Pussy Williows Around the World

Today the florist shops are bursting with their Chinese New Year goodies. And I went to have a look at my favourite flower - Pussy Willows. It made my day.

Pussy willows have not been around Sibu for a long time. Perhaps they arrived in our shops in the late 70's when florists began to travel further afield to get their stock. Hong Kong and Taiwan have always been the forerunner of Chinese lifestyle in the past. Perhaps these willows were made even more popular since China opened up about 30 years ago.

I would like to use this black and white still life of pussy willow to wish you a good OX year. I like it very much because it depicts in classical black and white and ever lasting literary and cultural style of China. It is reflective and rich.



This is an outburst of Chinese New Year colours with lots and lots of colour pussy willows. May your days in this Ox year be merry and cheery.


More than 6 foot tall pussy willow for sale in Singapore.



This weeping pussy willow is native to the wetlands of Canada. If you plant it in your garden it will bloom in Febrary.



This is a Japanese Giant Pussy Willow



"It's fun to see a fairy flutter
Off a catkin boat,
And wrap her fairy baby in
A pussywillow coat." -"Finding Fairies"
by Marjorie Barrows
fl. 1930s thru 1950s



Japanese Giant Pussy Willow (Salix chaenomeloides) grows well and comes to its best in February in the Northern Hemisphere. The tree itself is not a huge one but it is the size of the pussies. Through the white fur you can see a purplish heart.

Salix chaenomeloides grows into a multiple-branched twiggy shrub that can reach 20 feet tall. It reaches its first ten feet very rapidly, then slows down, so it doesn't take a lot of patience to begin with such a pretty start.

Pussy Willows in Arkansas USA (Home state of Bill and Hilary Clinton)




There is the annual Arkansas Flower and Garden Show in Little Rock which draws many attendees.

In 2006 the pussy willow got the nod "and gardeners could be seen strolling through the show peering through a bundle of brush like a duck hunter secreted in a blind. If husbands were the designated brush carrier, the stroll was often accompanied with a bit of grumbling."

Pussy willow is a collective name used to describe the willows that produce soft, fuzzy buds up and down the shiny bare twigs in late winter. While the name is used for about six different species, the most commonly grown pussy willow is Salix caprea, known by the common names of French Pussy Willow or Goat Willow.

This European pussy willow is a small, deciduous, much-branched tree that grows to 20 feet tall with an oval form. It’s four inch long leaves are broadly elliptical in outline and nearly toothless with the upper surface deep green, the lower a soft gray-green. The leaves often take on tattered appearance by fall when the tree will occasionally produce a modest yellow fall color display.

In late February or early March the buds of pussy willow awaken from their winter rest and expand, popping off their mahogany colored bud scales to reveal the fuzz beneath. This is the stage when the stems are cut for the florist trade, freezing the buds in this half-awakened state. But if the plant is grown in the garden, these buds continue to expand and form inch and a half long gray, fuzzy catkins that look like a wooly caterpillars. On male plants these catkins produce yellow anthers which provide the bee keeper a source of pollen in early spring and the observant gardener a subtle beauty when viewed close at hand.

Willows were the first tree intentionally planted for harvest in a forest-like setting. Foresters must shutter to think of the fast growing, weak-wooded willow as the antecedent of their industry, but it has none-the-less been planted since before the middle ages in stands called coppices. Frequent harvests, yearly if lithe twigs were needed for basketry or every five years if poles were needed, renewed the coppice and kept it vigorous.

Source : Gerald Klingaman, retired
Extension Horticulturist - Ornamentals
© 2006
University of Arkansas




One of the most popular plants used to decorate Chinese homes during the Chinese New Year is the Pussy Willow or “Yin Liu” in Mandarin. In Cantonese, “Yin Liu” sounds like “Yin Lou” which is similar to “Yin Liang” (money). Therefore, having this plant around during Chinese New Year would represent the invitation of abundant luck and prosperity into homes.


The leaves that are circular in shape and this is closely associated with the round coin that China had in the olden days. Therefore, it is no surprise that the plant is also called, “Jin Qian Shu”. If you directly translate the Chinese term for the plant into English, it explicitly implies that this is a “Money Tree”. There is also a local myth that if the plant bears flowers whilst in your home, you will be on a lucky streak and may even strike 4D/Toto.





A gentle scene of pussy willows blooming in winter in a car park. It reminds us that God is gentle and loving. Amidst the snowfall there is a gentle life breathing.




In Poland Christians carry bunches of pussy willows in the Easter Procession every year.