# Peachleaf Willow (Salix amygdaloides)

> The tallest native willow of the prairie states, a fast tree for stream banks and wet ground with peach-like leaves that are whitish beneath.

Also called almond willow, Wright willow, Salix nigra var. amygdaloides. Category: Uncommon Yard Trees. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/peachleaf-willow/

![Peachleaf willow (Salix amygdaloides) multi-trunked trees leafing out beside a muddy prairie stream](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/peachleaf-willow-h1610-800.jpg)
*Photo: Matt Lavin, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped · [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ASalix_amygdaloides_%284018709804%29.jpg)*

## Facts

- Type: Medium tree
- Mature height: 35 to 60 ft
- USDA hardiness zones: 2 to 8
- Grows wild in: Stream banks, floodplain forests, swamps and wet flats
- Native range: 29 states, north to [North Dakota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=ND), south to [Texas](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=TX), east to [Vermont](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VT) and west to [Oregon](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=OR) ([Arizona](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AZ), [Colorado](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=CO), [Idaho](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=ID), [Illinois](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IL), [Indiana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IN), [Iowa](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IA), [Kansas](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=KS), [Kentucky](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=KY), [Michigan](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MI), [Minnesota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MN), [Missouri](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MO), [Montana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MT), [Nebraska](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NE), [Nevada](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NV), [New Mexico](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NM), [New York](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NY), [North Dakota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=ND), [Ohio](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=OH), [Oklahoma](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=OK), [Oregon](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=OR), [Pennsylvania](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=PA), [South Dakota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=SD), [Texas](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=TX), [Utah](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=UT), [Vermont](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VT), [Washington](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WA), [West Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WV), [Wisconsin](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WI) and [Wyoming](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WY))
- Sun: Full, Part
- Soil moisture: Wet, Average
- Growth rate: Fast
- Flowers: April to June
- Fruit: Cottony seed, May to June
- First crop: 5 to 10 years
- Mature spread: 35 ft
- Traits: Tolerates wet soil, Erosion control, Wildlife value
- Sold as: Saplings

Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them.

## Availability

Saplings ship [bare-root](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/planting-bare-root-trees-on-arrival/index.html.md) or [in a pot](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/a-sapling-in-a-pot/index.html.md), [usually 12 to 18 inches tall](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/small-sapling-or-big-transplant/index.html.md), in the dormant season, and their height and age are stated with the price, once available. Live plants ship February to May and October to November. Not priced yet: leave an email on the web page for one email when it is priced, with a code for 10% off the plants in that order, not shipping or tax, or write to captain@bluewhaletrees.com.

## Notes

Peachleaf willow is the most common tree willow of the eastern Great Plains and the tallest native willow of the prairie states. It grows on river bars, stream and pond banks, sloughs and wet sand from Quebec to British Columbia and south to Texas and Arizona. Its long, pointed leaves are yellow-green above and whitish beneath, shaped like a peach's. Its roots run fast and deep, among the quickest of any streamside tree. It is important in protecting riverbanks from erosion. Use it to hold a stream bank or a pond edge, or for quick shade on low, wet ground.

## Size, growth and what to expect

Peachleaf willow grows fast, about 2.75 feet a year in our growth estimator. Expect 35 to 60 feet, on one trunk or several, with a spreading, slightly weeping crown 25 to 35 feet wide. It is short-lived.

Catkins open with the leaves from April to June, and the female catkins shed tiny seeds on silky hairs in May and June, when spring floods spread them. Deer, moose, elk and beavers eat the twigs, and house wrens, woodpeckers, flickers, doves and ducks nest in it. Bald eagles nest in tall trees, and the leaves feed mourning cloak and viceroy caterpillars.

It grows wild from Quebec and New York west to British Columbia and Washington, and south to Kentucky, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. It is most common along the rivers of the Great Plains. NatureServe ranks it critically imperiled in Vermont and West Virginia, and it is gone from Kentucky.

## How to grow Peachleaf Willow

Peachleaf willow needs full sun or light shade and ground that stays moist, with a high water table. It grows in sand, silt or gravel and takes flooding, but not heavy clay that dries hard or salty soil. Its roots spread wide and fast toward water, so keep it away from drains, septic fields and foundations. Plant it 30 feet from a wall and more than 50 feet from overhead wires, and set trees 25 feet apart.

Saplings ship bare-root or potted. Plant them dormant, from leaf fall until bud swell, in a hole wider than the roots and no deeper. Set the root flare at the soil line, put the native soil back in, and keep the mulch clear of the trunk. The seed lives only a few days, too short a time to sell it as a packet. To raise your own, sow it on the surface of wet, bare soil the day the capsules open, and keep it moist. It sprouts within a day, though dormant cuttings root more easily than seed.

Water weekly through the first summer unless the ground stays wet. Guard young trees with a cage against deer, rabbits and beavers for the first few years. Prune in the dormant season to the strongest trunks, since it often grows several that lean.

Trees are male or female, and only females shed the cottony seed. Willow seedlings bear their first seed at 5 to 10 years. Its wood is soft and weak, so wind and ice can break limbs, and the tree is short-lived. Insects, diseases and wind damage are its main troubles.

## Sources

- [USDA Forest Service, Fire Effects Information System: Salix amygdaloides](https://research.fs.usda.gov/feis/species-reviews/salamy)
- [USDA NRCS Plant Guide: peachleaf willow, Salix amygdaloides](https://plants.sc.egov.usda.gov/DocumentLibrary/plantguide/pdf/pg_saam2.pdf)
- [Flora of North America, vol. 7: Salix amygdaloides](http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=242417195)
- [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Salix amygdaloides](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=SAAM2)
- [University of Minnesota, Urban Forestry: Peachleaf willow, Salix amygdaloides](https://trees.umn.edu/peachleaf-willow-salix-amygdaloides)
- [Minnesota Department of Natural Resources: Peachleaf willow](https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/trees/peachleafed-willow.html)
- [USDA Forest Service, Woody Plant Seed Manual (2008), Salix chapter](https://www.fs.usda.gov/nsl/Wpsm/Salix.pdf)
- [USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: Salix amygdaloides](https://plants.usda.gov/plant-profile/SAAM2)
- [NatureServe Explorer: Salix amygdaloides](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.152536/Salix_amygdaloides)
- [Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission: Kentucky Rare Plant List 2022](https://eec.ky.gov/Nature-Preserves/biodiversity/Documents/2022%20Kentucky%20Rare%20Plant%20List%202.pdf)
- [Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department: Rare and Uncommon Native Vascular Plants of Vermont, 2024](https://vtfishandwildlife.com/sites/fishandwildlife/files/documents/Learn%20More/Library/REPORTS%20AND%20DOCUMENTS/NONGAME%20AND%20NATURAL%20HERITAGE/ENDANGERED,%20THREATENED%20AND%20RARE%20SPECIES%20LISTS/Endangered%20and%20Threatened%20Plants%20of%20Vermont.pdf)
- [West Virginia Division of Natural Resources: Rare, Threatened and Endangered Plants](http://wvdnr.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/RTE_Plants.pdf)

## Read before planting

- [Ten planting mistakes that quietly kill trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/ten-planting-mistakes/index.html.md)
- [Transplanting young trees: timing, water and protection](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/transplanting-young-trees/index.html.md)
- [Protecting young trees from voles, rabbits, deer and squirrels](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/protecting-trees-from-animals/index.html.md)
- [How fast every tree and shrub we grow gets tall: growth rate, A to Z](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/growth-rates/index.html.md)
- [Multistem or single stem? Sometimes the trunk is hiding the answer](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/multistem-or-single-stem/index.html.md)
- [Leaf litter, not wood chips, under the canopy](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/leaf-litter-not-wood-chips/index.html.md)

## Related

- Other willows (Salix) we grow: [Bebb's Willow](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/bebb-willow/index.html.md), [Carolina Willow](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/carolina-willow/index.html.md), [Florida Willow](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/florida-willow/index.html.md), [Missouri River Willow](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/missouri-river-willow/index.html.md)
- Under its canopy: [Virginia Sweetspire](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/virginia-sweetspire/index.html.md), [Dwarf Palmetto](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/dwarf-palmetto/index.html.md) and [Wild Black Currant](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/wild-black-currant/index.html.md)
- [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Peachleaf Willow, add ?species=peachleaf-willow with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address; for example, the verdict for zone 2, part sun and average soil as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md?species=peachleaf-willow&zone=2&sun=part&moisture=average
- [Companion species for Peachleaf Willow](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=peachleaf-willow): the natives that share its ground and the plants that pair with it in a yard.
- [Transplant planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/transplant/index.html.md?species=peachleaf-willow): whether Peachleaf Willow can be moved and what the move takes, the root ball, its weight, who can lift it and the months, as Markdown at that address (add caliper= or height=, month= 1 to 12 and soil= sandy, loam or clay)
- [Growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md): how the height and trunk projections are made; the estimate for Peachleaf Willow as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md?species=peachleaf-willow (add height=, years= and site= poor, average or good)
- [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Peachleaf Willow is sown, in the chart for every species (treatment, cold days, depth, timing); the dated plan for it as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md?species=peachleaf-willow (add state= and zone= for your own frost dates, method=fridge for the refrigerator route)
- [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Peachleaf Willow needs for a crop and how many to plant, in the table for every species; the verdict for 5 of them as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md?plants=peachleaf-willow:5
- [Planting-window tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md): when to plant Peachleaf Willow where you live, as a fall and a spring window from the local frost dates; the windows as Markdown are at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md?species=peachleaf-willow&state=MO&zone=6 with your own state and zone in place of those
- [Planting-distance tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md): how far Peachleaf Willow goes from a house, a septic field, a walk, wires, a property line and the next tree; the distances as Markdown are at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md?species=peachleaf-willow&near=house,septic,pavement,wires,boundary,tree
- [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Peachleaf Willow flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species; its own row and the gaps of a planting with it as Markdown at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md?plants=peachleaf-willow