The Topiary Garden is the eleventh Designer Bed installation, by Katie's Garden's Catherine McMillan, author of Gardening for the Uncommitted: What You Really Need To Know When You Don't Really Want To Know.
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Topiary is the art of clipping evergreen shrubs - plants that keep their leaves all year round - into interesting shapes. At the simpler end of the scale this means balls, cones, pyramids and cubes. For the more ambitious the sky's the limit: peacocks, rabbits, chess pieces, anything with a distinctive outline!
Topiary was used in some of the earliest examples of what we would consider gardens, and it is a look that comes with pedigree, bringing to mind visits to stately and historic homes. But it doesn't have to been done on a large scale at all, as our latest installation shows. Even a small front garden can be transformed, the topiary giving the space a sense of structure meaning that no matter what else you do, it will feel 'put together'! We have gone with a simple geometric design: a lollipop for the centrepiece, a cone on each corner, with balls halfway along each side, and four matching planters around the centre. Cobblestone pathways curl through the planting. |
“Topiary can have a reputation for being difficult ... but only if you start from scratch! Buy your plants pre-shaped and it's simply a case of lightly trimming a few times a year. |
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As our display is only in for the winter we have surrounded the clipped shrubs with evergreen perennials that won't die down, although we aren't expecting them to flower throughout the period they are in place. We have gone for a limited, tasteful colour palette, mostly green with lifts of silver from Stachys (lamb's ear), Lavender Vera and variegated grasses, and bolder definition from the Heuchera Carnival Peach Parfait. These are all low growers to give the topiary the chance to shine, but you don't have to only pair with small plants. Roses are a classic bedfellow of topiary plants, evocative of romantic Italianate gardens.
Herbs and Lavenders are also commonly grown amongst topiary, and you can commit to the look with low-growing clipped hedges - think knot gardens and parterres! Topiary plants should be clipped a handful of times during their growing season - from mid-spring to mid-autumn - to keep them looking neat. Clipping too frequently or in the frosty months can stress the plants causing unslightly dieback or worse. Plants with smaller leaves such as Common Box, Box-Leaved Holly, Privet and Yew are easier to use as it doesn't matter if you nick the leaves. Sweet Bay, Holly and Pittosporum are among other suitable plants for topiary but care should be taken to not clip midway through their larger leaves, as it can look unslightly as the edges brown off. For this garden we have used Sweet Bay (Laurus nobilis) in the form of two cones and the centrepiece standard. For two of the balls we have used Pittosporum Golf Ball which naturally grows into a rounded shape. The other two balls are Ilex crenata - aka Box-Leaved Holly - which is commonly used as a substitute for Common Box. We have also added Euonymus japonica Green Rocket, which in time could also be clipped to shape. These evergreen shrubs are usually very hardy, able to cope with most weather conditions, and it is only the standards, aka lollipops, that might need support in sheltered positions. The plants are also excellent in large pots and containers, needing little attention. |
Click on images below to enlarge
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TOPIARY SHRUBS
Standard (lollipop): Laurus nobilis (Sweet Bay) Cones: Laurus nobilis (Sweet Bay) Taxus baccata (Yew) Balls: Ilex crenata (Box Leaved Holly) Pittosporum tenuifolium Golf Ball PERENNIALS Erigeron karvinskianus (Mexican Fleabane) Heuchera Carnival Peach Parfait Parahebe Porlock Stachys byzantina Silver Carpet (Lamb’s Ear) GROUND COVER Euonymus japonicus Green Rocket Lavandula Vera Viola Evo Mini Athens Mixed IN THE PLANTERS Carex oshimensis Everest (Sedge) Hedera helix Silver (Ivy) Cheiranthus cheiri Sugar Rush Purple Bicolor (Wallflower) Panola XP Beaconsfield |
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Click to download the on-site handout featuring planting list