Creative topiary: The best plants, shapes and growing tips

Artistic Topiary: Optimal Plants, Designs, and Cultivation Advice

Unleash your inner Edward Scissorhands and venture into the world of topiary.

My Topiary Journey

Growing up in Napier, I was captivated by garden art—miniature windmills, wishing wells, painted concrete seals balancing balls on their noses (I still want one), and, of course, topiary. One of my favorite specimens was a shrub clipped into the shape of a dolphin, with a colorful rubber ball on its beak. There was also the city’s floral clock with its living Roman numerals. These plant sculptures became neighborhood landmarks for me because they were creative, fun, and alive, which is the whole point.

The History of Topiary

Delving into garden history, people have enjoyed transforming hedges and shrubs into living ornamental shapes for centuries. The Romans are said to have started it in the 1st century, and by the 16th and 17th centuries, it was all the rage in Europe and England. Topiary styles ranged from sculpted trees to embroidery-like parterres and grand mazes. Even Disneyland joined the craze in 1963 when Walt Disney, inspired by topiary gardens in Europe, had his animators and landscapers team up to create monster topiaries of waltzing hippos, elephants, and giraffes.

Topiary Styles

Topiary comes in as many styles as there are haircuts. The strong geometric shapes favored in traditional Italian and French gardens provide evergreen structure to lead the eye and help quench the desire to assert dominance over nature. If this appeals to you, then pyramids, squares, balls, and cones may satisfy your love of symmetry. However, sculpting with plants can also add a bit of whimsy to more natural gardens, providing a foil for softer, looser plants. One of the most beautiful examples of topiary I’ve ever seen was at Round Pond Garden in Hawke’s Bay, where a mass of clipped teucrium balls had a drift of dreamy red poppies growing beside it. Or let your imagination run wild and grow your family pet—or even a unicorn.

Getting Started with Topiary

To get started, choose a well-proportioned plant with dense growth near its base. Depending on the shape you are going for (pyramids, balls, and cubes are the simplest), cut off any protruding stems, then, as the plant grows, clip it into shape. If you want a standard, such as a lollipop, choose one upright shoot as the main stem and remove the others until it grows to your desired height. For complex forms, like animals, bend wire mesh into the desired shape, then place it over your plant. As the plant grows, clip the tips of the branches that protrude through the mesh. The bush will gradually fill in the frame, and you can maintain its shape as your snippy soul desires.

The Best Plants for Topiary

Suitable candidates for topiary have a naturally dense growth habit, are evergreen, and respond well to pruning. Traditionally, box (Buxus sempervirens) is the most popular topiary plant, but be aware that many gardens are plagued by the fungal disease box blight, which can be difficult to control without spraying. Bays, yews, junipers, and rosemary are also good for shaping. Don’t overlook suitable native plants, such as coprosmas, corokia, and tōtara. Muehlenbeckia astonii, with its naturally bouncy mounds, also lends itself well to whirls, swirls, and Moomin-like shapes.

For more information, visit Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria.