Taking orders for Willow cuttings and rods 2012

The winter - so far - has been mild with weather conditions changing almost daily. During January we had temperatures ranging from 15 degrees Celsius to -17 (+ the effect of the wind chill), sunny days, rainy days, snowy days, very windy days and a few days like today starting out looking like a dense snowstorm, then suddenly more and more blue appearing in the sky with bright sun and temperatures just above freezing. The snow probably won't stay long this time either.

These conditions have made it possible for us to start harvesting the willow already and we are now taking orders for willow cuttings and rods. Delivery can take place anytime you wish until the end of April. If you order - and receive cuttings before you are ready to plant them - don't worry, they will keep just fine wrapped in dark plastic and stored in your fridge. Prices and information about availability and kits for living willow trees can be found at the top of the page under "Cuttings and whips"!

The fairly wet snow coming down this morning blanketed and hugged the willow in the garden. Beautiful!

The smaller willow Salix eleagnos (often called rosemary willow, but it is not Salix rosemarinifolia) has narrow green leaves resembling the leaves on rosemary. Cuppiced each year the shrub grows to a height of about 75cm (under 3 feet) and I grow some as a low, natural hedge. The winter bark on S. eleagnos i very dark  brown almost black with dark red bud scales.

The trunk of the woven willow trees lend themselves to some beautiful snow covered images. Salix x acutifolia is a more vigorous willow, its first growth in spring a bright wine red with almost lime coloured new leaves. Later the foliage colour gets a bit darker, but the branches stay a wine red colour during summer. As the leaves fall the colours of the bark change to a dark purple, almost black. The following year the bark on last years growth develops a bloom that gives them a whitewashed look. Older bark  is black as seen on the image on left. The branches on the image to the right show winter bark on one year old shoots. 

A woven or twisted tree looks especially

beautiful in this variety of willow and grown as a shrub in the garden it ads beautiful colour year round. 

Salix alba 'Sericea' has intense dark orange coloured  winter bark. As other alba hybrids it tends to grow with lots of side branches (even when coppiced) so it is not the best willow to grow for basketry. It is great though, to have a few bundles of rods to ad some colour variations to certain baskets. For that purpose I have to cut the side branches off for use as weavers - and I only get a few for my own use. It is far too much work!

Living willow fence in snow.

Words and photos by Lene Rasmussen,Willows.

December willows

Running late seems to be the thing for me in December. This week I finally made my winter planters - just have to ad some lights now.

Inspired by a customer who bought some willow globes from me for her planters, I have placed globes on top of a bed of greens in my planters at the back door. My customer has added strands of lights to her globes and it looks beautiful at night - I may just do that also, if I can find the time for it before Saturday that is. 

For the front door I have used lots of curly willow and dragon willow branches for a look similar to last year.

So far this winter we have only had a couple of days with snow. When we get the snow, however, it always gets caught by the willow in the field and I end up with large, deep drifts of snow among the willows - snow that doesn't melt till long after all the other snow is gone - and I scramble to get the willow harvested before it goes out of dormancy again and the bark loosens from the rods.

This year we have put a snow fence up hoping that most of the snow - if we get a lot - won't get caught up in the willows and I will be able to harvest earlier.

I could harvest at any time now, but am waiting for some frost so that it isn't so wet and muddy in the field and we can bring out the tractor to transport the willow to the barn.

The colours of the willow in the winter always amazes me, so diverse and vibrant.

Today is the shortest day of the year - we're on our way towards spring!
Wishing all a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New Year.

Words and photos by Lene Rasmussen,Willows.

Willow harvest delayed by more snow

Finally last week-end most of the snow had disappeared in the field and we could begin this year's willow harvest.
We managed to harvest about 20% of the rods. Monday and Tuesday I cut a bit more, finished bundeling the rods in the field. By Tuesday  the field was dry enough for me to drive the lawn tractor with my little wagon behind to pick the budles up and take them home.

Then Wednesday morning I woke up to about 10 cm of snow!! And as if that was not enough, it continued on and off all day and by night we have double of that with some drifts as deep as 40 cm - as in the driveway :-)

The next week or so will be cold but sunny and I can only wait..........till it is all gone again - and hope........that I will have time enough to harvest all the willow before it starts growing again.

The bundles look very nice in the snow though and stacked behind the barn waiting to be sorted in bundles with different sizes.

If there is anything good about the snow at this time of the year - yes, they say it is spring and we have changed to "Daylight savings time" - it is the fact that I can let the dogs out without  getting two very dirty, mud dragging boys in the house. Oh well, I tried!!

Words and photos by Lene Rasmussen,Willows.

The longest month!

31 days don't make January THE longest month of the year. Yet in my mind no other month feels nearly as long as this frosty, crispy one, dark hours (black out here in the country) out-numbering by far daylight hours so intensly wished for to replenish our bodies and souls. By mid-month I feel that Christmas must be at least three months past - and not just three weeks

The images of tree and decorations long gone from my mind and only found in my photos.

As it happens every year the tree branches, separated from the trunk, waiting to serve as protection for the strawberry patch when the snow melts - which is rapidly happening today.

The planters outside - prepared before the Holiday season - will continue to remind us, until spring comes around - or rather until I dismantle them and replace with potted spring bulbs or pansies.

In the field the willows are dormant. I didn't harvest any this season yet as some of my varieties went dormant (dropping their leaves) rather late due to the warm fall weather and after that, lots of rain made it impossible for me to work in the field.

The colored rods look beautiful with the white snow - in the picture to the left is Salix x rubens 'Huchinson's Yellow' in front of S. koriyanagi 'Rubykins' the grayish green stems visible behind the yellow ones. To the right the open, though healthy vigorous first year's growth of S. dasyclados.

The Danish song treasure is vast and loved by most Danes. I'll admit that I often - when working outside or just being alone - sing out loud (sometimes just in my head) and recently it's been one of the beautiful songs by B.S. Ingemann, "I sne står urt og busk i skjul" written in 1831. I know that I cannot translate this without losing some of the beauty - I'd just like to share the feeling - it's sweet and comforting for the longest month:

In snow shrub and herb is hid
It is so cold out there!
Though, a tiny bird singing,
on twig by frozen pane!

Give time! Give time! it sings out glad,
shaking those small wings
Give time - and every twig has leaf!
Give time - all blooms unfold!

Winter Harvest

Freezing cold winters often with thick covers of snow doesn't seem to be the time to harvest any crop - but we actually have a few exemptions.........

Those of you who grow kale or Brussels sprouts know that these brassicas will turn sweeter, less bitter, and more aromatic after a little frost - and how nice it is to be able to pick a little "green" long after the growing season is over.

Corn - I would never have thought a farmer to harvest corn in winter. I don't know the reason, if it was planned to be or not, but a couple of weeks ago - when we had a few days without any snow - a farmer down the road from us harvested corn. I drove by this dead looking field and there he was with his big machine and a huge trailer filled with small golden-yellow kernels!

This Saturday we went to the Niagara Icewine Festival in Jordan. Yes, the shelves are made of pure ice.

Now, living close to the Niagara Wine Country, winter harvest of grapes for the production of icewine is known to more people. The first icewine (eiswein in German) was produced a couple of centuries ago when a German grape farmer was surprised by an early frost. As he didn't want to waste the grapes, he pressed the juice from the frozen grapes and the resulting wine was icewine.

Many of Niagara's wineries now produce icewine and for the past few years we have enjoyed visiting one of the Niagara Icewine Festival events: The Twenty Valley Icewine Bar in the Jordan Village. Saturday was extremely cold and the people serving samples at the bar - made of a gigantic slab of ice - were in an admirably good mood considering their frozen hands and feet.Some of them danced to keep warm - between pouring glasses full of sweet samples - to the beats from the live entertainment.

There were beautiful ice sculptures - like this table. We, as other people, used to enjoy standing at these tables, putting our glass down, enjoy some soup, or just talk; but this year it was just too cold and the tables were standing there as pretty statues.

Even the Queen was there (Winter Queen, Snow Queen, Ice Queen - what do you call her?) in her "nice and cozy chair" as she called her throne with the jester at her side.

In my own field I will be harvesting willow as soon as the snow allows me to do so.
Willow rods to be used for weaving are harvested while the plants are dormant, from November to March. The picture is taken in December and right now we have even more snow. As the rods are cut close to the ground, I have to wait till at least some of it has melted.
This will be my first harvest from the field and I am quite excited about it. Only one of my varieties will be dried to be used for weaving later on, but I'll tell you more at "harvesting time" in a separate post.