THE MODERN MINT BLOG
Plants for Topiary
Want to know the best plants to use for topiary? Here is the common palette, and included are a few trees that love to be pollarded, or espaliered, or can take being cut to the ground or have their leaves stripped from the stem…
… not all of these plants will give you the classic topiary forms, but they may be worth experimenting on and discovering how they can be pruned and what impression they leave you with when they are!
Box
Yew
Holm Oak
Holly
Azalea
Ilex crenata
Bay
Thuja
Hebe
Portugese laurel
Pines (including Scots pine)
Robinia
Olive
Osmanthus
Fig
Lime
Privet
Rosemary
Eleagnus x ebbingei
Eucalyptus
Hazel
Willow
Plane
Myrtus apiculata
Alder
Cornus
Gingko
Pittosporum
Rhamnus
Beech
Hornbeam
Berberis
Lonicera
Phillyrea
Pyracantha
Photinia
Cupressus
Chestnut
Pyrus
Ash
Rhododendron
Podocarpus
Cinnamomum
Juniper
Aucuba
Acer
Hawthorn
Viburnum
Prunus – lots of fruit trees take to being espaliered!
Elder
Buddleia
Conifer
Laurel
Abies
Cedar
Chaemycyparis
Oak
Pieris
Camellia
Cryptomeiria
Choisya
Tree ferns
Bananas
Bamboos
Yuccas
Lyonothamnus
Magnolia
Oleander
Euonymous
Choisya
Palms
What to clip with?
We hope you can add to the topiary palette with your own experiments – happy clipping!
Why I Wrote The Book Modern Topiary
I have written this book, Modern Topiary, because I wanted a collation of useful information that would give people access to everything they need to know in order to start making topiary. Topiary is an amazing (and niche) line of work to follow – amazing because it offers up opportunities to travel all over the world, making gardens, meeting people… but also, the work is intensely physical, hands-on, yet requires creative thinking in order to solve the puzzle of how to make the shapes you want. This mixture of the craft and the art is what I love the most …
Buxus the Norfolk Terrier In Modern Topiary Book
This is Buxus, our Norfolk Terrier, who I acknowledge in the acknowledgments of the book of Modern Topiary. The book of Modern Topiary can be read, for free, here. There you go. Buxus the dog on ‘doorstep duty’ at a friend’s house in Edinburgh. For those asking what he looked like!
What People Think Of Modern Topiary, The Book
Yesterday I put out the book – Modern Topiary – that I have spent the last six years writing. Download for free a pdf of Modern Topiary here. And what seems amazing to me, is that not only have people actually been reading it, but then responding to it. So below are a number of comments I have been sent from those who read it last night, and this morning…. “Brilliant read, exactly the right amount of info to take in and digest.” Rachel, a gardener “I love your book, the advice is so straightforward and your writing is so …