Topiary is the ancient practice of shearing evergreen shrubs and trees to beautify a garden. It encompasses the miniature box hedges that enclose flowers in elaborate parterres and the substantial yew hedging that forms mazes in the gardens of stately homes. But most famously, it is the individual plants that are tightly clipped to form peacocks, pyramids, chess pieces, and other fantastical or geometric shapes.
‘Treated with restraint, clipped trees introduced singly, in pairs or in groups, provide a certain atmosphere in a garden which is not to be obtained by any other means,’ wrote Nathaniel Lloyd, who created the impressive topiary at Great Dixter in East