After a haughty decade of the fast life, Australia’s economy isn’t the only thing now slowing down. People are too. Some are inadvertently finding themselves with time, be it through a job loss or reduced hours, others are simply seizing the opportunity to step off the soul sucking treadmill of modern existence for a slower, yet infinitely more rewarding lifestyle.
The result of this social slowdown and its associated cocooning trend is that alongside traditional crafts like cider making and preserving, old fashioned gardening techniques are being rediscovered as well. In 2007 I wrote a column about the techniques espalier and pleaching. This week, it’s coppicing. These are all ancient gardening skills, yet all are absolutely relevant and useful for the home gardener. None of them have been superseded by something more revolutionary. Experienced and professional gardeners have always used the old techniques, but for whatever reason, newer gardeners didn’t really “get the memo”.
If that’s the case, let me introduce you to coppicing. A centuries old means of maintaining woodland areas, coppicing is the art of repeatedly cutting down young tree stems to a stump or more correctly, a “stool”. As a technique, it exemplifies the concept of renewal. Coppiced trees can be maintained almost indefinitely in a juvenile stage, and in fact, there are ancient coppices in the UK with a stool of nine metres in diameter. These ancient trees suggest that coppicing is a far more sustainable method of timber production than clear felling, which destroys old trees and requires that forests are regenerated, rather than renewed.
A natural form of coppicing exists in the Australian bush. As an adaptation to bushfire many species of eucalypt develop lignotubers. These swollen underground root systems are full of starch and covered in dormant buds that are ready to burst into life and regenerate the tree when the above-ground portion is damaged by fire or animals. Mallees in particular are naturally multi-trunked, prone to lignotuber development and through coppicing, are able to survive for centuries.
What applications does coppicing have in the domestic garden? One is the production of useful material for stakes and fencing. Bamboo for example is very popular for these purposes, but most gardeners pay good money for what could otherwise be grown very easily at home. A clumping bamboo that won’t run and invade the neighbour’s yard would be perfect. Bambusa textilis ‘Gracilis’ will take the coldest Downs winter, grows quickly to about six metres, and with a bit of summer water would produce an endless supply of stakes.
A more traditional option for coppicing would be the common European hazel tree, Corylus avellana. The Celts revered the hazel. They equated the tree with wisdom and poetic inspiration, but when it suited, weren’t adverse to harvesting the very strong timber from coppiced woodlands to make shillelaghs and other weapons. You could do something similar if you’re so inclined, but a more peaceful use for a backyard hazel tree might be to make latticing, traditional woven hurdles, walking sticks or simply stakes to grow your sweet peas on. Oh, and you shouldn’t forget about the nuts either.
The other significant use of coppicing is in the production of decorative young growth. Many deciduous trees can be cut to the ground in early summer, and will respond by sending up vibrantly coloured shoots or young foliage to lighten the bleakest winter. Some of the best species for this treatment include the dogwoods Cornus ‘Sibirica’ and ‘Midwinter Fire’ with their red and orange suckers, and the golden yellow stems of the willow Salix alba ‘Vitellina’. The cider gum Eucalyptus gunnii is also an ideal specimen for coppicing as its young foliage is distinctly circular and glaucous, earning the plant the colloquial nickname silver dollar.
The only things to be careful of when coppicing, is to prune at the correct time of the year (for most trees and shrubs this will be early summer), and to give the tree you’re planning to coppice a decent head start before you cut it back to a stool. One final bit of advice: hand down the technique to the younger generations. With good management, coppiced trees will prove useful for many, many years into the future.
First published in the Toowoomba Chronicle 4th April 2009
