Garden Making with Lakeshore Willows

Coming home from "2 weeks in the sun on a beach in Puerto Plata" I couldn't wait to open my spring issue of Garden Making - which was waiting for me, delivered to subscribers the day after we left home.

I subscribed to Garden Making when it was first introduced at Canada Blooms and I have loved every issue.

This time my excitement was different as I knew that Lakeshore Willows is featured in the monthly pages: Gardener's Notebook and I had to find Garden Making in the pile of mail and open it at 2 a.m. just after we arrived home.

My friend Yvonne Cunnington - "Thank you so much for writing this, helping me spread the word about working with willow"

The spring issue went on sale today.




Text and photos by Lene Rasmussen,Willows.

Willow bird feeder visited

The anticipated snowstorm dumped a pile of snow here today and it has been very busy at the bird feeder.
I have feeders in three different sizes, the biggest one too big for hanging in a rope or chain. In the spring we will place a pole in a flowerbed for mounting one in addition to leaving one on the deck, mounted on a rod placed in a sturdy umbrella-foot.
For now, so that we can enjoy the birds - and they can eat - during winter, we have placed one on top of our fire pit.

Words and photos by Lene Rasmussen,Willows.

New blog: I Danmark er jeg født

For those of you interested - I have just started a new blog: I Danmark er jeg født (I was born in Denmark). I is written in Danish and I intend to communicate everyday happenings and thoughts.

Words and photos by Lene Rasmussen,Willows.

Willow cuttings and dormant rods update

As the season for willow cuttings and dormant, living willow rods is approaching, I have just updated the "tabs" at the top of my blog with information about willow cuttings and living dormant rods (for Living Willow Fences (Fedge), huts, arbors, tunnels etc., and of course also for Living Willow Trees planted in pots or directly in the ground) for sale here at Lakeshore Willows, Wainfleet, Ontario, Canada.

For anyone interested in Living Willow workshops there is an overview of upcoming workshops etc. under the tab "events".


Words and photos by Lene Rasmussen,Willows.

Winter Planters with Willow

This year I chose to decorate my winter planters using willow as the main material.

The planters at the back door each has 10 large branches of the curly willow, Salix x 'Red Corkscrew Willow' placed in the middle.  

To complement the yellow and orange colours I made wreaths of Salix dasyclados and S. sachaliensis 'Sekka' and placed them on the edges of the planters.

It was easy and I like the look - although I might have added a few, small green branches had the soil not been frozen by the time I started to work on the planters - I was lucky to get the willow rods in place before the soil was too hard.

The low, black planters at the front door are filled with branches of Salix x 'Flame', a few S. sachaliensis 'Sekka' (Japanese Fantail willow), and "sprigs" of evergreens.

As we do not have Christmas lights on the house, we decided to wrap two very large wreaths and three big stars - made with fresh rods of Salix dasyclados - with strands of clear mini lights and hung them at the front of the house over the holiday. It looked great and I will have to take photos to show next year.

Salix x acutifolia is interesting with a white bloom on the dark wine coloured stems and I  used it as decoration on my advendt wreath this year - looking beautiful along with light purple ribbons. As I made a couple of Christmas decorations for the table, I also added a few stems for interest.

It is the last day of 2010 and I wish you all a Happy New Year with good health and lots of laughter.

Words and photos by Lene Rasmussen,Willows.

Salix x 'Flame' flaming in the November sun!

Sometimes you just have to post repeatedly about a subject - like the colours of the willow branches, intensifying after some frosty nights, and amplified by late afternoon sun.

The colours in the field looked so inviting from the house that I decided to walk out and try to capture some of it. Above is Salix x 'Flame' on November 11, 2010 burning in the late afternoon sun.

Salix x rubens 'Hutchinsons Yellow' - true to its name somewhat more yellowish - stunning.

Salix 'Americana' had taken on a beautiful brown colour with a touch of pink.

Interesting enough Salix koriyanagi 'Rubykins' still had all green leaves, standing tall, slim, and beautiful, the rods a bright green with some rosy cheeks.

Time for harvesting has arrived - at least for some varieties.

Words and photos by Lene Rasmussen,Willows.

Weaving for the garden and the birds

At the willow weaving class in June I had a chance to  meet a few of the members of the Southwestern Ontario Basketry Guild and it was a wonderful opportunity for me to get to know people with an interest in willow.

One of the girls, Janice joined my friend Frances and me for a couple of days of weaving here at Lakeshore Willows, where Janice and I benefited from Frances' great experience in willow weaving.

We used entirely left over willow from the above mentioned class in June - dried, then soaked willow kept in a freezer by Frances since June - and Frances was happy to see most of the willow finally transformed into something useful.

Both Janice and Frances have added wonderful posts to their blogs about our "Basket Camp" where you can read more about the experience.

This garter snake decided to pay us a visit in the garage. I was very surprised that he actually came right into the garage where we were working on the baskets - AND both dogs were there too. Maybe because it was a very hot day, but I quickly got him outside again - I really don't like snakes, even the harmless ones, and definitely not in the house. Really, since that day I catch myself checking for any movement whenever I step into the garage from the house!

Our finished garden baskets displayed on the deck.

Frances did a great job teaching us the techniques that were a great challenge for both Janice and me - especially to scallom and insert the stakes.

My basket in use - I just harvested the last big bunch of tomatoes a couple of days ago.

Our next project were bird-feeders. Here's Janice working on the base - Frances "lending a helping hand"

Our final products.

I think they look pretty good, considering they were our first attempts, helping each outer and following written instructions.

Words and photos by Lene Rasmussen,Willows.