Gardeners rediscover the shear joy of topiary
Sales of hedging plants and mesh templates booming as Monty Don leads the way in reviving practice
IT IS a skill most often associated with medieval gardens that appears out of reach for amateur horticulturalists.
But the art of topiary is set to become the latest trend to sweep Britain’s gardens, as Monty Don brings the impressive hedge-cutting technique to the masses.
Horticulturists have reported a surge in popularity of the plant-shaping art among mainstream gardeners. Green-fingered enthusiasts across Britain are more likely than ever to clip menageries of chickens and birds into their hedges, with garden centres experiencing an increase in sales of wire mesh templates that make it easier for beginners to cut the shapes with shears.
Don, the celebrity gardener, is growing a new collection of evergreens in his Longmeadow garden, in Herefordshire, from where he has presented Gardeners’ World since 2011.
Viewers of the BBC Two show will see him nurture the Irish yews and box plants into a topiarist’s paradise of shape and structure. On Friday’s programme he used shears to create a living plant sculpture of his beloved golden retriever Nigel, who makes frequent appearances on the show and has a Twitter account.
“It’s time for topiary Nigel to have his annual trim,” he said. “It won’t ever be as beautiful as the real thing, but it’s fun. The whole point about topiary is that it’s part sculpture, part horticulture and part mucking about.”
As well as the famous Nigel, other “free-flowing” more “organic” shapes could be achieved, Don said. While Don’s vision is of a large-scale sprawling sculpture inspired by “cloud pruning”, award-winning gardener Gary Mcdermott, who runs Harperley Hall Farm Nurseries near Durham, said the art of topiary could be “more accessible” to the average gardener.
“It doesn’t have to be a huge structure,” he said. “It could be a small pot that you shape into something like a chicken, for example.”
He told The Daily Telegraph that topiary was “making a comeback”, with his nursery enjoying an upsurge in sales of Irish yews and box plants commonly used by topiarists, as well as wire mesh shapes. “It was popular about 10 years ago, but people were buying boxes that were already shaped from places like Italy, and so it was therefore quite expensive,” said Mr Mcdermott. “But you can now buy wire mesh shapes to put over the plants to let them grow through and you just trim around the outline, so that you have created the shape yourself.
“You can get all kinds of shapes, like chickens, balls and birds. It’s something the whole family can be involved in too, and it adds interest and structure to the garden.”
Mr Mcdermott, who has previously won the President’s Award at the Chelsea Flower Show, said the “beauty of topiary” was that it involves the use of evergreen plants, meaning its effects can be enjoyed all year round.
“Even in winter, you still have this evergreen in its interesting shape that adds structure and intrigue,” he said.
Yews and box hedging are among the most common plants used by gardeners
‘It’s part sculpture, part horticulture, part mucking about’
interested in topiary. Gardeners are advised not to over-fertilise or overcrowd their plants to protect against the threat of blight – a fungus that seizes on soft and sappy growth.
The Royal Horticultural Society has held a “box summit” to discuss the issue, but successful chemical solutions remain unavailable to amateurs.