Designers are always banging on about the “bones” of the garden and how
important it is to have a strong framework in place before you pretty it up
with flowering plants.
At this time of year the reason for their evangelism becomes crystal clear.
Show me a garden that looks good now and I will show you structure, not only
in terms of hard landscaping and ornament, but in evergreen plants and, most
crucially, clipped and shaped evergreens in the form of topiary.
Turning plants into living sculpture is a perverse occupation. Once the chisel
has left the stone and the bronze has cooled in the mould, the resulting
shapes remain pretty much constant for millennia. Why put the same energy
into shaping a plant, which is destined to change shape continually and,
ultimately, die? Yet topiary has maintained its popularity, turning up in
photo after photo of the most beautiful gardens. It brings constancy,
substance, punctuation and a comforting green breathing space between the
busyness of contrasting colours, shapes and textures.
The desire to bend nature to the will of man is as old as the garden itself.
Representations showing topiary — the shaping of plants by radical, regular
clipping and pruning — go back thousands of years, certainly to Roman
gardens.
The grounds of stately homes may be studded with clipped box and yew, but
topiary has never been confined to grand gardens. In fact, the most
sympathetic setting for those humorous and highly personalised topiarised
birds, animals and other novelty shapes is undoubtedly a homely cottage
garden, where it cannot be taken too seriously.
While topiary is nothing new, the way it is being used in contemporary garden
design makes it look startlingly fresh. Traditional gardens have always
benefited from the inclusion of topiary punctuation marks — buttresses in a
yew hedge form commas along a border and box globes make a visual full stop.
Like a Hermãs handbag, these structural forms are classic, timeless and beyond
fashion. But perhaps we have now become overly familiar with some of the
more decorative topiary shapes, twirly barley-sugar twists and ubiquitous
small box balls in terracotta pots.
Hugely popular since the 1980s, and now available in every gardening
super-store, in some settings they suddenly look as outmoded as shoulder
pads.
Despite this, topiary is far from being redundant in contemporary gardens,
though there have been subtle readjustments to make it look modern. Chunky
slabs of box in simple geometric shapes have become synonymous with new-wave
designs. But modern doesn’t necessarily equate with minimalist, nor does it
automatically mean straight lines. Topiary works surprisingly well in
conjunction with the current trend for meadow planting, forming a permanent
frame for fleeting flowers.
Arabella Lennox-Boyd uses the solidity of yew to anchor the airy transience of
wildflowers in her designs at Ascott House in Bedfordshire. The new
perennial style of planting, which mixes grasses and drifts of perennials,
also benefits from being reined in by something more substantial. Clean
uncluttered shapes work particularly well in this context, where anything
fussy would counteract the effect of calming and grounding an otherwise busy
scene.
Another approach is to soften and deformalise the outlines of traditional
topiary, while retaining time-honoured techniques to maintain them. Jacques
and Peter Wirtz famously create gently undulating “cloud” hedges, which echo
and link with the surrounding landscape. Organic and fluid, there isn’t a
straight line to be seen, but the effect is fresh and new.
Cloud pruning, which originates in Japan and in which trees and shrubs are
indeed clipped to look like clouds, is another example of topiary taking its
cue from natural forms. Just one beautifully shaped specimen is all that’s
needed in a minimalist garden, which is just as well, given their exorbitant
price.
Often, what makes topiary seem modern is not the shape, but the scale of the
plant and how it is presented. In a small garden, a row of three outsize box
balls in giant containers — and little else — will look daringly new, where
a straggly collection of tiddlers would look commonplace. Stephen Woodhams,
a Lon-don-based garden designer, takes this a stage further outside One
Aldwych hotel, where he has used huge cast-aluminium pots topped with a low
carpet of clipped box in a surprising reversal of the usual balance of plant
to pot.
Whatever shape you favour, the trick to maintaining it is an annual trim. The
fastidious gardener may clip more often with a second tidy-up later in the
season, but I settle for once a year. It is customary to clip box on, or
shortly after, Derby Day (June 2 this year), the thinking being that after
this date it is highly unlikely there will be another frost.
Whether or not you follow the racing calendar, frost is the most important
factor in deciding when to trim. Clipping stimulates the plants to produce
new growth and young foliage is vulnerable to frost damage. Where you live
will be your best guide, but with warmer temperatures on the cards perhaps
we should be clipping earlier.
I rather like the look of shaggy topiary in the spring. Like sheep before
shearing, they wear thick healthy coats, the sharp edges of geometric shapes
softened by fresh green leaves. Once shorn, they stand clean as a whistle,
the pristine outlines a perfect foil for a froth of summer flowers. But it
is in winter that topiary really steals the show, indeed a successful winter
garden may consist of little else. Whether dusted with snow or rain sodden,
the bold dark shapes draw the eye away from dormant shrubs and dozing flower
beds.
Unless you have acres of fancy hedging, trimming topiary is a treat. I prefer
to work by hand, using topiary shears or clippers; laying a groundsheet down
before you start will make light work of removing clippings. It is best to
work slowly and do it by eye, though it helps to use a string line as a
guide for long straight sections. Do try to retain a sense of perspective,
as it is easy to become obsessed by every little imperfection.
Despite this annual effort, topiary is my idea of low-maintenance gardening.
Any plant that thrives on just a few days attention once it is established
can hardly be considered tricky.
- Further reading: Topiary by Jenny Hendy (Aquamarine £16.99)
Fancy a trim?
The first cut
Should you do it yourself or buy ready-made? For the most part, topiary —
clipping that is decorative rather than merely for maintenance — is easy to
master. All you need is a bush with enough growth to cut into, as well as a
steady hand, a good eye and patience; you are not going to get a complex
shape overnight.
For a simple and relatively quick effect, try box, which costs about £3 for an
8in bush: plant several in a square and clip them to the same length for a
modern effect — they shouldn’t take long to grow together.
To create more naturalistic shapes, such as cloud hedges, it is best to work
with established bushes rather than newly planted ones; be led by the way
they are growing rather than trying to impose your will on the form.
Remember too, that all plants grow, so your shapes will change with time.
Japanese cloud pruning takes more artistry as well as nerves of steel: pick
a plant with interesting branches (they are as important as the foliage),
then strip off foliage, leaving balls of leaves at the end of the stems.
If you are impatient, or don’t feel confident, you can buy ready-made topiary
in every conceivable shape, but you will need deep pockets for the larger or
more complex specimens: Langley Boxwood (01730 894 467, www.boxwood.co.uk),
one of the biggest suppliers in the country, sells 3ft-high box cubes for
£690 and cloud-pruned Ilex crenatafor £1,500.
Recommended plants
Buxus sempervirens: common box is the ultimate evergreen for topiary.
It is slow-growing and happy to be trimmed into whatever shape you choose.
As an urban gardener, I also love it for its shade tolerance. Avoid the
smaller-leaved forms, such asB sempervirens ‘Suffruticosa’, which
aremoresusceptible to cylindrocladium — the dreaded box blight.
Ilex crenata: with smaller leaves than our native form, the Japanese
holly is a versatile topiary plant often used for cloud-pruned topiary.
Laurus nobilis: laurel or sweet bay has larger leaves than box, but
works well, even when clipped into a spiral. Use secateurs or small clippers
when trimming, to avoid cutting individual leaves in half.
Ligustrum vulgare: common privet is sometimes used when box blight has
necessitated the removal of the plants. Although not as lovely to my eye, it
can be used in much the same way.L delavayanumhas even smaller foliage and
is becoming increasingly popular.
Lonicera nitida: this member of the honeysuckle family responds well to
clipping, but can send out vigorous new shoots quite rapidly, so it needs
regular trims.
Taxus baccata: long living and easy to shape, with dark green foliage,
yew is the traditional choice in larger gardens. It is without equal where
large, clearly delineated geometric shapes are required.
