We Don't Do This Much

- - But the French do it a lot. Pollarding, that is. It's when you get a tree and chop its top off and then keep on doing it every year and the result - somewhat spooky in the dark before the leaves come in the Spring - looks like this:

Here's the tree in daytime:

And here's the row of them.

What's it for? I've read that coppicing - where the trees are chopped near the ground in the dormant winter period - produces a lot of thick, low growth. Pollarding, however, is good where the ground is needed for grazing and you don't want lots of thick, low growth.

Doesn't quite make sense, though. In France they go round pollarding trees in rows in towns and cities, in city squares and, as here, in the countryside - but this is the edge of the village of Montreal and there are no grazing animals: this is the village green, with great views to the rolling, distant hills.

Whereas in Britain we don't go round pollarding trees much. I think the French do it so we'll know we're in France.