Buy Salix exigua

Salix exigua, known as the sandbar or coyote willow, is native to much of North America. It is a cold-hardy, suckering shrub that forms thickets 15-20 feet tall of slender gray-green branches. The textural foliage is narrow, lance-shaped, grayish-green, and has silky white hairs when young. In spring, male and female catkins are produced on separate -- dioecious -- plants around the same time that the leaves emerge. First Nations people used the flexible willow stems for baskets, arrow shafts, scoops and fish traps and the bark and leaves for medicinal purposes. Excellent for stream stabilization and soil erosion as the plant suckers profusely and forms an extensive root system. Both drought resistant and tolerant of flooding. Grow for its beautiful fluttering leaves, perfect for bog gardens, along ponds and streams. Male flowers provide pollen for bees. The foliage is a larval host for many native butterfly and moth species. Photo: Wikimedia.

This lovely U.S. native is one of the most silvery willows known (making it just glow in the moonlight!), this clump-forming 10-20'shrub spreads by basal shoots to form colonies; pretty pinkish stems contrast with the creamy spring catkins and the very narrow silver leaves; a very useful willow for stabilizing banks, also used for poles, basketry, twine and medicine. S/M-W

A deciduous shrub reaching 4-16' in height, spreading by basal shoots to form dense clonal colonies. Salix exigua is an upright tree with slender greyish green branches clothed with long, narrow, finely toothed, silky silver leaves and small pale yellow catkins. The flowers are produced in catkins in late spring, after the leaves appear. In the garden, use it to add texture and a lightweight backdrop. Native to California and is also found outside of California, but is confined to western North America. Provides streamside erosion control. Traps sediments and nutrients from surface runoff and prevents them from entering the aquatic system. This willow had many uses for Native Americans; the branches were used as flexible poles and building materials, the smaller twigs were used to make baskets, the bark was made into cord and string, and the bark and leaves had several medicinal uses. Found in riparian. Communitites located in Sagebrush Scrub, Shadscale Scrub, Creosote Bush Scrub, Yellow Pine Forest, Foothill Woodland, Chaparral, Valley Grassland, Pinyon-Juniper Woodland, Joshua Tree Woodland, Wetland-riparian Between 0 and 5500 feet.