Topiary is the art of cutting trees and shrubs into imaginative shapes that do not appear if a plant is left to grow naturally. The word topiary is derived from the Latin word topiarius and originally had a much wider meaning, describing the art of ornamental gardening in general. The Romans were some of the fi rst exponents of the art of topiary and, as their empire spread, so did the number of gardens using this craft. The gardens of Italy, in particular those of Tuscany, used topiary to a great extent, which is particularly apt as today much of the topiary production comes from this area of Italy.

Box plants, which are widely used today, were the main plants used for creating shapes in Roman times. After the collapse of the Roman Empire and during the middle ages, grand gardens and even grand living virtually disappeared in Europe as populations just struggled for survival. In the Fourteenth century the Renaissance movement began, with its roots (pardon the pun) in Italy. Tuscany and Florence were once again the main areas for this movement, which saw increasing social stability and the desire for the wealthy to use their gardens to refl ect their wealth and power.

As this type of gardening spread throughout Europe, different cultures embraced different forms of topiary. The French had an emphasis on box hedging, forming parterres which are low hedges forming complex patterns. The English used box hedging to form Tudor knot gardens which are similar to parterre’s but had an intertwined pattern. The Dutch were not so formal in their approach to topiary, they created magnifi cent clipped green shapes of people, animals and abstract forms.

When William of Orange came to England to take the throne in 1688, he brought with him his own passion for clipped evergreens and, combined with the fashion in England, it was defi nitely a Golden Age for topiary. Whereas nowadays fashions tend to change with each new edition of some glossy magazine, things were a bit slower back in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries but, inevitably when something is as popular as topiary was then, there was eventually a revolt. By the 1720’s, gardeners such as Capability Brown ripped out formal and topiary gardens and created a more natural landscape.

Topiary gardening eventually spread to the United States and today some of the greatest topiary gardens, such as Longwood gardens in Pennsylvania and Ladaw Topiary Garden in Rhode Island, have developed there.

The range of plants used in topiary has increased dramatically, originally box (buxus sempivirens) was the only plant to be successfully clipped into shape, but yew (taxus baccata), and bay (laurus nobilis) have been successfully shaped over the last two hundred years. In very recent times, a whole range of conifers and evergreen shrubs have been used to create topiary plants. There has also been an increasing trend for using wire frames already formed into shapes to create quick topiary plants using more rapidly growing plants such as ivy. I am sure these are not for the traditionalist, but they are suited to today’s hectic modern lifestyle. There is something timeless about a well clipped hedge or a lollipop shaped
bay tree either side of your front door; I think it is the knowledge that many hours have gone into the creation of these shapes that makes us want to slow down and appreciate their simplicity and beauty.

There are some magnifi cent examples of topiary gardens in the UK: Levens Hall, Cumbria; Alnwick Garden, Northumbria; Aberglasney Gardens, Carmarthenshire; if you are out and about this summer, why not take a look?

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