It's rant time again. The first has been brewing in my brain since Spring Fling, when I was riding around with MSS of Zanthan Gardens, Bill of Prairie Point, and Dee of Red Dirt Ramblings. Someone commented on the lame attempt at topiary in the median of the road. We all agreed that we hated topiary unless it was whimsical (e.g., animals or question marks). After reading quite a few posts from British bloggers, I realized that I don't hate all topiary. I just hate most American topiary, as it is badly done and in an inappropriate setting. Way back in June, Zoe from Garden Hopping asked why I think topiary doesn't work in American gardens. Finally, here's the answer for which you all have been waiting:first, are the green meatballs and gumdrops.
And here are some examples in context. 
These are all just drive-by shootings, taken at random on my way around town running errands, merely a representative sample of the foliar follies. At least with this example, an attempt has been made to avoid the meatball.
As these photos (hopefully) demonstrate, most of the attempts at topiary, even without the meatballs, just don't work with the casual style of house and garden in which they find themselves.Commercial attempts are even worse:
I believe that used to be a Crabapple. I've even seen Magnolias getting this treatment. What were they thinking?
Although all these photos were taken in the same strip mall in Lake Zurich, Illinois, they could have been taken anywhere in America, land of Lollipop trees and green meatballs.The last photo brings me to a related rant, the abuse of poor Hemerocallis 'Stella D'Oro.' Several British bloggers can't understand how most American bloggers hate Stella. This is a carefree plant that repeat blooms throughout the summer. While I believe there are no banal plants, there is such a thing as the banal use of plants, and no plant has suffered such misuse and abuse as Stella. In parking lots across America, Stellas are grown by the thousands. Most are segregated into Stella-ghettos, in raised medians between parking rows.
Most are never deadheaded, but are left to form unattractive seed heads, instead of continuing to bloom.
After being forced to see this plant so mistreated at the grocery store,
at the gas station,
at restaurants,
is it any wonder that we have no desire to see it at home, no matter how well we would care for it?If you have any examples of truly terrible topiary or cruel and unusual Stella abuse, leave me a message and a link. I'd love to see them.
edit. 8/7/08 Several comments have indicated that the above photos do not depict actual topiary, merely truly terrible pruning. I apologize for the slander of topiary in general and American topiary in particular. I hope this clears up any confusion.
56 comments:
I don't think your photos are depicting topiary, wouldn't it be more accurate to say these are just shrubs and/or trees that have been trimmed in some fashion or other? I think topiary is more an art form of shaping or modeling, not trimming.
I wasn't aware that deadheading daylilies produced more blooms; are you sure about that?
Excellent post and you have stated the case well. You can add to it the full scale attack on crape myrtles that result in a lollipop tree and not the wonderful natural shape it needs. We call it crape murder here.
I miss Stella as a unique plant; here she is often surrounded by Liriope, another plant that has been over used and massed for effect. I'll find photos for you...unfortunately they abound!
Gail
My feelings exactly! I am so glad you put this in a post. We often laugh about the poor stella's, but do get tired of seeing them every where. I also agree with the trimming of shrubs. UGH! I have a couple of bayberry's and let them grow only trimming a branch or two when they grow over the side walk or into another plant. I fnd them much more attractive growing free form. I'm sure it won't be too hard to come up with pictures of lousy plantings.
I've always thought that the people that chop up their shrubs are really not plant people, but tool people. I've heard horror stories from ladies complaining about their husbands use of weed wackers and gas powered prunning shears. When I see my husband strap a power tool to his body, I know that there will be fatalities in the garden. If the shrub could express itself it would probably beg to be put out of it's misery.
Your examples of American topiary and misused Stellas could have been taken from the Houston area. In fact, I think they could be found in virtually any city. The best thing that can be said about the alleged topiaries is that they're tidy. As for Stellas, the worst use of them I've seen lately is in the plantings along the new stretches of Interstate 10 here. The plantings include pine trees, crape myrtles in every shade (none of them compatible with Stella yellow), wildflowers and some ornamental grasses, I think. Or maybe those are just weeds.
I will agree with TC, my reaction was you haven't shown any topiary in your pictures in the sense it is used in the UK. We have plenty of examples of shrubs being give the boxed treatment, straight sides and tops. It took me years to grow the shrubs into natural shapes after they were treated like this by the previous owner of my garden. One person commented on the fact I had flowers on the forsythia!
I haven't noticed Hemerocallis 'Stella D'Oro being used in this way in the UK, yet! Please don't give the so called landscapers ideas!
Great post. Best wishes Sylvia (England)
What a funny post! I like your "drive-by shootings":) One of these days I'm going to be brave and show you my own "green mustache" (do you still have yours?) that unfortunately looks like some of these shrubs. I want to tear them out, but can't get Husband to cooperate.
As to Stellas, you know I have quite a few (multiplying as we speak) and always liked them. But this year I have noticed them everywhere! The problem, as you say, is that developers or whoever plant them with no eye for design and just leave them till they're overgrown and look straggly.
I don't have any "lollipop" trees, though:)
Excellent examples of some really hideous pruning. Thanks for the laugh. No wonder shrubbery is considered lowly (compared with flowers and veggies).
Those are indeed some ugly pictures. Unfortunately, your examples are all too prevalent in the American landscape in every part of the country that I have visited. Among the most hopeful trends I've seen in gardening in recent years is a rejection of this sculpting of Nature in favor of a more naturalistic approach.
I have to agree with some of the others about those examples not being true topiaries. But I'm not crazy about the idea of shaping everything into meatballs & lollipops either. My neighbor had some beautiful viburnums & other various ornamentals when he moved in across the street that he went plum-crazy on with the hedge trimmer. I told my hubby that he was ruining this shrubs. He mentioned to the guy what I said and the guy (being a nice person) asked me how he should trim these things. I told him my opinion about leaving them a natural shape and just trimming the dead off. He followed my advice and now they are blooming again. :)
Topiary or not, any house that has these plants won't be purchased by me. I always marvel at how many homes have these sorts of trimmed plants--it looks like it takes longer to do that than deadhead some perennials. Maybe not. I think most folks assume this IS gardening / landscaping, and take great pride in the efforts to recreate the "great gardens" from across the pond centuries ago, and the ones they grew up with. Barf.
I can tell you those "topiarys" (is this the right spelling?) are not exclusive of the USA. Unfortunaletelly we see them a lot around here too. For some reason people think they "have" to trim the shrubs into those hugly forms. As for the Stella d'oro we don't see many of those around here (yet)
Wow. After reading this post and the comments, I feel pretty lucky to live where I do. I think we have some of those shrubs at our newspaper's office (a few blocks from my house - I'm planning a "walk-by" with my camera to check), but other than that, there's huge support for native gardening both in residential and commercial areas. It's much more low maintenance and drought resistant, so I think businesses like that.
You could give a class on "How NOT to prune and ruin your shrubbery." Loved the post. Good training pictures.
Well, MMD, I have to agree with you. Unfortunately that is what passes for topiary here. We don't have the history of the formal garden to even know what we're doing. Topiary (English or French) looks great against the manor house, but here, as MMD wrote, it is a "drive by." As to Stella, God love her, she was just too much of a good thing. Now, in Oklahoma, we're seeing the same thing with Rosa 'Knockout'. The developers found its easy care and are abusing us with it. Add some Stellas, bad topiary and blue sage, and you have the standard Oklahoma median. I guess it's better than just grass. TR, if you keep Stella from going to seed, she reblooms better.~~Dee
Hi MMD, those are sad examples of misguided pruning techniques, but I would not call them topiary either. The comment about tool happy homeowners and landscape services just about nails it. They think it looks neat and groomed. They trim with noisy gas powered hedgers, weedeaters and mowers, then blow the whole mess of clippings out into the street with another gas powered tool to clog the storm drains, throw on some artificially colored mulch and think they are good stewards of the earth. As for the stellas, poor dears, it's not their fault. But as Dee says, the red Knockout roses are being overused in the same way. I have a couple in my garden and they are wonderful, but I am slightly ashamed to own up to that fact. I do like to train butterfly bushes and pee gee hydrangeas into tree form, maybe a kind of topiary to some. I love the love of English topiary and have tried it several times, but don't have the skill or patience and let the thing grow naturally after a while. You may have stirred up a hornet's nest here, or do the guilty parties read garden blogs? HA
TC - topiary is the art of creating sculptures out of living plant material. These are sculptures of balls, gumdrops & lollipops - bad sculptures. I've never performed a controlled test, but my mom's Stellas seem to rebloom better when I deadhead them. Besides, deadheaded Daylilies look a lot better.
Gail - I'm looking forward to photos of Stellas in seas of Lirope. I've seen some scary photos depicting "Crepemurder." I just don't get it.
Beckie - yes, you know exactly what I mean. The Stella problem is particularly acute in the Midwest.
Catherine/MyGardenTravels - I want to cringe every time I seen my nextdoor neighbor pull out his electric hedge trimmmers & go to work on his alternating Yews & red Barberries. They end up looking like squares & cones smashed up against the house. Yuck.
Cindy/MCOK - while the "topiaries" start off tidy, I've seen a lot recently that look like green bowling balls in need of a shave.
Sylvia - oh, you have completely disillusioned me. I thought the British knew better than to box their shrubs! There are too many people around here who think that Forsythias are supposed to be tight, round balls. Let's hope Stella doesn't become misused there too.
Rose - show the mustache! Mine is partially gone. I'm so glad to hear that you don't have any lollipops. The landscape crew did that to my parents' Lilacs & Magnolias. I wanted to cry.
MSS - If more people knew what the natural shape of shrubs was, I think they'd be more inclined to use them more & more creatively. I'm glad you enjoyed the post.
Hi, Plantwoman - if only that trend toward naturalistic shapes would take hold! I fear the "prune the life out of it" method is too ingrained. It really does seem like an attempt to control Nature, rather than to adapt to it.
Perennial Gardener - it's almost funny how some people complain that their Lilac never blooms & then you learn that they carve it into a ball every summer. I guess true examples of topiary are so few & far between that meatballs & lollipops are as close as it gets.
So, Benjamin Vogt, tell us how you really feel about this stuff. ;^D I think this "style" of landscaping came into being about the same time as the electric hedge clippers. It takes much less time to shape a ball or square than to artfully prune & cutback a shrub so that it looks graceful & natural.
Oh, no, Gintonio, not by you too! And I always thought the Portuguese had such good taste.
Wow, Daisy, it sounds wonderful to live in such an enlightened place! But then what would I have to laugh at? (Any gnomes nearby?)
Hi, Rick, thanks for visiting! I haven't even gotten on my soapbox yet about tree topping. I hate pollarding too.
Dee - no, not another case of plant abuse! I can see it now - parking lots filled with tons of Stellas & Knockout Roses surrounded by red mulch & weeds. Will the horror never cease!
I hardly think us "meatball pruning" gardeners are creating topiaries when we do what we do. ;~)
And deadheading daylilies only keeps them from making seed. As they mature, they will grow more flowers.
This was an amusing post!
I just planted some Stella's in my garden, where they will be well cared for, deadheaded and loved. No abuse here. :-)
Have you ever noticed that it only takes a second to notice all the dead branches in a "meatball" shrub? You just know that the owners will be putting in new shrubs in a couple of years because their pruning basically cuts off all the new growth, leaving the old dead stuff. My spouse has heard me rant about this all the time, since meatballs are rampant here.
What I notice is that they are all flat on the top - UK topiary is more rounded (apart from the cones) and more undulating. We seem to prefer domes (well at least my Dad does who prunes all shrubs into a dome whether they like it or not!)
LOL! My upstairs neighbor in Lincoln, NE would prune the bridal wreath bushes along the wrap-around porch into green meatballs speckled with white. Lord only knows what she would have done to the lilacs if I hadn't offered to take care of them!
--Curmudgeon
TC - I guess I should have called it "Attempted Topiary." Whatever you call it, it's awfully ugly.
Connie - it's good to know that Stella is cared for somewhere.
Lake Chicago Shores - lovely architecture in your 'burb, too bad the owners screw up the scene with meatballs. It really is plant abuse. The poor things are just trying to grow.
Hi, Patientgardener, thanks for visiting! I like the look of the undulating greenness. I'd probably even enjoy seeing a lightbulb of Yew or something. But this stuff is the pits.
WWW/Curmudgeon - it ought to be against the law to do that to a Bridal Wreath Spirea! That totally defeats the purpose of the plant. I'm sure the Lilacs thanked you for sparing them.
I don't think of most of these examples as topiary so much as ill-informed pruning or just bad taste. Topiary has style and often humor--a point. These are just examples of people who think that a tidy plant is a good plant.
I agree though that they are ugly in the extreme.
Robin
Gardening Examiner
True topiary is an art as you have mentioned. I love the yews that could actually act as a dining room table once you pop the table cloth over them. I will have to go over to Green Animals in Portsmouth, RI and take some fun pictures for you. Also, I think I did post a picture of the Longwood Gardens topiaries which are ...nice.
Unsightly and cliche yes, but ugly? I don't know, I think callin something ugly is kinda subjective. Another cliche: beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.
I know I shouldn't trim mine like that, but I have no other option, they're too big to do anything with and my wife won't let me pull them out.
Unfortunately every time I pull into our driveway I'm greated by this type of lovely foundation planting. It's the subject of much controversy at our house.
There are shrubs whose mature height and spread are naturally more appropriate for foundation plantings. I can get them. at a discount. I know landscapers who would give me a good price to remove the ugly.
The battle is not over yet!
Yeewww! I love Stellas! Man! What an abuse to them... Really! You made a point! Poor things... :(
I wouldn't call that topiary either, it's just bad management of shrubs and hedges. You see that here in the UK too, 'neat freaks' I call them, everything gets attacked by shears, or more frequently noisy powered hedge trimmers. I have a neighbour who does it, as soon as shrubs show any sign of not conforming to the blobs he has turned them into, out come the electric cutters. My MIL does something similar with her fruit trees. They both moan that they get no flowers/fruit. I wonder why? ::: rolls eyes:::
Topiary is a much more conscience effort to create artful green sculptures. Whether it be that exemplified by cloud pruning in Japansese and Chinese gardens, or the more familiar European styles seen in Dutch, British, French and the Italinate. I think it could work in the USA, it just needs to be well executed. Some of the grass gardens I have seen would look great with some topiary, the juxtapostion of the fluffy free form grasses, against the tightly clipped balls of box or cubes of yew are very attractive to my eye.
I think you saw the small topiary I created, spirals, balls, and animals mainly, but in the borders where I have much more free planting using perennials, I use topiary too, to form visual punctuation, an exclamation mark or full stop or a device to lead the eye. It works and adds structure and rhythm, the different textures complementing one another too.
Shabby gardening looks bad anywhere in the world, I think that's what you showed us, the 'neat freaks'.
As for the hemerocallis everywhere, we suffer that too, but with a different plant selection, but municipal planting is frequently dull and uninspiring where ever you go. One of the things that does counter it is 'Britain in Bloom' where towns, cities and villages compete each year for the accolade of Best and try to win medals from the RHS. It relies heavily on local authorities (and local taxes being used for it) and copious volunteers to maintain and operate the scheme and plantings. Places that are competing are always a joy to journey through, and the range and imagination of plantings is incredible.
Another thing that is becoming more common places is local businesses sponsoring planting in public areas near there premises.
On road islands, roundabouts, verges and so on. Failing that become a guerilla gardener?
Robin W. - yes, exactly, good topiary has a point! Too often American yards are just cluttered with rounded lumps seemingly adrift in the landscape.
Layanee - is Longwood the place with the fox & hounds topiary? That is fun. I'd love to see some examples of good topiary too. And a table topiary sounds wonderful - attractive & useful.
TC - this is a post about my personal taste, about what I don't like. I'm not the taste police & wouldn't want to be. I'm the last person who would try to attempt to limit what people put in their yards. Bring on the gnomes, the donkey carts, the meatballs & the lollipops. It makes the world a much more interesting place.
Garden Girl - those inherited blobs are a problem. We're still trying to get the mustache out. Someday, we'll both have attractive foundation plantings.
Chandramouli S - I'm glad Stella still has some fans. I just can't work up any enthusiasm about it after the oversatuartion experience.
Zoe - I think our neighbors were separated at birth. I can imagine what you mean by the proper incorporation of topiary into the garden. I remember seeing a TV program from Iowa, where the gardener had clipped balls in her mixed border that did as you describe provide punctuation. That looked wonderful. How ironic that 'neat freaks' end up with a shabby looking garden. If I thought I was capable of it, I'd try to do a fun topiary somewhere, but I think it requires more skill than I've got.
I think I'm going to have to do a post about all the good commercial & municipal planting around here, although nothing compares with the fantastic street median plantings in the city of Chicago. And my guerrilla gardening is confined to the island in the middle of my street, where I have variegated Disporum, Wild Ginger & Labrador Violets slugging it out with each other.
Oh, I understand you're blogging personal taste, and subjectivity isn't always unpleasant; I was just making a statement. No offense intended, if it seemed so, I apologize.
As for "meatball" shrubs, I don't like them either. ;~)
Odd. I agree that in your fourth photo those round blobs are hideous. But just the other day i saw a box shrub just into a perfect sphere in a garden and it was stupendous. Context is everything ...
When shrubs like Nandina AKA 'Heavenly Bamboo' are power-pruned into cubes it makes me feel sick... but it doesn't bother me so much when the subject is a small-leaved plant traditionally used in topiary, like boxwood.
Maybe intention should be part of the equation? Are the lawn services even trying to make anything look good? Or just fulfill the clients' mistaken notion that geometric = classy?
American topiary wizard Pearl Fryar, on the other hand, prunes the heck out of anything he sees, but his intention is to make a whole other world.
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
I just blogged about the same thing regarding Stellas. I keep them in my garden only because I feel guilty yanking out a thriving plant. Otherwise, I would never plant one on purpose!
TC - none taken. I'm just on a mission to get meatballs out of gardens & back on spaghetti, where they belong.
Sue Swift - you're right, context is the thing. A symmetrical planting of squares & balls under windows of an asymmetrical house is just not attractive.
Annie - Pearl Fryar is a virtuoso with a chainsaw. I first saw him & his work on A Gardener's Diary a long time ago.
Hi, Beth, thanks for visiting! I'm ruthless about removing plants I don't want, even if they're thriving if I can find someone willing to take them. Then there's no guilt. Stellas can be attractive given thoughtful placement and interesting planting partners.
In our area, the old guys love to pollard the poor trees. Nothing lollypop about those poor stumps with twigs on top. They look horrible 9 months of the year. Maybe once the old guys are gone, this bad habit will die out.
Jen
I much prefer the natural look and cringe when I see geometrical shapes, so I agree that these pruned shrubs are not pleasing to the eye.
It's rather sad to see Stellas neglected like that. They look pretty earlier when they first begin blooming.
I like your little frog. Hope he stays around. Anything that gets rid of slugs is a good thing!
While you're feeling sick of summer, I'm wishing it would stretch on a lot longer, and feeling sad that it's winding down. Our NY summers are far too short!
OMG - this is hysterical. Well, not really. Actually, it's rather sad...BUT if I can get back to a house soon recently spotted down a country lane I must - must - send you pics of their topiary yard. Everything is topiary, but really, really strange and scary topiary.
Hey...Scary Topiary. That kinda says it all, eh? Great post that made me chuckle today...and I needed a chuckle today!
Hi MMD,
So much great stuff you have in this post, it's hard to point out the exceptional highlights, but the 'rant' was just sooo à propos!
Your 'generic land' photos could literally be anywhere, and I've seen them all over the country in commercial (office buildings and such) plantings, to the point they're almost invisible now. Pity the poor Stella ... and yeah, we see a lot of the same around here, especially in the ever expanding McBurbs. And plenty of meatballs and gumdrops around town, but fortunately not many in our area.
Years ago we agreed that certain plants would never foul our garden because they were, in our not so nice term: McDonald's plants. Sand cherries, that ghastly 'purple' spirea, and various daylilies (mostly Stella). We did relent a couple of years and tried Potentilla (Goldfinger), but ironically, the most ubiquitous of mall plants, croaked on us with both efforts. I guess that was the burbs rejecting us? :-)
Muddy Boot Dreams - I guess the pollarding is part of your area's European heritage. I traveled around there mostly in winter, when the hideous knobs are in plain sight. I had no idea it was popular on this side of the Atlantic.
Hi, Kerri - clipped balls just wouldn't go with your barn. It's a good thing you don't like them. I will admit that the Stella-ghettos are attractive for about 3 weeks, but after that it's all down hill.
Hi, Giraffee Head Tree - glad I could give you a chuckle! I do laugh at this stuff except when it happens to my parents' shrubs & trees after their hired yard crew comes through. I'd love to see the scary topiary, wlthough that might make a good Halloween post.
IVG - you're lucky you live in a neighborhood built before the 50s when the meatball became de riguer in American landscaping. I think the dead Potentilla was poetic justice.
I agree with your assessment of the green blog syndrome so prominent in homes. My personal rant is headges that are created from totally inappropriate material.This is a link to my blog about it:
http://gardenramblings.blogspot.com/2006/09/destined-to-be-hedge-or-not.html
The link is quite old but should still show a pitiful glossy abelia manhandlied into a neat hedge!
AMEN! (That's the same thing I said, by the way, when I first read The Renegade Gardener's article: "Enough with the damn daylilies!")
And I'm with you on the topiary, but I tend to not like most of it, period. The only shaped shrubs that I particularly enjoy at all, in fact, are the yews in Piet Oudolf's garden... they make such a nice counterpoint to the flowing rivers of perennials and grasses.
"American Topiary" is nothing but a bad haircut. But there must be something about that commercial look that connects with people. I don't understand it but a lot of people like it. ME, I'd rather cutoff my ponytail than prune a shrub that way. I'd still be able to maintain my natural good looks :)
I have never planted a Stella D'Oro. I've been tempted since they are nice day lilies but I've resisted because of all the hype. Now that I found a rant that mirrors my feelings toward their abuse them I'll relax a bit.
Hi, Katy - thanks for visiting & for the link to that post. I checked it out - wow was that painful. Abelia is so pretty it's hard to believe someone would cube it. It's the same treatement as most Forsthyia get.
Blackswamp Girl - you do like topiary - when it's well done & well sited. It's too bad that there is so little of either around. The Renegade Gardener & I have similar taste re Daylilies & tree circles. I guess the worst, then would be a tree circled by Stellas.
Wiseacre - a lot of people liked Leisure Suits & gauchos, so there's no accounting for taste. I say keep the ponytail & leave the shrubs untrimmed. Does this mean you're going to plant Stella?
Hi,
:)
I think you bring up very interesting issues. I suppose that is why I love your blog.
You have such a great point of view, that it is a pleasure to read your posts.
Very Best Regards,
Philip
Wow, MMD, you really hit upon a topic people feel strongly about.
My humble opinion. First, not every homeowner is a gardener. They want shrubs and they want lawn. They think a neatly mowed lawn and neatly pruned shrubs create a well manicured, well cared for appearance. Given a choice between a natural shape and a shrub shaped like a meatball, they prefer the manicured example.
1. They have seen these pruned shrubs in commercial plantings so often they think it is correct and appropriate for all shrubs.
2. They feel a need to control the plantings and grass because they think irregular growth equals messy and wild.
3. They always make the wrong choice of shrubs. Planting tall growing shrubs in front of windows will always result in sheared off shrubs.
Now, commercial plantings are another matter. First, I consider the options. Masses of Stellas vs masses of concrete. Stella wins. Butchered shrubs vs nothing. Shrubs in whatever shape win.
I am a very strong advocate for more green among commercial buildings. Since I feel as strongly about no chemicals and NO WATERING, the best alternative is plants like Stella, yew, and spirea which seem a perfect solution. Not inspired but not asphalt.
Marnie
Thanks, Phillip! I tried to comment on your Rome rooftop posts, but the system thought I couldn't do math. (I did pass calculus, a long time ago, so I think I can add 8 and 9.) I loved those posts.
Marnie - you are so right about the wrong type of woody plant material in residential plantings. My house is the poster child for that. I guess they looked fine when planted, but by the time I moved in they were overgrowing the house. While I agree that Stellas & lollipops are better than all asphalt, there are better alternatives. In fact, I've decided to post about it. I can only hope the good landscaping can inspire others to follow suit.
MMD,
Just back from Chicago and seeing too many airport plantings! Has anyone noticed that Russian Sage is being mass planted everywhere now? I am concerned it will be the new Stella!
Gail
Hey Gail (and MMD),
Yep, Russian Sage is omnipresent now, though I never tire of seeing it, as long as it's planted with complementary plants. We have a dwarf variety planted near our Porcupine Grass and the two look great together. Also most of the Fountain Grasses looks nice with it as well....
Gail - the 2 next on the most over planted list are Russian Sage & Knockout Roses. I agree with IVG, though, that it's hard to get sick of Russian Sage, as so much of its effect is set by its planting partners. It seems that Russian Sage isn't going to be as bad as Stellas because it is rarely planted en masse by itself.
Boy, you sure generated a lot of talk on this one. I looked up topiary and found the definition says it is "the clipping or trimming of live shrubs and trees into decorative shapes, as of animals". So technically it would seem these are examples of topiary. Meatballs and flat disc shaped shrubs are shaped, but they are not good examples of proper pruning and not what most consider to be topiary. The problem is sometimes the wrong shrub is planted in the wrong place and so to keep it under control it looks as though these shrubs have been pruned into unnatural shapes. I am not a fan of topiary or of pruning in general but in the right garden it would look ok. I sure think it would be fun though and keep trying to figure out where I can spiral an Alberta spruce. :)
Tina - a spiral would be fun! I'd like to do a yew arch or wall with a window like they have in the English Walled garden at the Chicago Botanic Garden. Unfortunately, I'm not patient enough to wait for it to get that big. Maybe I should do a mini one - like the mini Stonehenge in "This is Spinal Tap."
MMD, I say do a yew arch and don't worry about how long it takes it to fill in. It will grow fast and before you know it the dream has been realized. I am not familiar with mini Stonehenge but will check it out.
Hello, I'm behind with my reading so I've only just arrived here and I'm going to cheat and not read all the previous 53 comments (53!) . . . but I like the very top picture and I'm feeling a bit foolish that I can't decide if you are saying that example is of 'good' or 'bad' topiary.
On the whole, I don't like topiary birds and things but the photo you have third from bottom (a few little blobs of stella plants spread through an otherwise empty stretch of dull earth) is immediately one of my all time favourite photos.
It is so dreary, it makes me smile. I keep peeping back at it and it keeps making me smile.
I mean, I wouldn't like to live near it or to have to see it much in real life . . . but as a photo . . . it's so wonderfully cheerful!
Lucy
Tina - "This is Spinal Tap" was the 1st movie by Christopher Guest, the guy who brought you "Best in Show" & "Waiting for Guffman." Very funny.
Lucy - so the desolate Stella-ghetto makes you feel good like seeing the aftermath of hurricane destruction makes you feel good that you don't live there? Yeah, I can see that. The photos on this post are all bad in my opinion.
Well . . . er . . . no . . . not like that!
Lucy
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