Discovering the Willow Wand
Whilst cycling along a country lane a couple of weeks ago, I came across these beautiful and most unusual willow trees growing in flower pots. Upon closer examination, I saw that they were called ‘Willow Wands’ and was very impressed. It is basically nine willow withies twisted together to make a rope-like tree in a pot. Over the years, I have made several living structure at various places e.g. Gorse Covert Day Centre and they are still alive! But nothing as simple, stunning and ‘show -stopping’ as these. I decided to make some enquiries and lo and behold, the owner of the business selling the Willow Wands was a colleague whom I used to work with teaching horticulture to people with special needs at the Walton Lea Project. Knowing what it is like to promote a new product and knowing Simon and his ethos, I asked him to write and tell me a little of his story.
The Willow Wand– the ultimate wildlife-friendly garden plant??
As a career-long professional horticulturist, it has long been troubling to me that within our supposedly green sector, it has been accepted practice in the UK horticulture trade to fly fresh cut flowers in from other continents, trundle perishable salad crops up from southern Europe, and import the majority of our garden plants from near neighbours such as the Netherlands… all the while proclaiming our collective environmental credentials and bemoaning the decline of our own horticulture and traditional rural industries.
Within my own garden, I remember the initial delight of propagating showy but tender summer bedding subjects from seed in my heated glasshouse- and the horror on my mum’s face at the resulting electricity bill! I also vividly recall asking my University professor, after an absorbing but discomforting lecture on the seemingly miraculous properties of Neonicotinoids, whether he would use them on his home-grown vegetables. A world authority on insecticides, his response? “I adhere strictly to Organic Gardening principles”.
So my own journey towards ever more sustainable gardening accelerated, along with an increasing determination to help others do likewise.
The culmination of this is The Willow Wand® – a product and indeed whole business founded on the ethics and values ‘for people and planet’
A beautiful plant product in its own right, its tagline English tradition with a modern twist encapsulates much of the journey that so many of us are now on towards creating more truly sustainable gardens without losing our heritage as a ‘Nation of Gardeners’.
Handcrafted in the UK from willow withies sustainably grown on the precious wetland habitats of the Somerset Levels, expertly selected by master weavers, and individually handwoven with precision and skill into a visually stunning living stem.
This ‘Wand’ is then pushed straight into the ground or decorative container and in as little as 6 weeks it will have magically grown a beautiful leafy emerald crown. Simply trim this topiary top to any desired shape for a beautiful centre-piece in your garden, patio or window box.
Perfect as a centre-piece, in groups, or decorative-stemmed standard hedging. The versatile standard stem can be grown as a single ‘living sculpture’ – the centrepiece to your garden, in multiples to form hedging, or in groups.
The stem height is fixed with only the crown being allowed to develop. It can be trimmed to any desired shape and size, as per topiary. The crown of The Willow Wand will quickly grow and fill out during the first season.
Plant it, water it, watch it grow!
“We’ve agreed to an exclusive discount for followers of Nurturing Nature – simply apply the discount code NN15 at the checkout to get £15 off a pack of 3 extra large Wands. Offer runs only till the end of June, while stocks last”
I receive no remuneration for this myself, I was simply astounded by the product and thought it worthy of a mention!
See more examples, learn more and Order online at www.willowwand.co.uk
Recent Comments