A fedge of living willow

The fedge between the potager and the ornamental garden at Riverstone Cafe

Now that all the deciduous trees are bare it is time to get out and plait your hedges, folks! Seriously, if you have the skills of basket maker Mike Lilian, of Kakanui, then you could indeed make very beautiful hedges (or fedges – cross between a fence and a hedge) of woven living willow.

I saw some of Mike's work on a trip south in March. At the Riverstone Cafe just south of the Waitaki River there is a long fedge dividing the potager from the ornamental garden, with a woven archway between the two. At the community garden in Oamaru there is a fedge, two archways, and and two living tepees which can be used as supports for annual climbing plants, like beans or sweet peas.

The fedge at the Oamaru Community Garden

An article in NZ House and Garden explains how the weaving is done. Mike plants the living willow rods in winter, and weaves them into the fedge pattern. In spring they sprout leaves at the top, and by summer they have a leafy green hedge layer around head height. In the following and subsequent winters they need tending to keep the pattern straight, remove unwanted shoots, and so on, so they are a bit of work – but then regular hedges are too, so why not have some fun with them?

 Woven willow tepee at the Oamaru Community Garden 

Looking through a woven archway to the 
Oamaru Community Garden (real) tepee