIGH MAINTENANCE line of plants ...

from experience.. 10 years ago .. when i was 40 .. i planted all kinds of things that need repeated maintenance .. now at 50 .. i am wondering what i was thinking ..

do you think that you will be able to maintain a long fedge for the rest of your life???? if you consider that in the equation ... you are on the right track ...

i dont think i read how long this living fence is going to be ...

ken

Thanks for the info, Flora......I had no idea :-) And there's a LOT I don't know -- gardening is an endless pursuit of knowledge...there's always something more to learn :-)

I get what you're saying, Ken. I used the word "fedge" unthinkingly, making an assumption that it was a term for a willow hedge, rather than a type of espalier like fencing.

What I want is a willow hedge that flowers and that I can maintain at 6 -7 feet tall in an area that, as explained, tends to be much drier after the spring runoff, but is moist enough to have supported my orchard adequately.

I plan to put it down only one leg of the orchard rectangle , about 5 trees deep so it won't be huge. I'm out pruning fruit trees, bushes, vines and roses yearly so that's not that big of a deal for me to take care of willows in hedge form.

I just want to make sure that the types I choose will be amenable to controlled bushiness and OK with just average moisture cause that's all they'll be getting once established.