fedge

English

WOTD – 17 November 2015

A willow tunnel in the walled garden of Felbrigg Hall in Felbrigg, Norfolk, England, in the UK. A fedge involves the use of willow plants in a similar way to create a fence.

Etymology

Blend of fence ‎ hedge.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fɛd͡ʒ/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛdʒ

Noun

fedge (plural fedges)

1. (horticulture) A fence made up of living plants, especially willow, thus somewhat resembling a hedge.
   • 2006, Barbara Pleasant, Easy Garden Projects to Make, Build, and Grow: 200 Do-it-yourself Ideas to Help You Grow Your Best Garden Ever, Dublin, N.H.: Yankee Publishing, →ISBN, page 254:

     What do you get when you cross a fence with a hedge? The answer is a fedge, which you can make by weaving fresh willow branches together, with their bases nestled into moist soil so they take root and grow. You can start a fedge with willow or other woody cuttings gathered from woods or roadsides […]

   • 2011, Alice Bowe, High-Impact, Low-Carbon Gardening: 1001 Ways to Garden Sustainably, Portland, Or.: Timber Press, →ISBN, page 79:

     Fast growing and quick to take root, even from a cut stem, willow is a great sustainable resource that can be used to make living fences, or fedges – as well as retaining structures, arches, and arbours. The best time to make your own fedge is in the winter when the willow is dormant.

   • 2013, Gary Paul Nabhan, Growing Food in a Hotter, Drier Land: Lessons from Desert Farmers on Adapting to Climate Uncertainty, White River Junction, Vt.: Chelsea Green Publishing, →ISBN, page 37:

     What's in a name? Hedge, Fedge, Living Fencerow, Fredge ... […] A tentative truce between British and American agricultural geographers over terminology was brokered when a young British landscape designer trained at Oxford tried to popularize the term fedge in her book High-Impact, Low-Carbon Gardening, which was simultaneously released on both sides of the pond. And yet the term has not gained much currency, so I will propose another, hopefully more memorable one. I suggest that we rally behind another syllogism, the fredge, which takes its f and r from fence and row, and the rest of its letters from hedge and edge.

   • 2015 February 7, Helen Yemm, “Thorny problems: How can I soften a brick wall with plants?”, in The Daily Telegraph (London)‎^[1], page G7:

     Ryan Kelly has a young fedge (a living willow hedge). Alan Jefferson has a boundary windbreak of substantial hawthorn. Both ask if I think it would be feasible or a good idea to plant roses to mingle with the hedging plants, and if so, what kind of rose would I suggest.