SHEAR GENIUS!

They’re the amateurs who’ve devoted years to teasing peacocks, caterpillars and entire menageries from their hedges. The results?

You might think these stunning creations are the work of professional gardeners, but they’ve actually been fashioned by dedicated amateurs armed with nothing more than some simple tools and a lot of patience.

And as spring gets into full swing, these green-fingered enthusiasts are doing their best to keep their topiary designs, some of which are decades old, in tip-top shape.

Typical is Susan Main, who’s spent the last 17 years looking after a giant replica snail outside the Cotswold farmhouse she shares with husband Jeremy, a retired director of car firm Aston Martin.

The box artwork dates back to 1975 when it was created by a neighbour and is now as tall as 5ft 10in Susan, whose armoury

includes a battery- operated hedge cutter and two kinds of shears. Passing buses often stop to let tourists take photos of Speedy, as the snail has been nicknamed with typical Gloucestershire irony.

Meanwhile, in Tonbridge, Kent, retired GP owen Legg has spent four decades turning a yew tree outside his home into a 23ft-high sculpture that appears as a peacock from one side and an elephant on the other.

As a slow-growing species, it requires maintenance only once a year — a task he shares with a neighbour.

Also in Kent, fellow topiarist Charlotte Molesworth has spent 40 years creating a giant peacock from box. And in Nether Stowey, Somerset, Tracie Skinner has a 30ft privet and hebe caterpillar, known as Colin, plus a 5ft squirrel in box. ‘My husband probably thinks I’m mad, but he leaves me to my own devices,’ she jokes.

What must be one of the country’s largest topiary sculptures belongs to Judith Phillips, of Kentwell Hall, near Long Melford, Suffolk.

Fifty yards long, it shows the Pied Piper and his followers — made out of 14 yew trees, it comprises 32 figures, four dogs and a rabbit. If you want to beat that, you’ll need a lot of time, skill, patience . . . and quite possibly your own hedge fund.

Does your topiary creation turn heads too? send your pictures to yourtopiary@dailymail.co.uk

this peacock (or elephant from the other side) All yew need is love: Dr Owen Legg has spent four decades creating Slow grower: Susan Main gives Speedy the snail a careful spring trim. But he’s not going anywhere fast . . .

Box clever: clever:lever: Charlotte Mo Molesworth (top) created a amagnificent magnificent peacock peacock. Left: Judith Phillips with her sculpture Pied Piper which includes 32 figures plus four dogs and a rabbit. RIght: Tracie Skinner’s extraordinary Colin the caterpillar