Topiary – an art of making living sculptures

Topiary is the horticultural practice of training live perennial plants, by clipping the foliage and twigs of trees, shrubs and sub-shrubs to develop and maintain clearly defined shapes. It is an art of making living sculptures out of evergreen plants with small leaves. There are two different methods to create topiary- traditional and modern. In Modern topiary, shaped iron wire cages are used to guide the untutored shears and shape the figure but but the traditional topiary depends on patience and a steady hand of the gardener. Topiary is very beautiful from far.

See some of the beautiful topiary pictures:

The word derives from the Latin word for an ornamental landscape gardener, topiarius, creator of topia or “places”, a Greek word that Romans applied also to fictive indoor landscapes executed in fresco.

The Topiary Park in Downtown Columbus Ohio is very famous for its topiary interpretation of a classic painting  A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat.

Topiary interpretation is done in seven-acre land. It consists of 54 topiary people, eight boats, three dogs, a monkey, a cat and a real pond. The largest figure is 12” tall.