Living Willow House

The willows at the bottom of the garden have to be cut back each winter, should be done in November but only got around to them last week. Sometimes the willow rods are dumped, last year I made follies to stand in the garden. This I year I decided to make a living willow house for grandsons and maybe a granddaughter to play in.

There are instructions of sorts here and there on the internet so I took the rods out to the country and made it in a few minutes. The idea is that the rods take root and the whole structure grows. I'll let you know how it progresses.

Of course we called the willow, sally and sally rods were used for basket and creel making. The latin is Salix and the Irish saileach. Information on Yeats' Down by the Sally Gardens here.