Living Willow

Natural Playing > Living Willow

We weave fantastic designs which will leave your visitors staggered and your pupils enthralled, and we have all the expertise to be able to guide you and suggest a design to suit your own space, from fedges and arbours to tunnels and sculptures, or any combination, from a simple arbour seat or story circle to a full three-dimensional maze or play 'house'.

Willow structures allow direct contact with a living material, and the seasonal cycles. They are a very effective way of softening even small spaces if designed and maintained appropriately. Of course if left to their own devices, they will grow into trees... They can even be successful planted in a narrow trench through hard surfacing, although this wouldn't be advised on main routes due to possible surface disruption.

We can provide you with living willow stems for you to weave and plant yourself from November to March each year; or we can come and do the planting for you. Depending on the scale and complexity of the design, planting is a fairly simple operation, and is an excellent opportunity for involving pupils from about age 5 and above, although younger ones can certainly get involved!

On-going maintenance is an equally good involvement opportunity, and provides excellent materials for crafts or even for new living willow structures! The willow itself should need very little care after the first year, but as it grows so enthusiastically it will need at least an annual grooming.

Both planting and maintaining teach about living plants and looking after them, geometry and structures, and improves dexterity. Once established, willow is extremely robust, so there is no risk of doing damage.

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