Scientific Name: Salicaceae Salix (“Near Water”)
Common Names: Willows, Sallows, Osier
USDA Zone: 2-9
Why the Willow Belongs in Your Modern Home
Ever wonder how you can grow a willow indoors?
Though willows are known features of sprawling river landscapes and parks, growing a willow in a city apartment or any urban setting can paint a message and connotation of personal and communal fortitude in the face of hardship.
While the tree will often make you feel like you’re playing by its rules (willows often remind you that they cannot be fully contained), this plant, through the struggles and negotiations that come with it, holds resilience, aesthetics, practical uses, and cultural background. And, in an urban environment, it is a constant reminder of an unfettered will to live.
The Myth of Yuhwa and the Founding of Korea
While many of the same willows sprawl across the globe, there are often several discrepancies in how each culture interprets them. When regarding the flowing branches of the famous weeping willow, for example, some people see a symbol of elegance and flexibility, while others see spineless subordination; “willowy” in the English dictionary means “tall” and “graceful,” but in that same culture, it often features as a withered grandfather or a night predator swallowing up travelers in the dark. Still, I think all the contradictory characteristics and mythologies of this particularly turbulent plant can be contained in one story— the story of Yuhwa, the Korean goddess of willows.
It starts in the Amnok River, presently known as the strait bordering China and Korea (Yalu River), when the god-king, Habaek (河伯), is blessed with three beautiful daughters: Yuhwa (柳花), Hwonhwa (萱花), and Wihwa(葦花). Like classic Slavic folklore, the three princesses fall into a predicament when a devious god-king of the north side, Hae Mo-su (解慕漱), lures them into his palace with a banquet, gets them drunk, and imprisons them.
However, unlike in Slavic folklore, the firstborn child steps in to rescue her sisters, getting herself trapped as a result. When the sisters implore their father for help, Habaek rushes to save his daughter, and, from the steps of the palace, he challenges Hae Mo-su to a battle of metamorphosis, transforming into a carp, a pheasant, and a deer… only to be defeated by Hae Mo-su’s otter, hawk, and wolf, and conceding to the marriage.
The marriage itself falls apart just as quickly. In some versions of this story, Yuhwa falls in love with her captor, only for Hae Mo-su to escape on their way to the union, stealing her golden hairpin. In others, Yuhwa is the one who escapes. In both versions, the engagement disgraces the princess, and instead of returning home, she runs. And continues running until, eventually, she is found, bedraggled and deformed, on the shores of a reservoir, staring up at a set of fishers in the East Kingdom of Buyeo.
Although some versions claim that the king of this region, Geumwa, falls in love with Yuhwa, in most versions he locks her in an isolated room, suspicious of her person, and she stays confined until she gives birth to a son (or an egg, which hatches into a human child) named Chumo (鄒牟) or (in the Chinese version) Jumong (朱蒙), meaning “Archer,” for the prodigious marksmanship his mother cultivates. Chumo grows up to be the founder of the Northern Korean kingdom of Goguryo.
Quick Guide: How to Grow a Willow (Salix) Indoors
Light, Soil, & Container Requirements
Outside, a willow is adaptable to all sorts of soils, treatments, and conditions, and can even survive being cut all the way back (in fact, this is a common gardening practice, called coppicing). But an indoor willow can be far more conversational than other houseplants, constantly changing, fast-growing, and extremely unapologetic in their needs. Though it might not be necessary, it’ll save you headache if you start by putting the plant in its ideal environment.
- Soil type: organic, well-draining soil with balanced pH (preferred)
- Pot size: spacious for the size of the plant (preferred)
- Best soil composition:
- Lighting: Bright light to full sun (in colder climates, young willows prefer full sun, but in warmer climates prefer shade to retain moisture).
Propagation & Pruning Tips
Generally, it’s easiest to grow willows from cuttings, which root easily. In fact, it’s said that certain chemical compounds in the willow can help other cuttings grow, too, when placed in the same water.
- Best time to prune: Winter (when stored energy can be released)
- Best time to propagate: Winter to spring
- Propagate by seed: Easy.
- Propagate by cutting/runner: Easy.
Watering & Fertilization
- Water: Weekly, or whenever the top few inches are dry. The willow prefers excess to drought.
- Fertilization: Balanced fertilizers. Willows are hungrier plants and benefit from replenished soil each year at the beginning of the growing season if grown in containers.
Common Problems (Aphids, Moisture, Root Issues)
Although willows are tenacious outdoor plants, they’re much more vulnerable indoors.
- Root rot and nutrient deficiency: Because the willow doesn’t like being restricted, problems often arise from container plants because the roots feel constricted, causing them to either overcrowd or rot from overexposure to moisture. If the plant starts yellowing and struggling with water despite frequent waterings, this is a good sign to upsize or change the plant’s original pot.
- Common pests: Despite its defences, a stressed willow is often prone to aphids and whiteflies. It’s important to check the new shoots of the plant. If afflicted, spray the plant with insecticidal soap (a homemade concoction for these pests can be made with 1L of water, a pump of dish soap, and a pinch of baking soda. The soap will kill pests by destroying its ability to breathe, and the baking soda will help clean off fungal matter that accrues from waste made by the pests). Be sure to apply the spray regularly for at least a week (or until the problem is resolved). In the face of the large willow aphid, you can spray the plant with insecticidal soap or apple cider vinegar (1:3 vinegar to water) consistently. However, it is difficult to completely cure an aphid infestation.
What is a Willow? A Plant between Land and Water, Life and Death
It’s little wonder that the willow has such a forlorn myth in Korean culture.
When you encounter a willow up close, you’ll often find that it’s a rather solitary plant, standing alone on a barren, muddy shore, straggling with flimsy branches along the worst of environments. This image in itself often gives the plant a rather melancholy personification, which likely led to the name “weeping willow” for one of its most iconic species, Salix babylonica, and the story of Yuhwa’s separation from her family.
The Willow as a symbol of loneliness
In many cultures, the willow symbolizes the separation. Willows signify friendship in Chinese gardens, Chinese custom uses the willow as a parting gift. Although this is partly because “willow” may phonetically resemble the word “stay,” it is also personified in the Japanese fairytale, “The Green Willow,” to represent the lady of a star-crossed romance; in the Joseon Dynasty, a Korean courtesan calls herself the willow of a parting lover.
Fun fact: Although many different species of plants have both their male and female parts, the willow is dioecious, meaning their male and female flowers are on separate plants; a coincidental similarity between the romantic symbolism and the real plant.
In the Korean myth, Yuhwa can’t go back home after she rescues her sisters, especially when she becomes tainted with her relationship with Hae Mo-su. Invariably, her condition is one of irreparable loss, a reality she can no longer reach.
Fun fact: Just as Hae Mo-su taints Yuhwa’s relationship with her family, banishing her to a mortal kingdom, the large willow aphid ruins the willow’s relation to honeybees. Adapted to withstand the insecticidal properties of salicylic acid, this particular aphid creates “honeydew” (which bees often enjoy), which is more sour and less soluble; for honeybees, it’s linked to malnutrition, dysentery, and poor harvest. This can disrupt the symbiosis between bees and willows, which usually benefit off the pollination process.
The Willow and Its Allusions to Death
Maybe along a similar vein, willows are often associated with spirits and ghosts in Asia, or murders and graveyards of England.
The Ancient Chinese, likewise, record supernatural attributions to the willow; during the Qinming Festival (Tomb-sweeping), when the underworld ruler allowed spirits to roam the land, willows would ward spirits from abodes laced with willow. In Taoist culture, witches used willow carvings to communicate with the dead; in Buddhist culture, the bodhisattva of compassion (Kwan Yin or Guanyin) is depicted on a rock with a willow branch and water, both used to keep demons in check.
In Greek mythology, both water and willows relate to the Underworld— take myths of Hades (when he steals Persephone through Pergusa), Hecate (goddess of crossroads, who is associated with the tide and the willow), and Orpheus (bringing his willow harp to the Underworld to retrieve his beloved wife).
More broadly, the willow often features as a liminal figure, a portal between the immortal world and this one (not exclusively to the afterlife). Perhaps this is because of how it survives alone on the shoreline, or because of its association with water (hence its scientific name), which is often a liminal space between worlds in culture.
Water in Celtic culture is a symbol of divine inspiration and spiritual connection, and the association between willows and water is clear, because harvesting willow during the waning moon (and the receding tide) would diminish the quality of the wood. While Scottish folklore claims that willow catkins tied in a three-ply cord can protect their wielder against unseen forces, willows themselves can allegedly enhance an individual’s psychic or supernatural abilities, making them wise and insightful.
The Willow and Its Associations with Death
Maybe the semantic distinction between the afterlife and the immortal world is important for understanding the willow in the global zeitgeist. Because in a lot of cases, the willow might be associated with death, but it doesn’t quite symbolize death itself. Most of the time, it’s a facilitator between these two worlds. In the case of Yuhwa, she’s a goddess who mingles with the human realm, birthing a mortal but historical figure in Korean history.
The Willow Tree as the Giving Tree
From a very literal standpoint, the willow might be associated with death because it facilitates people back into the world of the living. Specifically through aspirin.
Let me explain.
The willow is able to stand on its own in the liminal space between land and water because of a rather famous defence its concocted against the environmental stress of the droughts, overexposure, metal-poisoning, and salinity that frequent waterways. This is called “salicylic acid.”
This acid acts like a hormone, activating a strong defence and repair response from the willow; one of the more notable chemical compounds produced by the willow, it allows the plant not only to survive but proliferate (its branches propagating easily in humid environments). In fact, it even helps the plants around it with the same purpose. Salicylic acid is an effective pesticide, a source of nutrition for honeybees, and an effective regulator for other plants; in some cases, horticulturalists combat abiotic stresses that stunt cuttings and seedlings, and tobacco farmers use it to induce flowers (funny, when considering that Yuhwa’s sisters, Hwonhwa and Wihwa, are named after different plant families: Hwonhwa represents the tiger lily in the herbaceous group of plants, and Wihwa represents phragmites in the family of grasses).
People usually encounter salicylic acid through the common pill, Aspirin. This processed form of acetylsalicylic acid is widely used for headaches. However, the young twigs of a willow are thought to be better than Advil for hangovers (much like how Yuhwa helped her sisters during their intoxication) because they ease the piercing headache without weakening the stomach lining to the same extent.
In Ancient times, people referred to this cure for inflammation and fevers in Greece (Hippocrates), Babylon, Assyria, China, America, India, England, and Korea. And in America, people poached beavers (to endangerment) partially for the concentration of salicylic acid (called castoreum) found in glands around their tails due to their consumption of willows.
Willows are also known for their healing qualities, so much so that they’re used in modern Korean skincare to clear dead skin cells and encourage new growth, healing it from burns or dryness.
Perhaps related to its benefits, willows are attributed with nurturing characteristics. In Greek culture, Helice, meaning “willow,” is also the name of Zeus’ nurse. In Korean culture, goddesses were often nurturing figures (ex. Jacheongbi, goddess of agriculture), and Yuhwa, posing simply as the mother of the founder Chumo, is no exception.
It’s also quite a healing plant, environmentally. In the Korean myth, Yuhwa withstands turbulence and builds a solid foundation for the kingdom of Goguryeo (the root name for Korea), but even some modern day countries (like New Zealand or Australia) insert shoots into watercourses to defend the land against tide erosion despite its invasiveness because of its ability to thrive in unpredictable conditions of the coastline.
The Willow as a Symbol of Rebellion and Strength
In some cases, this correlation between death and healing might be given the image of self-sacrifice. The plant is a symbol of subordinate obedience in Japanese culture, especially when paired with the chivalrous sparrow. In Yuhwa’s case, she loses herself for her sisters, and then gives the human realm a piece of divinity through a human son (though some sources claim she is impregnated by the sun and gives birth to an egg that hatches a demigod).
However, in a lot of cases, the willow is a symbol of resilience.
In some Japanese depictions, the willow (Yanagi) symbolizes flexibility and patience. The same can be said about willows in Celtic mythology. The willow was even esteemed in the military and upright culture of ancient Rome, where one of their seven hills was named after the Latin willow, Viminia, called Viminal Hill.
Botanically speaking, this makes sense. After all, though salicylic acid is beneficial to the plants and people around the plant, it was first and foremost meant for the plant itself. While the acid regulates growth and metabolism, it converts into a sour, volatile chemical that combats pathogenic disruptions and adjusts the plant’s functions during environmental stress. The willow’s seeds are quite short-lived, but willows themselves are such a formidable force that they have earned the status of a weed. This is in part because salicylic acid (and other compounds) allows the willow to propagate easily, growing from broken branches, stumps, and stolons (lines in their root systems). Notably, the plant’s branches produce a never-ending terminal bud, which continues to grow indefinitely.
Fun fact: the willow is subject to an ancient practice called coppicing, where the tree is cut at the base to encourage the thick growth of shoots, either for aesthetic or harvesting purposes.
Practically speaking, the willow’s branches are so resilient that they are often used to make woven structures, even crafting light, sturdy baskets in the Second World War.
Willows are also known for living indefinitely, growing to great ages and sizes, so much so that the plant is attributed with wisdom and grandfather archetypes (this is probably paired with the idea that willows are linked to the immortal plane). For example, a man asks advice from the tree in the Japanese story, “Wisdom of the Willow Tree,” and the “willow-father” of Hans Christian Anderson’s tale, “Under the Willow Tree,” answers children who ask him questions. In cases where the willow is depicted as feminine, she’s an older figure (Helice is a nurse, and Yuhwa is the eldest sibling).
The Character of the Willow
Perhaps there’s something specific to be said about the character of the willow in the story of Yuhwa, who constantly bends to the tragedies of life.
In the story, Yuhwa’s father is defeated through the pure aggression and power of Hae Mo-su, but Habaek’s specific transformations in Korean mythology symbolize perseverance (through the carp), noble or beautiful wisdom (through the pheasant), and longevity (through the deer). All of these are also features attributed to Yuhwa, whose life is much stronger than the brute force that defines her environmental adversaries.
Yuhwa ultimately founds a kingdom that leads to the country of Korea.
This story is supposed to reflect the Confucian beliefs that sponsored its telling in the highly narrativized historical document, Samguk Sagi, and one of Confucius’ famous quotes says this: “The green reed which bends in the wind is stronger than the mighty oak which breaks in a storm.”
However, if you look closely, the story isn’t simply about a character who survives hardship. In many cultures, the willow is a figure, both mortal and immortal, standing on the edge of life and death, mitigating the line between them, giving life to death, giving divine premonitions to mortals, and providing transport to people caught on the liminal plane.
And in the case of Yuhwa, the willow depicts a character who is messy and more than a little bit ragged but still pulls through with the tenacity of a rebel to become the foundation of a nation. Yuhwa nourishes a foundation by teaching her son archery, teaching him to be both flexible (like a bow), but potent (like an arrow). Thriving in the inevitable tumult of life throws, the willow teaches how to pave a path for yourself and share that power with the people you cultivate.
Whether it’s presented as the caring nurse, the wise grandfather, the rebellious god, or the plant itself, the willow has become a symbol and a lesson not of resilience, but of the perseverance to help others in times of personal struggle.
Why the Willow Resonates with City Gardeners
Though the willow can’t be contained, its rebellious nature showing through with its initial requirements, it can directly depict the life of a human in a city. People aren’t always meant to live in cement blocks in a compact space, grinding away at the confines of a society that doesn’t always serve their purposes. However, the willow often can and will survive, and sometimes thrive, in these kinds of environments.
With mutual work from the people they live with, willows can be a rewarding plant to have in your home and garden, representing a future where tenacity despite hardship and constraints that don’t always fit you can lead to a kind of freedom and strength to create a ground for yourself, where you can continue to develop and make your mark for generations. And just as the Koreans have turned the willow into the divine foundation for their peninsula, you can see your willow become a meaningful foundation to your home.
