What variety of Willow tree?

Does anyone know what variety of willow tree bunny toys are made from? Is it weeping willow in this country or not?
Just asking as I'm thinking of planting one in my garden so I can prune it and give twigs to my buns as they absolutely love willow toys (eating them). If anyone knows I can make sure I get the right sort to plant. Thanks :wave:

I think any type of willow is safe. My buns have had branches from weeping willow.

Oh OK then thanks for your reply will try and get a weeping willow.

http://www.westwaleswillows.co.uk/bunnytoys.html

Hi!:wave:
Id give the above website a ring & just ask them - they do loads of bunny bits in willow so will be sure to know - just to be safe!:wave:

Definitely recommend West Wales Willows - they use their own home grown willow and the farmer is a willow expert, he will talk you through willow. With over 200 willow species in this country there is a lot to know! :lol:

Rabbits are best with low salicin level willow, although the older the branch the more salicin it may contain as well. New growth/young growth is best for lower levels although no-one actually knows if salicin will do bun any harm anyway, it is a natural anti-inflammatory and analgesic and is what aspirin comes from. At WWW they will peel any high salicin levelled willow they use for toys (remove the bark).

Most imported willow toys are made in China and the willow grown god only knows where with pesticides/herbicides thrown in no doubt so your best bet is to get a local UK grown willow toy (from WWW) or pick your own willow branches from the garden/countryside.

If you want to know how high the salicin levels are you need to 'chew' the twigs yourself! If it tastes bitter it is ok - if it sucks all the moisture out of your mouth then it probably is too strong! :lol::wave:

I have given mine weeping, corkscrew and white willow species picked locally, and they have all their toys from WWW.

Interesting... Are the mini Willow trees bun safe? We have one, would be great if it was bun safe

steph182 said:

Interesting... Are the mini Willow trees bun safe? We have one, would be great if it was bun safe

Click to expand...

I suspect that a 'mini' willow is a normal full size species grafted on to a dwarf species root stock :? As long as the grafted piece is a Salix then it will be safe.

I once had (note the use of the word 'once' :lol a beautiful minature weeping salix willow. It looked gorgeous. Then the buns systematically trimmed it until it resembled something a 5 year old would attempt to draw :roll:. Imagine, if you will, a stick with a pom-pom on the top:shock:. Then when they could no longer reach the branches, they stripped all the bark and it died . But they loved it and it didn't do them any hard.

I now have a beautiful minature weeping crab apple tree in the same spot. It's been trimmed to bunny height and looks like something a five year old would draw :lol::lol:. But at least the trunk is protected with mesh!!