Living Willow Structures

Living willow rods can be planted in a pattern then interwoven to produce a living willow structure. The willow rods are living rods and will root in the ground and continue to grow.  This continued growth adds to the structure year on year. In addition to the ease with which living willow rods can be grown they are very supple and can be bent into many different forms.  Typical forms and structures are:

• Arbours and tunnels
• Fences or fedges as they are often referred to
• Domes
• Igloo
• Seats
• Arches

Arbours and Tunnels

Mark out on the ground the position of the two sides of the tunnel walls.  They don’t have to be straight or parallel - you can use your imagination to create something different. We would recommend using ground cover material to kill off the grass and weeds especially where the living willow rods are to be planted.  Use child friendly material if the structure is for a child’s play area.  Peg this material along your pattern so it doesn’t move whilst you are planting the living willow rods.

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Once all the living willow rods have been planted you can start bending each pair to form an arch. Ideally you want to twist them together but alternatively, simply tie them together. Rubber tubing is the best material for tying as it expands as the living willow structure grows.  Even if you twist them together it may be necessary to tie them to stop them from unwinding.

 The next stage of creating your living willow structure is to insert living willow rods into the ground along the line of your pattern, spacing the rods about 300 mm apart. The rods need to be inserted about 300 mm (12”) into the ground. If you want to achieve a very dense effect plant the willow rods closer together.

Repeat the process by tying each pair of living willow rods, trying to make sure they have roughly the same profile. If you want the tunnel to vary in height, we suggest forming the start and end hoops, then checking the height of intermediate hoops by ‘eyeing’ from either end. Either that or use a straight piece of timber laid on top spanning the two ends. Your living willow structure is now taking shape.

The last stage of creating your living willow structure is to weave diagonals into it. These serve to make the structure rigid and to fill the structure in. Insert a living willow rod into the ground as before but at an angle (45 deg is best), then weave these in and out and around the hoops. You will need longer willow rods for weaving than you used to form the hoops. If necessary you can tie these diagonal to the hoops to make it more rigid. Willow rods can also be woven horizontally into the living willow structure to make it more decorative. You can create windows if you want by leaving gaps when filling in.