Our group was formed to help look after experimental willow beds planted at the Invermay Agricultural Research Centre, on the Taieri Plain near Dunedin. The beds were established in 2011 by Maia Mistral as part of her PhD research program on basket willows, and included 46 different cultivars. The beds have been harvested annually since then, at first providing material for Maia’s research, but as time went on and the willow stools matured, providing enough material for our basketmaking.
Maia has now long since finished her PhD (congratulations Dr Mistral!) but along the way has gathered together a community of weavers, established regular basketmaking workshops and weaving days, and when we had to vacate the site on the Taieri, provided a new home at Seacliff for our willow beds.
In the spring of 2021, we established the Seacliff willow beds, including 56 different varieties of willow. Some of these are well known basketmaking cultivars, some are cultivars that show promise as basketmaking varieties, and some are varieties collected from wild populations within the South Island. We are looking forward to these new beds maturing and providing us with materials for basketmaking for many years to come!