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!
Box Hill – Novella by Adam Mars-Jones
I picked this book up back in 2020 because of the title – Box Hill – fabulous, I thought, a book about boxwood. I’ll peruse this for its respective thoughts on the plant I clip most when I make topiary. I didn’t read the blurb on the back. Didn’t know the author (although I knew the publisher, Fitzcarraldo Editions, as I love many of the essays they have published… so trusted the author would be worth spending time with.) By page 2 I realised this novel wasn’t quite what I had expected. I started the book at 10pm, after getting …
The Henderson, Topiary Art Interview on Instagram
In a suit… eek! View this post on Instagram A post shared by The Henderson (@thehenderson_hk)
Topiary, The Art Garden at The Henderson
The Art Garden at The Henderson in Hong-Kong has now opened to the public. I joined the project last March, to work with Gillespies Landscape Architects on the topiary that had been designed for the Art Garden, which gives a calm, green space below the extraordinary Henderson skyscraper designed by Zaha Hadid Architects. The garden has been designed with butterflies in mind, so lots of nectar plants, and has other art projects and installations within its footprint. The history of the site is interesting too – it was originally the first cricket ground in Hong-Kong! So still a green space….! …