I bought a house with a weeping willow in the front garden, not 25 ft. from the house, not a good idea. it had to die before it destroyed my drains or worse, the house!!! The only way for me was to cut it as low as possible, drill some holes into it a feed it with strong weedkiller. I forget what chemical it was, possibly ammonium sulphate chrystals. This approach contained the chemical inside the plant and the plants I put in the bed around it were not affected in any way. Not exactly organic, but effective. The tree died, I left the stump in and planted up around it.
There was a large willow tree in the garden when we bought the house 17 years ago. It is even bigger now and I love and hate it.
I love that it only ever is bare for one month -January. I love the colour of the stems and watching the buds swell in early spring. I love the catkins and so do the blue tits. I appreciate the shade and the shape of the tree. Woodpeckers nested in it last summer which was a joy.
I hate constantly having to clear up after it like a toddler - even half an hour after cutting the grass it has a light covering of leaves. Twigs fall from the branches after any wind. I have collected bags and bags of long whippy twigs over the winter - uncompostable, they just slip through my shredder and have to be recycled by the council. Nothing will grow under it, not even weeds - despite me trimming the lower branches so the kids can play under it. It takes up half the gadren and shades the other half!
I am however hopeful that it is not long for this world as when the woodpeckers chipped out their hole for their nest, the wood chips were all spongy... I just hope that it falls in the right direction!
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I bought a house with a weeping willow in the front garden, not 25 ft. from the house, not a good idea. it had to die before it destroyed my drains or worse, the house!!! The only way for me was to cut it as low as possible, drill some holes into it a feed it with strong weedkiller. I forget what chemical it was, possibly ammonium sulphate chrystals. This approach contained the chemical inside the plant and the plants I put in the bed around it were not affected in any way. Not exactly organic, but effective. The tree died, I left the stump in and planted up around it.
There was a large willow tree in the garden when we bought the house 17 years ago. It is even bigger now and I love and hate it.
I love that it only ever is bare for one month -January. I love the colour of the stems and watching the buds swell in early spring. I love the catkins and so do the blue tits. I appreciate the shade and the shape of the tree. Woodpeckers nested in it last summer which was a joy.
I hate constantly having to clear up after it like a toddler - even half an hour after cutting the grass it has a light covering of leaves. Twigs fall from the branches after any wind. I have collected bags and bags of long whippy twigs over the winter - uncompostable, they just slip through my shredder and have to be recycled by the council. Nothing will grow under it, not even weeds - despite me trimming the lower branches so the kids can play under it. It takes up half the gadren and shades the other half!
I am however hopeful that it is not long for this world as when the woodpeckers chipped out their hole for their nest, the wood chips were all spongy... I just hope that it falls in the right direction!