Tree Appreciation Tuesday - Golden Weeping Willow

 What an enchanting tree and its  placement was inspired! 

The footbridge across the Bishop's moat, with the small island on which it is growing, allows for a glimpse right into the crown, and a walk right through the drooping branches.  

In the summer you are bathed in pale green flickering light, now in the winter you can pause mid way and appreciate the structure of the tree. Look up and there are long side limbs, and look down and the reflections equally enchant. 

I noticed in a couple of places where the long stems reached down to the water, they were growing roots and therefore it would be easy enough to propagate. If anyone has a large expanse of water in need of a tree, maybe some enquiries for cuttings to the Bishop's Palace may gain you a little piece of this beauty?

Once in 2020 the Swans nested on the little island and a board had to be put up along the bridge, usually the Palace Swans nest along the bank of the moat further along, but during this period when there were far fewer visitors to the Palace, and when so many places were closed, the Island must have seemed the ideal spot for Grace and Gabriel to build their nest.  I remember watching the webcam to see how the eggs and the young chicks were progressing.  The things we found to do during the Lockdown! The island is still a place for rest or preening for all the Palace's birds

There are so many wild willows growing on the levels not far away but this is a hybrid. 

Salix x sepulcralis var. chrysocoma

Cultivar origin

Golden weeping willow is a hybrid between white willow (Salix alba), which is native to Europe and Asia, and Babylon weeping willow (Salix babylonica), which is native to China, both of which have been cultivated for centuries. The first golden weeping willow hybrid dates to 1888.

Derivation of names

The genus name Salix is the classical Latin name for the willows. The hybrid name sepulcralis means of sepulchres, or tombs, and, like the common name, refers to the trees' weeping habit. The letter x in the Latin name indicates that golden weeping willow is a hybrid species.

These details are courtesy of the site Canadian Tree Tours I found this when I was searching for the origin of this tree, and found the site to be well worth looking through. There is much there to further my enjoyment of the trees I see around me.