This winter our talented gardener Peter Bracey wove this lovely willow and dogwood circle which, just now, frames the brilliant yellow golden chain tree, its large, hanging bunches of drooping bright yellow flowers buzzing with bumblebees.
The willow is the goddess tree, symbolising survival, its supple wood bends without snapping and it can regrow from a fallen branch on damp ground, while the wild dogwood, seen as a symbol of fertility as its flowers are both male and female, gives the circle a lovely reddish tint.
I am a willow of the wilderness,
Loving the wind that bent me.
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
The circle is a lovely frame for vows. We are so pleased with it we are going make a heart shaped one next winter when the dogwood and willow wood along our avenue is at its most bendy as we think it will create an intimate arbor for wedding vows in our cathedral-like Oak ceremony room.