Saturday, August 13, 2011
The no-nonsense south
In Southland, the big hedge-cutters rarely sit around idle. Examples of their work are everywhere. Macrocarpa hedges like this one are sliced into cuboids of perfect dimension with nary a spray of foliage out of place. At times, whilst driving past one of the long-armed machines working its magic on the rows of macrocarpa or pine, the spinning blade will shower your car with trimmings. It's an exciting moment, as the greenery slaps against your windscreen.
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4 comments:
True art, Rg, true art, and pure as well.
I remember as a youngster watching ,first my grandfather, and later, my father, hand cut these goliaths of the hedge world. I too took my turn to learn the art, and it wasn't till many years later that you knew you were ok for it was only then would any errors of line become truly apparent in an unforgiving way.
I still remember the smell of freshly cut macrocarpa.
But also the laborious task of clearing the clippings.
The Art of Topiary Fred.
I'm hugely conflicted. I like trees and prune for fruit and fire wood but shelter from the wind is no reason to be so unimaginative with the loppers. It's monocultural thinking versus diversification, innovation and imagination. I yearn for biologically-diverse hedgerows across the farming landscape - mixtures of tall, medium and short, evergreen and deciduous, fruiting, flowering, native and exotic.
Instead there is macrocarpa. Or pine. Maybe Leylandii. Just plain lack of imagination and a great loss to the once-existing bio-diversity of the Southland Plains/Murihiku. This subject frustrates me enormously but I have a plan...
Not to take anything away from your experience though Fred. Long time interaction with tasks like hedge cutting, lawn mowing and ploughing etc. build a bond between the doer and the task which doesn't make changing or thinking about changing easy. I still like the smell of newly cut lawns, though I have none. The smell of pinus radiata is still evocative (I've planted thousands of them) but I'd not plant another.
Totally agree with your sentiments, Rg, but we inherited the macrocarpa. The hedge only went when the last big "mike" fell to the firewood axe.
In our own wee patch hedges are banned, weeds encouraged - amazing source of bird feed - and organised chaos welcome!!
I like the sound of that Fred.
My house is built from macrocarpa - it's lovely timber.
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