Growing Tips
In general, willow needs lots of rain and lots of sun. They are fast growers under those conditions. While willow is not invasive via underground propagation, it will send roots into any nearby water source so keep willow away from water pipe areas.
You can space willow closely to get long straight rods to harvest for other applications and to quickly get dense, impenetrable hedges. The planting process itself couldn't be easier - push a stick in a hole in the ground and water.
In deciding how many cuttings you need, here is a place to start:
For a dense hedge, plant cuttings about 10-12" apart, so you will need about 10-12 cuttings per every 10 feet of hedge line, at a minimum. The closer they are, the fuller and taller they will grow, and planting them in two close-spaced rows and alternating them will make the hedge denser.
For basketry and handcraft uses: Reportedly, it takes about 125 rods to make a medium size basket. The basketry varieties tend to need a year to be established before you get more than 2 usable rods per plant. Our current group of 3 year olds are getting 4-6 rods per plant, and we expect those numbers to climb to 10 and more. So a plot of mature willow would need about 10-12 plants for each basket made per year, at a minimum.
One strong advantage to growing willow is that most of the work involved happens in the cooler months of spring and fall. Summers you just have to keep an eye on the rainfall and winters they lie dormant.
Every purchase will include complete instructions for planting and care.
Purchasing
These varieties are available as cuttings for sale and ordering will open up on November 10, 2025. You will have the choice of delivery week between Dec 15, 2025 and Feb 27, 2026. Cuttings will be about 12" in length and sold in packs of 10, $20 per pack. Suggested order is 3 packs, ($60) perfect to sample different varieties or concentrate on one favorite, but there is no minimum order.
We will fill orders for cuttings until Feb 27, and any rods left over will be for sale for living willow applications and basketry. Rods sales will be in-person only here in WNC. Check out the blog starting on March 1 for those products.
Shipping and Payments
Shipping is additional, see below for process.
If you live in the Asheville/Hickory/Charlotte area, delivery is available for large orders ($100+).
We only ship to the US mainland.
The shopping cart will charge your card for just the willow when you make the order, and that will be your order reservation. When the willow is fully dormant, usually in early December, we will begin to harvest the orders, and calculate shipping.
If you prefer not to do the purchase online, email us your phone number at GoodWillowFarm@yahoo.com. We can do everything over the phone.
We will contact you via email or phone that your order is ready to ship and what the shipping cost will be. Shipping cost will be due via check or charge before shipping. and once paid, your package can go out within the week. Your delivery should be timed so you can plant soon afterwards. You can hold your cuttings safely in a fridge or cold dark garage for a few weeks, but you will risk losing some to fungus or premature sprouting if that stretches to months.
It's practically impossible to predict shipping weights for a natural item, combined with the calculations for quantity and the packaging required, all in a simple shopping cart. Delaying the charge means we can package and ship at the lowest cost to you.
Thanks for your patience, and thanks for buying from Good Willow Farm!
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