Envisioning a New Canadian Hedgerow

Yesterday I continued with the work of planting up the hedgerow at Mount Wolfe Farm that we had begun at the Fall Farm Fest when we launched the Hedgerow Rite (blog on that coming soon!)

Its great to spend some time with these plants, most of which are new to me at least at the species level,  even as they are in their final stages of decline and shut down for the winter. I have been tutored by Sarah’s mum Sheilagh Crandall who runs the Msplants of Caledon gardening company on my plant ID, but following the FFF planting on a sunny Autumn afternoon (Oct 30) I made a concerted effort to get to know my hedge shrubs the best way I knew how- drawing them. Now I’m not going to win any awards as a scientific illustrator but walking the circumference of a leaf with the tip of the pencil and  marking the position of buds and lentils on a twig help my shabby memory retain details of differences and similarities. The next step will be learning the stories of these plants, their history, mythology and uses.

 

Back in the UK I would have three books that for me are indispensable in this botanical befriending:

• Francis Rose’s Wildflower Key
• Owen Johnson’s Collins Tree Guide
• Richard Mabey’s Flora Britannica

The level of botanical detail contained in the first two is outstanding. I don’t find picture books very useful in IDing plants, especially if all you have to go by is a twig!. Richard Mabey’s book is a wonderful and comprehensive guide to the history, myths and stories behind the plants which help to bring alive the relationships which we have with native flora.

I haven’t yet found any Canadian equivalents of these three (suggestions gratefully received!), although I have only been here full time since May! So I relied heavily on online research for the details including websites including:

• Ontario Tree Atlas
• Canadian Tree Tours
• Portrait Of the Earth
• Ontario Native Plants
• Ontario Trees and Shrubs

With the Front 10 Acres Hedgerow and the Bowl Hedgerow planted by the TRCA there is now 330 metres of new ‘Canadian Hedgerow’ at Mount Wolfe Farm but its going to be a few years before it looks anything like a hedgerow! So in order to visualise what it may look like I put together this photo-collage of the species in the Spring and Autumn, with a closer look at the berries and nuts (well nut, since only American Hazelnut produces them in our hedgerows)- see top of page.

 

I’ll be writing a forthcoming blog about the uses, history and folklore of these plants, a la Richard Mabey so watch out for that!