Living willow fence. Above February, below, August 2012
I delivered some beef to a customer a couple of days ago, for whom I did some work earlier in the year. It was lovely to see her again and great to see the willow fence we built and to hear how pleased she is with it.
As predicted when we discussed the project in July 2011, maintenance will be an issue – once willow is growing, as this is, it really goes! The vast volume of rain we’ve received in this part of the world, since May, has been just about perfect for getting willow growing. This fence is suitably distant from buildings, won’t shade any other beds and is adjacent to what will probably become a shrub bed.
Our client has put in an annual wildflower seed mix alongside which has produced a great show of colour; shrubs will go in later. She has an admirably flexible approach to her garden and this fence, being quite happy to cut roots as they intrude laterally into the adjacent bed, spend time weaving new growth into the fence later in the winter and cut it hard later still. She’s even prepared to kill the whole thing at some point if she gets fed up with the amount of maintenance it requires.
I’m very pleased with it and I’m hoping to be able drop in again next year, to see how things develop.
We are beginning to take orders for similar projects for February-April 2013, so if you’re thinking about this kind of thing, continuous weave dead fencing or perhaps commissioning willow panels, talk to us soon.