How to Prune a Salix Purpurea

The showy, reddish-purple stems of the Salix purpurea, or basket willow, add color and visual interest to any landscape. A Eurasian native, this perennial shrub has long been a favorite in American gardens. The narrow, sliver-blue leaves add an eye-catching, fine texture to the surroundings during the growing season; after the foliage falls, the flexible stems can be harvested and used for craft projects. To encourage new, vigorous growth and abundant flowering, S. purpurea should be cut back hard in the late winter. It may look a bit severe, but the robust stalks are capable of growing up to 10 feet in a single season, filling the landscape with an abundance of colorful new stems each and every season.

Manual pruning shears
Handheld pruning saw

Instructions

- 1
  Visually assess the shrub once a week beginning in late winter. Pruning is most effective if performed just after the new buds of growth appear.
- 2
  Remove any broken, diseased or dead branches with a pair of manual pruning shears, cutting the unwanted stems off where the main branch forks into the side branches.
- 3
  Trim the remaining branches, cutting the stems back to within 1 inch of the old wood, about 2 to 3 feet from the ground. Hold the blades horizontally; level, straight cuts reduce the odds of splintering. This will create a “stool” from which the branches will develop, forming a thick, bushy, rounded shrub.
- 4
  Saw the stems with a handheld pruning saw, cutting them to within 2 inches of the ground to rejuvenate the entire bush. This is often the best approach to pruning severely overgrown or neglected shrubs. As new canes will grow from the ground, weak stems can be systematically removed, leaving only the healthiest, most strongest branches in place.

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