# Prairie Willow (Salix humilis)

> A small willow for dry, sunny ground, whose silky catkins open before the leaves and feed bees at the very start of spring.

Family: Salicaceae (willow family). Also called upland willow, dwarf prairie willow. Category: Native Shrubs. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/prairie-willow/

![Prairie willow (Salix humilis) twig with narrow, glossy, gray-green leaves](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/prairie-willow-h1610-800.jpg)
*Photo: Robert H. Mohlenbrock, Public domain · [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ASalix_humilis_NRCS-2.jpg)*

## Facts

- Type: Shrub
- Mature height: 3 to 10 ft
- USDA hardiness zones: 3 to 8
- Grows wild in: Dry uplands, sandy barrens, rocky ground, old fields and edges
- Native range: 37 states and [the District of Columbia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=DC), north and west to [North Dakota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=ND) and south to [Florida](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=FL) ([Alabama](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AL), [Arkansas](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AR), [Connecticut](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=CT), [Delaware](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=DE), [Florida](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=FL), [Georgia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=GA), [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), [Louisiana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=LA), [Maine](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=ME), [Maryland](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MD), [Massachusetts](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MA), [Michigan](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MI), [Minnesota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MN), [Mississippi](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MS), [Missouri](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MO), [Nebraska](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NE), [New Hampshire](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NH), [New Jersey](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NJ), [New York](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NY), [North Carolina](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NC), [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), [Pennsylvania](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=PA), [Rhode Island](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=RI), [South Carolina](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=SC), [South Dakota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=SD), [Tennessee](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=TN), [Texas](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=TX), [Vermont](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VT), [Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VA), [West Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WV), [Wisconsin](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WI) and [the District of Columbia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=DC))
- Sun: Full
- Soil moisture: Dry, Average
- Growth rate: Fast
- Flowers: March to May
- Fruit: Capsules, May to June
- First crop: 5 to 10 years
- Mature spread: 12 ft
- Traits: Drought tolerant, Honey tree, 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](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/reading-a-nursery-listing/index.html.md) 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

Prairie willow is a small, many-stemmed willow that, unlike most of its genus, grows well on dry ground: prairies, oak savannas, sand plains and rocky bluffs. Its gray-green leaves are woolly white beneath, and those hairs may help it stand drought better than other willows. Its catkins are an important food for bees and other pollinators just out of winter. Mass it on a sunny, dry slope, a prairie edge or a sandy bank, where its early catkins can feed the first bees of spring.

## Size, growth and what to expect

Prairie willow grows fast, nearly three feet a year in our growth estimator. It makes a rounded shrub of several stems, 3 to 10 feet tall, and branches that touch the ground take root, so a plant spreads into a small thicket. A dwarf variety rarely grows past 3 feet.

Catkins open from March into May, before the leaves, and it is among the first shrubs to bloom in spring. Bees and flies visit them for nectar. The woolly capsules split in May and June to release cottony seed. Caterpillars of the striped hairstreak and the green comma butterflies feed on the leaves, and birds and mammals find food on it early in the season.

It grows wild from Newfoundland and Labrador west to Manitoba and the Dakotas, and south to northern Florida and eastern Texas. Its home is prairies, oak savannas, sand plains, rocky bluffs, roadsides and the edges of woods, often on sandy or gravelly soil.

## How to grow Prairie Willow

Prairie willow needs full sun. Unlike most willows it does well on dry, sandy or gravelly ground, and it also takes clay, moist soil, occasional flooding and road salt. Plant it 5 feet from a wall and set plants 5 feet apart. At its size it can go within 15 feet of overhead wires.

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 crown at the soil line, put the native soil back in, and keep the mulch clear of the stems. Willow seed lives only a few days, so sow it the day the capsules split. Press it onto wet, bare soil in sun, uncovered, and keep the bed moist until the seedlings are up. Willows root freely from cuttings but are hard to raise from seed in quantity.

Water it every day for the first two weeks after planting, then every two to three days until week 12. After that, water weekly through the first two summers if rain is short. Rabbits and deer browse willow twigs and bark, so cage young plants where they are common. It sprouts again from the base if it is cut back.

Plants are male or female, and bees carry pollen from the male catkins to the female ones. As with other willows, seedlings take 5 to 10 years to bear seed. Leaf blight, cankers, borers, scale insects and aphids can attack it. It is short-lived, and wind can break its stems.

## Sources

- [Flora of North America, vol. 7: Salix humilis Marshall, by George W. Argus](https://floranorthamerica.org/Salix_humilis)
- [Minnesota Wildflowers: Salix humilis, prairie willow](https://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/shrub/prairie-willow)
- [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Salix humilis](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=SAHU2)
- [The Morton Arboretum: Prairie willow](https://mortonarb.org/plant-and-protect/trees-and-plants/prairie-willow/)
- [Go Botany, Native Plant Trust: Salix humilis, prairie willow](https://gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/species/salix/humilis/)
- [USDA NRCS Plant Guide: Prairie willow, Salix humilis](https://plants.sc.egov.usda.gov/DocumentLibrary/plantguide/pdf/pg_sahu2.pdf)
- [USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: Salix humilis](https://plants.usda.gov/plant-profile/SAHU2)
- [NatureServe Explorer: Salix humilis](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.132284/Salix_humilis)
- [USDA Forest Service, Woody Plant Seed Manual (2008), Salix chapter](https://www.fs.usda.gov/nsl/Wpsm/Salix.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)
- [The habitat around a tree is part of the tree](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/habitat-around-a-tree/index.html.md)
- [Invasive vines and shrubs are what is killing your woods](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/invasive-vines-and-shrubs/index.html.md)
- [Native trees and shrubs for butterflies and moths: host plants first, nectar second](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-trees-for-butterflies-and-moths/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), [Peachleaf Willow](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/peachleaf-willow/index.html.md), [Silky Willow](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/silky-willow/index.html.md)
- Plants that share its sun and soil: [New Jersey Tea](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/new-jersey-tea/index.html.md), [Running Serviceberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/running-serviceberry/index.html.md), [Common Juniper](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/common-juniper/index.html.md) and [Prairie Redroot](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/prairie-redroot/index.html.md)
- Same size, similar character: [Silky Willow](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/silky-willow/index.html.md), [Missouri River Willow](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/missouri-river-willow/index.html.md), [Staghorn Sumac](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/staghorn-sumac/index.html.md) and [Shrubby St. John's-wort](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/shrubby-st-johns-wort/index.html.md)
- [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Prairie Willow, add ?species=prairie-willow with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address; for example, the verdict for zone 3, part sun and average soil as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md?species=prairie-willow&zone=3&sun=part&moisture=average
- [Companion species for Prairie Willow](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=prairie-willow): the natives that share its ground and the plants that pair with it in a yard.
- [Tree growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md): how the height and trunk projections are made; the estimate for Prairie Willow as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md?species=prairie-willow (add height=, years= and site= poor, average or good)
- [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Prairie 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=prairie-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 Prairie 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=prairie-willow:5
- [Planting-window tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md): when to plant Prairie 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=prairie-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 Prairie 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=prairie-willow&near=house,septic,pavement,wires,boundary,tree
- [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Prairie 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=prairie-willow