Willow brittle globose - a great plant for landscape design. With its help it is possible to strengthen the banks of small ponds and streams, create a beautiful hedge, a small alley or even a gazebo. This tree is also well suited for lovers of bonsai technology - its crown is great for decorative trimming and forming various shapes from it. Growing it in the form of a bush, you can achieve an excellent aesthetic result in group planting.
Description and popular varieties
Globular willow can be grown in the form of a dwarf, and in the form of a full-fledged tree, the size of which is up to 20 m in height, it all depends on the variety. A characteristic feature of the plant is the formation of very thick, spherical green caps, while the trunk and lower part of the branches often remain bare.
Did you know? Willow is an early and rather good honey plant. In this regard, planting a tree can often be seen around apiaries.This tree is quite cold-resistant (able to withstand temperatures up to -45 ° C). It is very common on the territory of Russia, it is found in large numbers on the Eurasian continent, some specimens are present in Australia and some parts of Africa and America.
In addition to willow, a bruise of ordinary, phacelia, linden, sunflower, loch, lobelia, yellow acacia, mouse peas, slug-onion, and reseda have good honey-bearing properties.
Willow is considered the herald of spring - it is one of the first to start dissolving the leaves after the winter period. Earrings begin to peck along with the leaves. Their sizes are 4-5 cm, and with fruits they are even larger and reach 6-7 cm.
In our latitudes there are a huge number of varieties suitable for cultivation:
- Willow eared - shrub 1.5-3 m in height with red-brown young stalks and branches of dark gray shade.
- Purple willow - low shrub, up to 2 m in diameter with purple flexible and thin shoots. Earrings - bright purple color, from where this plant got its name.
- Willow wholegrain Hakuro Nishiki - can be grown in the form of a bush, and in the form of a small tree with slightly hanging branches. The young leaves are spotted pink-white color.
- Willow hybrid memory Bazhova - tree up to 13 m tall. Durable, fast-growing. Forms a powerful trunk, which is crowned with an oval weeping crown.
- Willow Hybrid Spherical Dwarf - reaches up to 3 m in width and height. Crohn - medium density, spherical shape. Leaves 5-6 cm long, 0.6-1 cm wide.
- Willow hybrid Sverdlovsk meandering - a tree with a height of 4-5 m. The crown is spherical in shape, the branches wilt towards the ground, the leaves curl a little.
- Willow Hybrid Lighthouse - initially derived for basket weaving. It is a round-shaped bush up to 2.5 m high.
Where is the best place to plant globular willow
The tree will be great in any place, so when planting in the first place should be guided by decorative and aesthetic considerations.
Choice of place and sanctification
The tree grows its crown perfectly, even growing in shaded areas, however, it will be preferable to plant the plant in well-lit areas. An open, well-blown area will not be a hindrance to growing, as the leaves are rather dense and cling tight to the branches, which will allow them to successfully resist gusts of wind. Willow can be used for landscaping lowland and wetlands due to its good resistance to damage from putrefactive processes.
Familiarize yourself with the nuances of growing other willow species: weeping, goat, and dwarf.
Optimum soil
The best soil for planting this plant will be slightly acid loam and sandy soil. If the soil is excessively dense, it is recommended to add several buckets of sand to it before planting and mix everything thoroughly. Wet soils next to ponds or marshes are perfect for wood, which will save the gardener from the need for regular watering.
Did you know? In pagan times, the willow symbolized the Slavic god Yarilu.
Planting seedlings
Spherical willow requires special rules for planting and caring for it. We should start with the fact that it is almost impossible to plant this tree with the help of seeds, since they ripen in earrings that fall at the slightest breeze of the wind and are suitable for planting only a couple of days after falling. Therefore, the preferred method of planting - with the help of seedlings. 
Timing
The most successful period for planting willow will be from April to mid-autumn. Planting after the specified period may lead to unsuccessful wintering as a result of which the seedlings will die.
rules
Before direct landing it is necessary to prepare pits. They should be up to 50 cm in diameter and up to 30-40 cm in depth. The bottom of the landing pit should be tamped down with a prepared layer of nutrient soil that can be made by mixing peat, sand and compost in equal proportions. 
Important! If you plant from a peat pot, then you should not take out a seedling from it. Plant directly with him - this will provide additional protection for the young tree.If the plant will be planted from a plastic container - use the method of transshipment, which involves planting with a clod of earth on the roots. The seedling should be immersed in the ground with several buds, which will contribute to the better rooting of willow in the future. If planting is done in mid-autumn, it is worth removing all the leaves, this will help the willow to winter more successfully.
Garden care
To care for a willow in a garden is a rather simple task. The whole complex of measures can be divided into daily, which include watering, and others - dressing, pruning and crown formation.
Due to the beneficial properties of goat willow, it is often used in traditional medicine.
Watering
The young tree must be watered daily, at least during the warmer periods of the year, and until it is strong. The daily rate of water for this plant is only 10-12 liters. An adult tree also needs abundant spraying during hot periods, but not at those moments when it is exposed to direct active sunlight. 
Important! If you plant a tree in the place of accumulation of groundwater, watering can be completely eliminated, greatly facilitating the already uncomplicated care.
Top dressing
If the soil in which the planting was carried out is distinguished by a good fertility index, then a single top dressing in the process of planting will suffice.
However, if the soil is poor, it is better to do additional feeding from time to time until the plant finally becomes stronger. In this case, the tree should be fertilized 2-3 times during the summer season. Absolutely any soluble fertilizer in the amount of 200 g per one supplement will be suitable for these purposes. Fertilizer should be at the root.
Cropping and crown formation
Pruning is carried out exclusively in the spring season until the bud break. The tree tolerates this procedure well, as a result of which a thick and bright crown is formed. It is possible to start forming the crown from your crown after the tree reaches 1.5 m. Prior to this, it is worthwhile to simply cut off excessively distorted and clearly deformed branches. Dwarf willow bushes can be completely rejuvenated with a radical trim cap. The shrubs tolerate this manipulation well, giving off young and healthier fresh shoots. Do not prune willow in autumn.
Propagation of spherical willow
Spherical willow is a plant whose reproduction is possible both with cuttings and with the use of seeds. Seed method is difficult because the planting material matures in the earrings that fall from the tree at the slightest breath, and suitable for planting it remains only for several days. 
In this regard, the best option is reproduction using cuttings. Cutting the latter should be carried out before the sap flow in the trunk. Cuttings are cut by 30-40 cm, each of which must contain 4-6 buds. Cut the stalk should be oblique. 
Then proceed according to the following algorithm:
- Slightly dry the cut and process it with coal chips.
- Pour the baked river sand into a container and moisten it abundantly.
- Stick the cuttings into the sand at a distance of at least 10 cm.
- Water the cuttings daily.
- In about 30 days, you will receive saplings ready for planting.
