Awesome tip Shoe. Some one is sending me cuttings to root. I will have to get busy and make some willow water so it's ready when the cuttings arrive.

Great!
Just curious, what kind of cuttings will you be rooting?

Shoe

Shoe,
Did you know that the white willow contains salicin, the first aspirin. You like useless info as much as I do, so here goes:

The Greek physician Dioscorides, writing in the first century A.D., was probably the first to describe the use of willow to reduce fever and pain. The tree's bark and leaves are rich in salicin, a glucoside closely related to acetylsalicylic acid, the active ingredient in aspirin.

The problem with that is that it caused terrible stomach pain and nausea, so the cure was worse than the ailment.

In the 1850's a derivative, acetylsalicylic acid, was synthesized from salicylic acid. This was the prototypical aspirin, but it took researchers close to 50 years to recognize that the new drug had all of salicylic acid's therapeutic properties without the side effects. Aspirin contains no willow derivatives now, but is entirely synthetic. I sometimes think that the white willow could be called nature's aspirin.

(I'm quoting from one of my old articles here, so I reckon I don't have to cite myself as a source.)

Shoe, why are you up at this hour?
Thanks for the tip, by the way, it's a good one. Works every time.

Heh, heh, there are a couple of willow trees at the nearest branch of my bank. Looks like there'll be a snip here & snip there. I have a spot on the property that I think a willow would be pretty happy in.

Thanks Shoe!

GREAT tip Shoe! - THANKS! and I love the cost of it

Thanks for the fabby tip shoe We have willows here I have entered this in my travelling book of lists under 'Things to Collect'. Now would I know a native AB willow if I saw one? Probably not I should have paid more attention in my 'Woody Plant ID' course

will have to give it a try.. thanks!

Yes, other willows work. I have Corkscrew Willows. Good tip!

awesome.. I have two pussy willows!!

Mornin', Folks (says Shoe, groggy, eyes puffed up like bullfrog's throat, lips sipping decaf. Ugh).

Howdy Sharon, yep, I was familiar w/the aspirin factor in willow. And I even remember your excerpt, too. Thanks for posting that. (Now, Folks, don't be drinkin' your willow water, take a BC or Goody powder instead!)

Hmmm...my head's a'thinkin...what with the rooting qualities of willow tea, I wonder if someone had a root canal operation would gargling willow teas cause your tooth roots to grow back? (Sorry, Vic, guess I keep thinking of the dentist.)

Shoe

Groan, I have to see one tomorrow (dentist) ICK!!!! Unlike most people i have no problem with the needles & actual work being done. It's the darned COST!!!! I have to have a crown too. Can you say bring a bag full o' money?

I don't like any of it...needles, money, etc.

Ann, if you run out of money go read my latest blog entry. You're guaranteed employment.

Shoe

Which you can read here:

http://garden.org/blogs/view/H...

I tried this once without success, but then I didn't have all the information
I will definitely try this again.

Quoting OneWish1:

"Awesome.. I have two pussy willows!!"

I have a pussy willow, so I'll make some willow tea this weekend for rooting cuttings.

Shoe, I would like to root some roses, clematis, anemones, hydrangeas. Any other tips?

Great tip(s), BTW. Thank you!

Horseshoe said:Ann, if you run out of money go read my latest blog entry. You're guaranteed employment.

Shoe

I enjoyed the blog very much Shoe! And just how close to Gaston county are you? My dogs breeder lives in Gaston county & we often joke about things like spitting out the hole of the missing front tooth. And if that isn't close to you then how about Rutherford county where our 2 nieces live?

And thanks Vic for the link to shoe's blog.

Shoe I will be doing coleus cuttings. : )

note to self.....must go in search of a willow tree. A willow Y is also great for "witching" water...metal coat hangers work too if bent right. Was WAY cool the first time I tried it and those suckers moved all by themselves Sure hope we get some rain so I don't need to put them to work again

The guy that dug our well when we lived in Ohio witched it and he was dead center of the water vein too. We had a very good well.