Shapely Trees

June 5, 2003 2:43 AM

The delicate art of topiary, or "cutting trees into weird shapes". The people. The history. The outstanding. The bizarre, and the phallic (completely SFW). I grew up with a similar tree to the last one on my street, although ours had...uhugm... a knob on top; I believe the gardener responsible was too short to trim above a certain level...
posted by Jimbob (10 comments total)

The 20ft high hedges at Audley End in Essex have a long series of faces in them. Very odd.

But I can't find a picture of them... I'll keep looking...
posted by twine42 at 2:50 AM on June 5, 2003

Topiaries always make me think of this guy.
posted by debralee at 4:36 AM on June 5, 2003

Topiary is popular in my home state of Tasmania. My father, a printmaker, made a small etching on the subject.
posted by rory at 5:04 AM on June 5, 2003

Good stuff - thanks.
posted by plep at 5:10 AM on June 5, 2003

Topiary fans should check out Axel Erlandson's Tree Circus, much of which has been moved here.
posted by TimeFactor at 6:32 AM on June 5, 2003

(sorry about the Geocities link, folks...their bandwidth limits must be pretty pathetic for it to drop off line so quickly...)
posted by Jimbob at 7:01 AM on June 5, 2003

This is very cool. Jimbob gets to lead the class to lunch today.
posted by Tacodog at 7:13 AM on June 5, 2003

I doubt Shishi-Gami would be very happy about this.
posted by VulcanMike at 8:57 AM on June 5, 2003

Anyone interested in topiary should check out Fast, Cheap, And Out Of Control.
posted by herc at 9:24 AM on June 5, 2003

funny, i always think of that episode of the stop motion Paddington Bear (total opposite of evil satanspawn Snuggle bear, all stupid voiced bears should be detroyed) where he discovers he's really good at topiary. (very much wishes she could find a link... or see that damn bear again *sniff*)
posted by ethylene at 10:29 AM on June 5, 2003