From a Tuscan Hillside: Hedge

Friday, January 25, 2013

Hedge

Hedging our bets

new laurel hedge with pruned mulberry

The best sort of hedge fund is surely the one you establish yourself. Today, fifty laurel ('bay laurel - Laurus nobilis, of the plant family Lauraceae, also known as sweet bay, bay tree, true laurel, Grecian laurel, laurel tree, or simply laurel' - Wikipedia), were planted around our current vegie patch. The plan is to create one day a hortus conclusus, an enclosed or medieval-style garden within the laurel walls. For now our rose bushes have taken cover there from the dreadful deer and we grow tomatoes, parsnips, asparagus, rhubarb and strawberries. The clematis, honeysuckle and other climbers will continue to twine and bloom around the perimeter. In the future we shall plant medieval flowers and the mulberry tree will shade a bench, where people can sit and read or think (cf.'sometimes I sits and thinks and sometimes I just sits') and contemplate the hills. Now that seems a good investment.

hedge from aia/threshing floor

1 comment:

AcanthusJanuary 25, 2013 at 4:40 PM
It looks so beautiful, and will only look better as it grows. An excellent investment, indeed!
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Situated on a hillside, Le Ripe in Chianti has an orchard with heritage fruit trees, an organic vegetable garden, a row of 18 olives, wild figs, wild grapes, dozens of lavender bushes, a medieval hortus conclusus,a shrubbery, English roses and drifts of bulbs, all requiring labour and love but giving much pleasure in return.

The farm buildings, once home, stable, sty and byre, now renovated, host our friends and family. The cottage, a former barn, and two apartments in the main building, once stable and stall, are rented to guests who come by the week or longer. For more information on staying at Le Ripe, see our rental website.

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