An arboreal curiosity here...
SO, I bought myself a little Christmas tree thingy at Christmas. It was all wrapped round with wire, so I assumed it had been somehow strapped together out of bits of branch: it was also stuck in some kind of plaster/concrete effect stuff. In order to try and get it to last longer, I pulled out the bottom of the plaster, and did a diagonal saw cut across the botton of the two protruding branch sections I found. I then sat it in soil and add water: the theory was that it should then take up water, in a good outcome, and last better - or in a bad outcome it just wouldn't and the needles would drop fast.
Dear readers, that was not what happened.
This is the (dying back now presumably due to lack of roots and winter light, sadly, I don't think it'll last) sizeable shoot of what looks very much like some kind of willow. Which is... weird. Clearly the core stem is something like willow rather than pine, and the pine I guess is a graft of some kind? It's a really odd thing, and I'm not sure why it's been done that way at all.
Just thought I'd share and see if anyone has thoughts or comments