Willow Fencing ?

[Scots_Charles_River]

Hi,

The mesolithic hut thread and a recent Night Nature Walk I did with pupils, has inspired me to plant, grow and make a willow fence, approx 5m long for my garden.

Example here a 'fedge' http://www.yorkshirewillow.co.uk/images/Living%20Structure/DSC00294.JPG

I did read a thread/site that pointed out that december was the best planting month.

So any good online suppliers ?

Found this one http://www.yorkshirewillow.co.uk/ any others ?

Nick

 

[Toddy]

If you just bury cuttings to half their length and keep them moist they''ll come away fine in Spring and save you a fortune too......mine work out about 50% success rate so best to stagger plant. There's no shortage of willows around to take a few budded sticks from.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Scots_Charles_River]

Cheers, will do.

May have to do some liberating.

Nick

 

[Toddy]

If you have deer nearby maybe give goat willow a miss, they seem to love it

cheers,
Toddy

 

[rancid badger]

We have been doing living willow structures and sculptures as training days here at Chopwell wood for about 4 years now and it's proved extremely popular with the public as well as quite satisfying to do.

We were doing some last Sunday and we replaced a low, hazel wattle fence around a "nature" pond and constructed a large dome as an "add on" to a large maze type thing which visiting kids play in.

The new dome has a radius of around 9 feet with about 6ft6ins at the centre and would make a fantastic tent with a couple of tarps over the top.
We get most of our willow from Blandford up in Northumberland and it's cut one day and picked up the next. We used quite a lot of the prunings from the original structures this time which saved a few quid. Apparently the stuff we bought in, is all hybrid stock, bred for particular qualities like strength, colour and rapid growth etc.

Earlier this year, I gathered a load of wands from a big crack willow that had been blown down across the river a couple of years back and replanted them around various damp spots in the wood. They came away like rockets and I expect to be able to harvest them this time next year to build a series of domes to be used for hides and fencing to keep horses and mountain bikes from dashing across the roads around the place.

one word of caution; when you plant willow near buildings, you need to have a care for drains as the roots tend to get in there and block them up!:11doh:

this is the dome; a bit "arty farty" for me mind you, but that's the sort of thing the general public are after!
You can see the size of the thing anyway.

Kind regards
R.B.

 

[Mirius]

Not online, but from the RHS

Suppliers of rods and plants
Phil Bradley, Springlea, Deanscales, Cockermouth, Cumbria CA13 0SL. 01900 826413
Musgrove Willows, Willow Fields, Lakewall, Weston Zoyland, nr Bridgwater, Somerset TA7 0LP. 01278 691105
West Wales Willows, Martinique Farm, Wolfscastle, Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire SA62 5DY. 01437 741714
The Willow Bank, Ragmans Lane Farm, Lower Lydbrook,Glos GL17 9PA. 01594 861782

I note that the last, the willow bank certainly has it's own website, and google seemed to show a number.

 

[w00dsmoke]

Nick I used to do this for a living in Scotland and if you pm me I'll give you a free source of willow suitable near where I think you live! Remember to make sure that the ground where you plant them is going to be wet enough for them to grow, it's pointless growing them for example in free draining sand.

If you really want to buy some, try n buy local as there are thousands of species of willow and it would be best for biodiversity if you sourced indigenous Scottish willow to your area. Try Ben Gayer at the Willoworks in Blairhall Fife, I used to do a lot of work with him and he is a decent bloke.

WS