My dedication to the art of topiary can be traced back to the last year of the last century.
The late and completely great Rosemary Verey was enjoying a high-summer garden visit to Highgrove. She entered The Black and White Garden (previously The Rose Garden, which she helped HRH The Prince of Wales design; presently it is known as The Sundial Garden) only to discover two rather sweaty teenage girls clipping away at the formal box parterre hedging. Instead of being appalled by the girls’ dishevelled pinkness she bellowed (not unlike an old-school riding teacher) “Great clipping girls!!!”. I was one of those girls.
Golly gosh – a compliment from a gardening legend and Cotswold queen.
That compliment made my lifetime and cemented what I really already knew – I had a knack for this topiary lark…..a bit of an eye for it. This is going to sound more than a little bit strange but I seem to be able to see the potential in an un-clipped bush or tree and in a few swift snips of my shears that form in my mind starts to become a reality.
I have received many compliments about my topiary since but none has meant so much as that first one.
So why did it take me so long to find a society full of similarly obsessed topiary geeks?!
I discovered The European Boxwood and Topiary Society in an article in the RHS monthly members journal ‘The Garden’ – I looked it up on the spot and promptly asked for a subscription for Christmas.
When the membership package arrived I couldn’t have been more thrilled – not only did they include two past journals for my reading pleasure but they also enclosed a members list that reads like a Who’s Who of horticulture – designers, nurserymen and women and dignitaries. I was hooked.
I am yet to attend any outings or meetings (having young children tends to limit away days to more brightly coloured, flashy lighty excursions – although my girls are rather partial to a seasonal Sunday afternoon open garden……as long as there is cake and squash) but I fully intend to make the most of my membership and to learn everything I possibly can from my fellow members – men and women who have made horticulture their life. I bet they’re pretty cool people.