Willow Work
Did you know that in 1892, over 360,000 Liverpool willow baskets were sold? That's an average output of nearly 1,000 hand-made baskets every single day!
Learn much more about
this at the Willow Field Elementary School willow
web page.
Paul Gerhardt (1901 - 1944) working in a
willow shop weaving a basket
Did you know that you can still see dozens of willow barns in and just outside the village of Liverpool? Take a walk along Liverpool's beautiful, tree-lined streets. Look behind the older houses and see if you can find a structure similar to the one on this site's home page.
What about the willow
itself?
We asked an area expert about willow, and received a very interesting
response. Carol T. Bradford
writes a gardening column in the Syracuse Post-Standard's Home and Garden
section. We asked her about the invasiveness of the type of willow that would
have been used in the willow industry, and whether it was as invasive as Phragmites
(the very tall grass that you can see along so many highways and at the edges of
lakes and rivers). After looking at the Willow Museum website, she wrote this
message in response to our inquiry about the invasiveness of the type of willow
that would have been used in the willow industry:
"I enjoyed looking at the old photos of the weaving trade on your web site. Here's what I know about Salix purpurea:
The invasiveness will depend on the variety. The suckering is what you want, however, because that's what allows it to send up a nice crop of willow wands every year to be harvested.
The basket willow, S. purpurea, is native to Europe, North Africa and all the way across Asia to Japan. It is a shrub that generally grows 8-10 feet tall. There are many varieties that differ in qualities related to basket making, like how thick the wands are, what color they are, how easy they are to peel, split or weave, and so on.
'Nana' is an ornamental dwarf form of basket willow often seen in trendy garden magazines. It grows to about five feet tall and is often called the arctic blue leaf willow.
Another basket willow cultivar is 'Streamco,' which was introduced by the Soil Conservation Service for planting on banks to reduce soil erosion. This shrub suckers and layers. It's aggressive to the point of being invasive, but is useful in difficult sites.
Willows tolerate wet soil; they don't require it. They do need full sun. They are not generally competitive plants so new plantings have to be kept free of weeds. I doubt any willows are a match for Phragmites.
The American Willow Growers Network is a group that shares information and cuttings. Their primary interest is in the special varieties of S. purpurea that are grown for basket making. The group has a demonstration garden, holds basket making workshops and is interested in developing new uses for willows. Visit the web site or write Bonnie Gale, 412 County Road 31, Norwich, NY 13815 for information. I haven't spoken to her in a few years, but she's bound to know all there is to know about
cultivating basket willow. The plant maintenance involves cutting it back regularly to encourage the growth of the new shoots.Thanks for writing. Let me know if I can help with this interesting project.
Best wishes,
Carol T. Bradford
"And so it grows..."
c/o Home and Garden
The Syracuse Post-Standard
P.O. Box 4915
Syracuse, NY 13221