What is Topiary?
Topiary is the art of ornamental gardening. Topiarists trim, weave, and train plants into all shapes and sizes. Some topiaries are as large as a tree shaped as an ice cream cone, whereas others are small as an ivy heart in a porcelain cup. Interest in changing the shape of plants can be traced back at least 2000 years, and lives on in today's imaginative gardens.
The early Romans, pruned their hedges into ornamental shapes. Afterwards, monks continued to cultivate topiaries in the early 1000s. From there, it spread to Britain, France, and all of Europe, and reached a height during the Renaissance. With its formal aesthetic, topiary expanded with hedge mazes and knot gardens during the Victorian period.
Today topiaryplants.co.uk bring you a large range of topiary art, topiary wireframes with or without and unclipped plants to suit ever taste - all you have to do is decide which is perfect for you.
Italian Topiary Art
We import our topiary art exclusively from the home of topiary, Italy. All the topiary frames are stainless steel, so will not rust or deteriorate. Each topiary art is clipped to the shape of the frame, with either Ligustrum Delavayanum or Llex Crenata plants. Delivery is up to 6 weeks.
We offer a selection of
Dogs, Cats, Rabbits,
Birds and Butterflies,
Farmyard and Countryside,
Aquatic,
People and Cartoons,
Transport and Sport,
Objects,
Water Features and
House and Garden topiary art.
Care For Your Topiary Art
Ligustrum Delavayanum is a compact, spreading, evergreen shrub with oval, dark green leaves and panicles of white flowers in early summer followed by round, blue-black fruit.
To keep your topiary in good shape, you will need clean sharp shears. Begin cutting in mid spring by following the shape of the topiary, then trim every other month through the summer until September. Do not trim after early autumn as frost may damage young shoots. Your frame protects from over trimming and allows you to tie and train branches.
A specialised pruning technique allows the plant to undertake varies shapes and forms. This creative inspiration gives gardens a sculptured sense and just the correct amount of magical style and movement. This technique has been subsequently improved with the construction of a metal frame which supports the plants allowing them to become well defined sculptures which are easy to care for and maintain.
Why a topiary wireframe without moss?
Our topiary frames cover a large selection from rabbit, duck, or squirrel to cactus. You can easy clip the frame around a box or privet and cut the leaves.
Because the frames are detailed it is possible to use them for many other applications. For example to create a garden statue with textile hardener, a bear filled with fir-cones, or an elephant covered with lead or a teddy bear overgrown with ivy.
Why a topiary wireframe filled with moss?
The figures with moss are filled with sphagnum moss, this is packed tightly into the figures. This way the moss absorbs water and it is easy to grow all kind of plants on top of the figures. The moss is treated with MossGreen, this will keep the moss green for a long time.
Planting your moss filled wireframe
It is possible to plant the plants either from the outside through the frame or from the inside of the frame.
Planting from outside
- Soak the sculpture with water and drain off any excess.
- Make a hole with a sharp tool (i.e. screwdriver) in the moss and plant your plant into the hole.
- If the plant is not too big, we recommend planting from the outside.
Planting from inside
- Soak the sculpture with water and drain off any excess.
- Cut the cable ties and remove some moss, to make room for the plant.
- Put your plant into the sculpture and pull carefully some leaves through the frame.
Replace as much moss as possible and reconnect the figure with new cable ties.
After having inserted the plants, pour water with extra fertilizer over the sculpture and put it in the shade and out of the wind. After a few days you can place the topiary piece anywhere in the garden. You can water them in the same way as hanging baskets and plants in containers.
Which Unclipped plants are suitable for topiary?
Bay Laurel or Laurus Nobilis unclipped topiary plants. This aromatic evergreen, sometimes called Sweet Bay, and is well known in the kitchen where the leaves have many uses in cooking. Bay Trees are often grown as standards and kept in pots but they can also be given a variety of shapes. A traditional feature is to form spiral stems by twisting the trunk around a pole as the plant grows. The leaves are too large for detailed clipping, but it makes a great topiary ball, dome, obelisk or pyramid. Trim your bay topiary up to 3 times a year between early summer and early autumn. Clip whole leaves or clusters.
Beech (Fagus Sylvatica) unclipped topiary plants. Beech is a great hedging plant as it can provide a dense deciduous mass. When clipped, leaves stay on the branches in winter and turn gold. Beech hedges can produce very successful arches or windbreaks around benches (the National Trust Attingham estate has done this beautifully). It takes a few years to establish but only needs clipping once in late summer, although you can cut it more frequently.
Box (Buxus Sempervirens) Sepervirens unclipped topiary plants. This is the king of small(ish) topiary, Buxus is the first choice for small topiary. The standard sempervirens variety is the most hardy, but use edging box, Buxus Sempervirens Suffruticosa, for dwarf topiary. The larger variety is cheaper and faster growing, but will need clipping more often. Clip as often as you like from late spring to summer avoiding frosty periods, but at least twice (once for edging box). Try box with one of our fantastic frames.
Holly (llex Aquifolium) unclipped topiary plants. Slow growing, but makes a dense evergreen hedge and/or topiary. Fantastic for simple shapes, it can lack the detail of smaller leaved plants, but is very easy to maintain. Clip your topiary in mid to late summer and cut back in spring if renovating.
Hornbeam (Carpinus Betulus) unclipped topiary plants: A deciduous tree used in hedging and a wonderful alternative to Beech. You can make some fantastic screens around benches with hornbeam. It is similar to beech in that it retains dead leaves in the winter until new shoots push them off in spring, at the start of the growing season.
Shrub Honeysuckle (Lonicera Nitida) unclipped topiary plants: It is fairly quick growing and can be cut into almost any shape. The tiny leaves will remain compact if cut a few times in the year. Trim early summer and late autumn for superbly tight topiary. Baggens gold can be used for yellow topiary.
Evergreen Oak (Quercus Ilex) unclipped topiary plants. Holm oak is a super evergreen, often used to create simple shapes in a large scale topiary, or for simple standards. Trim annually in late summer.
Privet (Ligustrum) unclipped topiary plants. Privet has small leaves which make it suitable for topiary. It grows relatively quickly so it is great for the impatient, and large shapes, although you will need to trim your privet topiary a couple of times a year to keep the detail. Trim in early to late summer. The Italian topiary art tends to be Ligustrum delavayanum which is a fully hardy relatively fast growing plant with small glossy leaves. The pliant stems of Ligustrum delavayanum make it very suitable for training into frames. Lingusitrum ovalifolium (oval leaf privet) is commonly used in the UK for simple topiary but may require a few trimmings to maintain the shape.
Western Red Cedar (Thuja Plicata) unclipped topiary plants. Sometimes known as the Western Red Cedar, this plant is hardy and stands clipping better than leylandii. It is tolerant of wind when established and if clipped properly can look almost like Yew. You’ll need to clip it a couple of times a year in spring and summer to maintain a decent shape.
Yew (Taxus Baccata) unclipped topiary plants. Superb for Topiary. Clip little and often during the growing season especially in spring to establish tight lines and dense foliage.
Viburnum shrubs were often used in the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as a clipped plant. Eve price is particularly suited as it has comparatively small leaves. Clip twice annually in early and late summer for best results.