Definitely odd...I love these plants as well. I have 3 back on my lotline. I haven't seen the Flamingo around yet..hopefully it starts showing up. Are you sure its dead? Did you scrap the stems? If any are green, cut back 1/3 of the thickest stems all the way to the ground. Willows benefit from renewal pruning. Being 10ft in 8 years tells me you haven't done any.

kimcoco, this is funny - I saw the title of the thread and thought, Hey, I have a Hakuro Nishiki in a pot - oh wait... LOL! Anyway, I bought this so long ago, I'm not quite sure where I got it. It was either at Wayside or Parks (neither of which I would probably buy from now!) but I'm leaning towards Parks. I remember them having lots of shrubs available in tree form. As far as price, I think it might have been about $50. Also, reading back through this thread I caught something I missed initially, in Wendy's comments. This tree really isn't that big. The pot it is in is directly behind the fence with the morning glories. The fence is about 20 to 25 feet out from the door. I realize it may look like the trunk is much closer to the door, which makes the tree look bigger. The tree, pot included, is maybe seven feet tall. The sad thing is, I still haven't done anything about it! It's still in the same old pot (although I bought a new pot last year!) and I still haven't decided to go with a pot without drainage holes or not. I have a friend who has one of these shrubs in standing water, and it is gorgeous, so I think no holes should work. Maybe this spring I'll get around to it... :) Dee

Thanks for the replies, We planted this about 20ft from the house. The tips of the branches this yr were maybe a ft. away from touching the house meaning the shrub has become very large. Whether it be from my poor pruning methods or something else this is not the problem...I love how big it is. Anyone who sees it comments on how massive it is compared to any they have seen and the same is true for me as well. My problem is there are no new shoots from the trunk to about 4 ft out...that didn't seem normal so I was trying to help it grow shoots closer to the trunk. I have a yard full of willows...artic, corkscrew, dappled as well as several river birch and ash trees, birms full of plants, several flowers gardens and wisteria everywhere. I do alot of research on everything I have and any research I have done on this shrub has never showed it this size so I figured there is something wrong and it is often called "ornamental"...it obviously has optimal growing conditions. I prune alot of plants every yr. and I have always pruned this shrub the way you stated I should until this yr....everything is always full, beautiful and healthy so I know I am not that incompetent not sure why feel the need to defend myself. This particular shrub seems a bit trickier...as a matter of fact I was told a couple of yr's ago by a nursery that this plant had a very short life span like maybe 8 yr's and we have had it 7 so I figured it was starting to reach that point especially after cutting some branches and seeing the center rotten and dark brown. Anyway at this point will the area that I did prune produce new growth or did I damage that area permanently is the question?

I have just pruned our Salix integra Hakuro Nishiki today. I have tons of cuttings.