Willow

[Jadeapple]

I have made an exciting discovery. Well for me anyways its exciting.
I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner. :)
It's willow! I was looking at the magazine rack in the grocery store
today and came across and article on basket making. It got my brain
working and when I got home I looked it up on the net.
Well willow isn't just for baskets and furniture I discovered. You can
also use it for fencing and hedges...and.living fences at that.
One of the things we've been pondering is our future needs for fencing
and that costs $. So here's a solution. I can grow our fences!
Willow is a breeze to grow from cuttings. You basically just stick it
the stick in the ground and it grows no problem. Many species love
wet, perfect for our micro habitat being on the edge of a marsh. I'm
sure there are already natural species in the back. I will take a
look, but there are also many different varieties and colors for
different uses.
I figure that this year I can easily establish a base bed of several
varieties, for very little cost; less then 100 dollars and by next
season start taking cuttings myself and literally plant the fences and
hedges as I need them.
The unique thing here is that it is literally a fence that keeps on
giving as according to the info you can prune/harvest canes for use
with things like baskets and other crafts, some also have medicinal
use, furniture making and as a helper for other plants.
http://www.bluestem.ca/willow-article1.htm

Here's a couple of sites that I found that are filled with info on
all of it's uses and possibilities.

http://www.thewillowbank.com/using_willow.htm
http://www.bluestem.ca/living-willow-structures.htm

[Leigh Blackall]

Thats awesome Christine! No wonder it is such a prolific plant in Australia.. the first settlers must have known these uses and did as you are going to do. Bad thing in Australia though, it turned into a noxious weed and has been choking river ways ever since. But, a weed is a plant who's virtues have not yet been realised right? Or in Australia's case - who's virtues have been forgotten. Perhaps if people did find industrial virtue for the Willow, the rivers would be less choked.

How does bamboo grow in your region? Its another "problem" plant in Australia that was originally used for the same reasons you describe willow.

--
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Leigh Blackall
+64(0)21736539
skype - leigh_blackall
SL - Leroy Goalpost
http://learnonline.wordpress.com

[Jadeapple]

I'm not an expert in bamboo but I was doing some reading on that
yesterday. As with willow there are very many different varieties.
There are a few apparently that are cold hardy enough to survive here
and aren't invasive here. Depending though on your climate zone and
the type in can be invasive. In Vancouver where I grew up we had a
clump of bamboo in our yard. It was a type of 'clumping' bamboo so it
didn't spread like some other types do.
I'm pretty sure thats the same with willow. Some spread like crazy
(depending) on the climate and some don't. It's just a matter of being
really careful to choose a variety that works whereever you are.
I have a feeling that in the future that some of these invasive type
plants that drive people crazy right now will find there uses and
people may be glad that they exist because they can be so useful as
resources. Bamboo is like that, it can be used for so many different
things, from paper to building materials.

[jason ross]

Jason here, yeah willow is amazing, is used in some countries to stabalise huge banks by kind of weaving a living retaining wall. The downside for productive spaces is that they take a lot of nutrients from the ground. Also very high maintenance, I have seen many living willow structures, incl. fences that havnt worked cause they not pruned properly, I beleive you have to prune them 2-3 times each summer! And they will not produce good material for basketry etc as the canes will be short, you must coppice for this.

j.

> Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2008 08:13:50 -0700
> Subject: ::{permaculture}:: Re: Willow
> From: jade...@gmail.com
> To: permaculture-...@googlegroups.com

[Jadeapple]

Thanks for the info Jason. It's good to hear from someone who actually
has experience with it.

On Mar 17, 2:47 pm, jason ross <jasontrees...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Jason here, yeah willow is amazing, is used in some countries to stabalise huge banks by kind of weaving a living retaining wall. The downside for productive spaces is that they take a lot of nutrients from the ground. Also very high maintenance, I have seen many living willow structures, incl. fences that havnt worked cause they not pruned properly, I beleive you have to prune them 2-3 times each summer! And they will not produce good material for basketry etc as the canes will be short, you must coppice for this.
>
> j.
>
>
>

> > Date: Mon, 17 Mar2008 08:13:50 -0700
> > Subject: ::{permaculture}:: Re: Willow
> > From: jadeea...@gmail.com

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