We know it is going to be controversial. There will be those who will say that pollarding a tree as we did today is somehow "not natural" and anyway "its too much work" to keep it pruned like that. What a load of crap. Gardening itself is not "natural". Architecture is not "natural", art is not "natural", clothes are not "natural", cooked food is not "natural" and, so it would too often seem in Australia, concepts such as "taste", "style" and a well developed appreciation of good practical design are not "natural". Well,it's called "culture". And it's what Homo sapiens does.
Regarding the other often heard criticism that pollarding would be "too much work". Same thing - total crap. Pollarding a tree once a year takes considerably less time than many people quite happily spend tweaking a silly little patch of overly manicured suburban lawn into some misconceived vision of "nice". Pollarding also has the practical advantage of allowing a tree such as the Plane Tree seen here to be kept to scale in a garden environment allowing it to complement rather than overwhelm the architecture. The sculpted forms of well pollarded trees are a source of visual delight not just practicality. If you disagree then go to Paris or London or Berlin or Rome or any one of a thousand great gardens to be found in the civilized world. But then, if you don't appreciate a pollarded tree you probably think that "civilized" is not "natural' and is "too much work" anyway.
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| Classic Pollarded Plane Trees |
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| The Plane Tree before pollarding |
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| I see Pollards Our Pollards are in The Main Courtyard at The Drip, Mudgee. CLICK HERE to see this on our website |
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