The Beauty of Garden Topiary

Topiary can be considered a living sculpture, not only in the sense that it is made up of living material which grows each time it is clipped, but also because it sways and changes shape when blown by the wind. As long as you have the patience to wait until it is mature, topiary is the cheapest form of sculpture and can be had for the price of the original plant. However, buying ready-formed topiary can be expensive because of the amount of time it has taken to bring the plant to maturity and to train it.

Topiary as a form of garden sculpture is expressive of the gardener’s tastes, and the range of shapes and designs are infinite, as wide as the gardener’s imagination. They can be purely geometric — cones, pyramids, spheres or spirals – or they can be representational, depicting a bird or an animal. Simple shapes can be carved directly from mature shrubs, but more complex shapes need a former which will act initially as a training frame and then as a guide for subsequent trimming; pieces that stick out, such as animals’ tails, particularly need some kind of support until the plant is mature.

There is a wide range of trees and shrubs that can be used for topiary. Slow-growing species are best because, although a bit more patience is needed to await their maturity, the plants will need less clipping and retain their shape better. While fast-growing plants can be used, they quickly become loose and ragged and need a lot of attention in order to keep any consistent and recognizable pattern. Fast-growing plants, such as privet {Ligustrum), should only be used for simple shapes, while the slow growers, for example yew (Taxus) or box (Buxus), have a much tighter habit, good for more complicated figures.

Topiary need not be confined to plants growing in fixed positions, it can equally well be practised on container-grown shrubs placed singly or in small groups. This means that even in a small garden where the majority of space is devoted to paved areas, it is possible to have miniature pieces positioned at strategic points, and these can easily be moved around to create different arrangements. Bay (Laurus) can be successfully accommodated in containers, with the growth shaped into spheres or cones.