"tom&barbara" wrote in message
ups.com...
Hi folks,

We bought one of these a few weeks ago and have planted it very
close
to the house - about 6-7 ft away actually. It is about 5 ft high at
the mo and looking very lovely. Now I know it won't get much bigger
but have been reading on some other posts on here that it will seek
out
water and should not be planted near water pipes - Oh dear! Can
anyone
tell me if this will be real problem with this small type?

Also how do I train it to weep? In one of the old posts someone has
written that you have to train it to weep rather than just let it
hang.
I am especially concerned about this because I have seen what looks
like a lot of these in other peoples gardens and they don't look
very
nice. They seem to be really full and hanging and look like a
monster
head type of thing and I don't want ours to end up looking like
that.

Any comments or help would be greatly appreciated.


We have one that must be 18 years old, about 8ft tall and 10ft in
diam.
No training required. Just prune out the annual dead stems.
In full leaf it is a dense bee-hive shape.
Out of leaf (now) the contorted stems have 'architectural' appeal.
Personally, I wouldn't have one close to the house but that will
depend on the space at your disposal and layout of the garden.
Ours is unstaked and has never shown any tendency to blow over.

......... And if you don't want it "really full and hanging and look
like a monster
head type of thing", perhaps you don't want a Salix caprea Kilmarnock.
:-))

--
ned

http://www.bugsandweeds.co.uk