Wondering about willow

I do love willow. I love it as a tree – particularly the contorted type, but also in its full glory beside a lake. I love it as cut twigs in a vase & I love what creative people can do with it – just look at the top two pictures today. Aren’t they amazing? By artist Emma Stothard. Today’s post about willow came about as we are creating a new parterre here in our own garden. It’s a series of formal squares with a tree in the centre of each (I’ll post photos of it throughout but there’s not much to show yet). I’ve selected a whitebeam as the foliage will contrast well with the mature beech hedge beyond & I can prune them to huge pompoms. In the gales one snapped off two metres from the tip so I’ve had to take drastic action & cut all four down to match. It’s meant I’ve had to be braver than I might have been cutting them into their new shapes. Anyhow – I thought I’d put the twigs in a vase to tie in with our lovely willow head we’ve named Bob – tada!

It got me thinking more about willow & what can be done with it.

This amazing twelve metre sculpture off the M5 in Somerset by Serena De La Hey & the delicate stag by Trevor Leat who also produced this beautiful willow man below –

It can be used simply too of course as wind breaks & plant supports

However it is used, with a little imagination it looks fantastic & is easy to grow too. I’m thinking of going on a course to learn to make chickens (you have to start somewhere!) as there’s one just up the road. Meantime I’ll leave you with a few more gorgeous images until I can fill you in on our parterre…

Bye for now!