England has the finest examples of topiary in the world, from simple geometric shapes to fanciful figures clipped in yew. The clipping and training of trees is one of the oldest garden art forms. The Romans used the word "toparius" to describe a garden designer, and Renaissance Italian gardens were given an architectural emphasis by borders and walls of clipped cypress. In the seventeenth century no English garden was complete without regiments of leafy figures and hedges clipped in geometric precision.
Author Ethne Clarke and photographer George Wright have toured England seeking topiary throughout the land, gathering information about its history and cultivation from the gardeners who tend it. The result, 'English Topiary Gardens', celebrates this diverse art with examples ranging from mazes to Egyptian temples, from peacocks to a locomotive engine, from rabbits to a leafy Nessie.
Includes colour photographs.
