Tree · Salicaceae
Silky willow
Salix sericea
Silky willow is recorded as native to 27 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 550 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Silky willow at a glance
- Native in
- 550 counties, across 27 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4b PLANTS minimum temperature −28°F
- Mature height
- 12 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Sun to part shade High water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 4b. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −28°F; zone 4b winters bottom out at −25°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Silky willow is recorded as native to 27 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 550 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 550 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 3 counties
- Arkansas 1 county
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 3 counties
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Georgia 6 counties
- Illinois 24 counties
- Indiana 53 counties
- Kentucky 47 counties
- Maine 14 counties
- Massachusetts 13 counties
- Michigan 16 counties
- Minnesota 1 county
- Missouri 17 counties
- New Hampshire 7 counties
- New Jersey 18 counties
- New York 37 counties
- North Carolina 55 counties
- Ohio 41 counties
- Pennsylvania 65 counties
- Rhode Island 3 counties
- South Carolina 7 counties
- Tennessee 21 counties
- Vermont 13 counties
- Virginia 44 counties
- West Virginia 33 counties
- Wisconsin 7 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Shrub, Tree
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 12 ft
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Growth form
- Multiple Stem
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Active growth period
- Spring and Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intermediate (sun to part shade)
- Moisture use
- High water use
- Drought tolerance
- Low
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- High
- Precipitation range
- 32 to 55 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse, medium and fine
- pH range
- 5.2 to 7
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Low
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 18 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −28°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4b and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 165
- Fire tolerance
- High
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Green
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Mid Spring
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Brown
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Salicaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- SASE
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Salix sericea (PLANTS symbol SASE).
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources