I think they are beautiful :) But it seems like I have heard some negatives...maybe someone will chime in here with some facts.

I know they need a lot of water,

I would only plant one, if I had a HUGE property. Their roots can get you in to trouble, and thus, don't plant near the house, or lateral lines.

Moni

PS, I do think, they look really neat.

I want one, but after hearing about them I'll try the bonsai variety.

Bad:

*"trash" tree (drops a lot of limbs and weak in storms)
*water-seeking roots destroy underground pipes in a few years
*Weaker longevity in our dryer climate
*Difficult to eradicate

Good:

Rooting hormone
Just plain coolness in its beauty

bon

Thanks. We have a pretty large yard and newer area with plastic pipes that they say isn't as easy for the roots to get into.

I think they are beautiful but they tend to be weak-wooded and lose limbs easily and often in wind storms. I've always wanted to plant one on the banks of one of our 4 ponds that are nowhere near the house, and by nowhere near the house, I mean hundreds of feet away. I've never gotten around to planting one though, and now I'm glad, since the recurring droughts we've had, particularly since 2005/06, have apparently dried up the springs that fed the ponds and all we have now are big bare holes where ponds used to be.

We have a neighbor up the road a couple of miles who had one right in their front yard, not too far from the house itself, when we moved here, but I don't remember seeing it lately so I guess they removed it.

Sorie, the problem with trees like willows, commonly referred to as trash trees, is that they grow fast and have weak wood so about they time they start looking really nice and the resident is happy that they planted them, then they start developing diseases and losing limbs every time the wind blows very hard. Then an ice storm comes along and brings down the tree onto buildings, cars, etc. If you really want one and are determined to plant it, just do so with the knowledge that it generally is not a long-lived tree.

We also had a neighbor who had a large one in their front yard in the 1960s. I loved that tree. It was beautiful and it was older than I was at the time. One summer day they hired someone to come in, cut it down and haul away the wood. I was probably at least 10 years old at the time and mourned the loss of my favorite tree. The tree service also ground out the stump. It turned out that the tree's roots had invaded their water lines, and my dad said "this is why you don't plant willows". I've still always wanted one but likely never will plant one. We have native willows on the edges of our creek and on the edges of our dry ponds and they drop limbs right and left year round. Cutting them down is on Tim's April/May "to do" list. They also occasionally have their foliage devoured by willow beetles (and in the years when those beetles show up there are thousands of then and they devour every single leaf) and some sort of really ugly larger Asian beetle feasts on their wood. Having seen all the problems those willows have has made me reign in my desire to plant a weeping willow.

Dawn

I wouldn't plant one on a town lot. My mother had one by the spring on our farm. It was fine there. They look very pretty from a distance. You can cut a branch put it in the ground water it and a tree will grow. My mother planted one or two in the yard. It was very prone to getting aphids and the trees don't live long. In decline you have broken branches and an ugly look.

Not only needs a big space, its a tree that works best situated with a wide angle view in mind so it can be enjoyed from some distance. There is one in the park close by, it greens up sooner than every other tree. They are gorgeous in the right place, very bad in the wrong. This tree did suffer some serious breakage in the ice storms but recovered rather nicely & the shape came back surprisingly well.

I have a curly one. On the west side of the drive where nothing else but the sun is. As always, Dawn is right. Every wind, it comes apart. Last May a large branch was in my bathroom through the skylight, but that could have been from Moore just as easily. When its not breaking, it's beautiful. Just get used to picking up branches, They grow back quickly.