Since posting my first blog post about dead hedges, I’ve seen a few great examples in person around the city.
Over the weekend I went to the Chattahoochee Nature Center in Roswell. Although it was a bit rainy, I had the chance to walk around the grounds and was excited to see the use of dead hedges in the landscape and around paths. They actually call them wattles, and hopefully you can see that the construction is a little different than what I described in my first post.
Wattles utilize fallen branches as well, but they are constructed by weaving branches and sticks in between one row of “post” branches.
You may have heard the word wattle in the context of “wattle and daub” construction. This is a method that dates back to Neolithic times and describes a building method that involves the construction of wattles which were then covered with daub, a sticky substance typically made of sand, clay, or mud mixed with straw, or some combination of those materials. This was used to build some of the earliest domestic buildings. You can see that the team at the Chattahoochee Nature center uses them to define paths and beds and provide structural interest to the grounds.
Another great idea is to create a fence using the dead hedge method against an existing chain link fence. This gives it a more aesthetic appearance, extends the height of the fence, and provides more privacy by creating a denser screen. This dead-hedge inspired project made from found materials is a great example of a free alternative to traditional fencing. This particular structure is made from bamboo, an invasive plant in Georgia. While it is a difficult plant to control, using bamboo as a construction material is one way to suppress its spread at least a little.
This is just the start of this particular structure but I can imagine the potential! I am excited to see more examples of dead hedges and I would love to hear about any other ways they can be used. Let me know where you see them being used around DeKalb County!
(Source: Shaffer, Gary D. “An Archaeomagnetic Study of a Wattle and Daub Building Collapse.” Journal of Field Archaeology, vol. 20, no. 1, 1993, pp. 59–75. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/530354. Accessed 30 Jan. 2024.)
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