Earlier this week I took a friend from Italy Andrea Meriggioli to some of my special places where the most amazing trees grow. He was surprised that these incredible trees were in the UK. Especially the BIG deadwood Yew.
Tag Archives: Deadwood
Refining the deadwood on the Big Taxus
I have been refining the deadwood on my very large Yew. Good preparation, cleaning, removing remnants of old bark, clearing out the deep holes and hiding any work done by man will ensure that this tree will present well. Three years since the tree was collected it has thrived, it will be styled in my garden the day before the Burrs event, Burrs participants who will visit the garden will be the first to see this great Yew.
Creating deadwood using a blowtorch!
The Yew tree had been stripped and the wood dry for over two years, I was surprised how hard it was to actually ‘burn’ the wood and smooth out the rough breaks etc. I protected the foliage with a wet towel and continually wet it during the process. Using a Chefs blow torch, then whilst it is hot I use a brass wire brush to remove the burnt wood, I use sandblasting on BIGGER projects… prepping the tree is laborious when blasting.
The colour will improve over the years… for now it has had only one coat of Lime sulphur.
