Green elegance and fun

Press, 17 December 1988, Page 24

Green elegance and fun

English Topiary Gardens. By Ethne Clark and George Wright. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1988. 160 pp. Illustrations. $42.95. (Reviewed by Thelma Strongman) The art of topiary divides people. In the history of gardens, clipping trees and shrubs into sculptural or geometric shapes is an important part of the formal architectural garden which celebrates the art of mankind. This is at variance with the informal school of garden design in which art follows nature. Heralding in the era of the English Landscape Garden — the greatest informal gardens of all time — Alexander Pope castigated the use of topiary. “We see the marks of the scissors on every plant and bush ... I would rather look upon a tree when in all its luxuriancy and diffusion and branches than when it is thus cut and trimmed into a mathematical figure.” Popular opinion was swept along by Pope and others in the rising tide of informality; antique topiary shapes and formal avenues of the architectural garden were erased from the English countryside. They gave way to William Kent’s and Capability Brown's rolling swards, serpentine water, and “natural” clumps and belts of trees stretching towards the horizon. Many people consider that these landscape gardens represent another of Britain’s finest hours — a new, uniquely English art form was offered to the Western world. Other people, like Ethne Clark, the author of "English Topiary Gardens;” consider Kent’s and Brown’s efforts represent

"one of those collective acts of cultural vandalism which is difficult to forgive.” A number of examples of early English topiary still remain in gardens which escaped Brown’s attentions, and these and later examples promulgated by the Arts and Crafts movement have been included in this book under the title “The Grand Manner.” These include gardens such as Levens Hall, Hazeley Court, Hidcote Manor, Great Dixter, and many others. Examples of cottager's topiary are assembled under the heading of “Teapots and Peacocks." These idiosyncratic examples range in type from geometric spirals, hens, monsters, cockerels and rabbits to railway engines and new knot gardens and mazes. There is even an old iron bedstead which contains the form of a sleeping figure in turf. Yew, box, holly, and to some extent hornbeam, bay and holm oaks are used for topiary work. The care of the plants together with the methods of artistic execution are also discussed. There is a plethora of excellent colour photographs taken by George Wright, who includes a note concerning the overcoming of technical difficulties in photographing topiary. In particular, he should be congratulated at being able to produce such a variety of images of unvarying green that the eye is constantly delighted rather than becoming habituated. “English Topiary Gardens” is a rather special book. The quality of the product is excellent and, like the topiary it espouses, it combines elegance and fun.