Friday, September 23, 2011

Living Willow Fence - one year later.......

Planting a woven Living Willow Fence has to be one of the fastest ways to create a living wall in your garden.
My woven fence was planted in the beginning of April 2010 and you can see what it looked like by the end of May that same year here.
After pruning in the fall - as I want to maintain the visibility of the shape of the fence - this is what it looked like in mid November the first year.

The following photos are from June this year, the fence being one year old.
If you are not interested in showing the weave, but would rather have a dense hedge, you can at this point weave all the long shoots into the structure.
We don't have a lot of trees on our property, but our neighbour does - and from early afternoon on the hedge is in shade. As you can see, it is doing just fine with the hours of sun that it gets daily.
On the North side of the fence, however the growth is more sparse and you can easily see the woven pattern even at this time of the year. To maintain the fence - so that it doesn't get lopsided - it is important to either prune it at least once (better twice) annually or continually weave any new growth into it.
By the end of July this second growing season the look is very full and the fence is ready for another pruning.
Words and photos by Lene Rasmussen,Willows.

8 comments:

  1. Lene, have you been weaving in the growth or only pruning? The fence looks just gorgeous. Congratulations!

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  2. Weaving Willow, I have been pruning the fence as I want to maintain the woven look of it.
    Thank you very much!
    Lene

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  3. It looks great! I like the pruning to show off the weave. My willow "snow fence" does a great job of helping to control blowing and drifting snow, but yours is much more beautiful, Lene.

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  4. Thank you, Donna. I also like to show off the weave. But for people who just want to have a dense hedge fast, it is a great idea to just weave in the new growth.

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  5. How much time does it take to prune? Do you trim inside each square or just shear the sides? It's lovely. I am planning something similar around our yard. I don't need it to be a privacy fence, just ornamental and to define the yard from the rest of the property.

    I'm enjoying your blog. :)

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  6. Its beautifull, i am planning to make such a hedge in february after we cut the willow trees. Nice blog!

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  7. I am in awe of your living fence! I would dearly love to plant one on the west side of a very large flower garden. It's 120' long. To build a fence like yours, approx. how many cuttings would I need? I live in zone 4b, would this be a problem for this species? Thank you for sharing your artistry!

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    Replies
    1. Hi Anonymous
      If you send me an e-mail, I can discuss this with you.

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