Topiary Shapes - Fake Landscapes

topiary shapes

outdoor: UV and weather resistant

There was a strong temptation to say that this section was a load of balls, but we -almost - managed to resist it. Anyway, they’re not. We have cubes, teardrops and lollipops as well!

One of the main things that makes our fake topiary work so well is that it’s slightly wonky, much as plants are in nature. Not a lot, but just enough to fool the eye-brain combo into seeing something organic. We can do this because we hand-make all of them in our workshops here in London, rather than just import green footballs like everybody seems to!

There are more pictures than usual in this section to show both the variety of shapes and also how they work in different containers. A lot of the planters are the clients’ existing ones, probably because the live boxwood they had didn’t make it. There’s really no truth in the rumour that we released those caterpillars…

As always, everything is UV, rain and frost resistant, with rot-proof trunks. As a rough guide in Northern Europe they should last a minimum of five years with no significant change. We’ve got plenty out there twice as old as that, and we’re improving the materials every year as well - so that’s a cautious estimate.

topiary shapes

outdoor:

UV and weather resistant

630

Closed, sadly, at the time of writing in early 2021, The Ledbury has fantastic food - and impeccable taste in topiary as well! Can’t wait till they re-open so we can update this blurb. 630

631

Another nice mixed project in the Far East, with boxwood and cypress, plus a pair of our 2m tall laurel trees with a flattened dome shape. The canopies are around 80cm across, and the larger dark green leaf works well with the slightly paler box and cooler-toned Cypress. 631

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Here’s a good example of re-using existing planters after the real stuff had pegged out, allowing guests to see the machinery room out of their hotel windows! It’s a simple symmetrical mix of teardrop shapes and balls - with similar ‘waistlines’ - to stop the eye from looking further without being an obvious blocking device. 632

633 fake landscapes topiary 700mm boxwood

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Buxus balls in cubes with a fantastic view behind, out west along the Thames. These are fairly sizeable and visible from some way off, so we made them extra shaggy. We matched the diameter of the balls to the diagonal of the planters and it worked out well, allowing that none of us liked maths at school… 633 (Squadron)

634

Here’s something from our cubist period. LOL, ROTFL etc. Bay rather than box, and cube shapes work much better when the planters are larger. These are overseas, so we built them as ‘drop-ins’, fully tweaked, so they could be installed hands-off. 634

635 def fake landscapes2m laurel topiary 'lollipops'

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More from the same Singapore project (you can tell from the planters…), more big mushroom-shaped laurel trees. They’re not quite as tough as the buxus, but last surprisingly well when there’s an overhanging roof, as here. 635

636 fake landscapes teardrop and ball topiary frontage mayfair (2)

636

That’s a very early townhouse somewhere in W1. The client isn’t here very much, so our stuff makes perfect sense - and will look right regardless of the time of year when they turn up. Those are our slim ‘pencil’ teardrop topiary on the first floor, so that light still gets through those nice tall windows. 636

637 fake landscapes 35 and 45cm natural look buxus in clients planters

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Just a nice pair of simple staggered planters with custom 34 and 47cm balls in each so they look ‘right’ - rather than over-generous pistachio ice cream cones. We’re on about the seventh generation of our UV buxus leaf – loads of different tones in it, as you can see by how well it goes with the trees in the background. 637

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Not sure why, but these look weirdly like a bunch of Daleks massing to attack! These are our handmade teardrops (hence the subtle shape differences) and rather than being pencil-shapes, they have a more generous waistline - much like the writer. 638

639

Simple is best, a nicely wonky 160cm bay ball with some of our dark lavender underneath, in what looks like a40cm cube. Or thereabouts! Again, it’s the asymmetry of the tree that means people don’t take a second glance. As a basic rule, if you can see it’s artificial on a drive-by, that’s a fail! 639

640 fake landscapes 450mm boxwood ball set in custom planters one hyde park

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Somewhere in a penthouse high over Hyde Park, this is using outdoor plants inside to bridge the gap between the two along a walkway. The earth coloured planters work really well, too. We were dubious at first, but the designer was right. It happens! 640

641 fake landscapes handbuilt natural look topiary UV lollipops 1080DEFm

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Rather like the bay ball a couple of pictures back, here are a pair of slightly flattened boxwood lollipop shapes which look really good because they aren’t ‘perfect’. One is fractionally taller than the other, too. Makes all the difference. 641

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Here’s another example of using outdoor foliage indoors to bridge the gap, and good to use terracotta under the domes - allowing that bay is an Italianate leaf. It’s actually a hotel lobby in the Netherlands, so ‘boy, are they lost?!’ comes to mind. 642

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A slightly priapic group here (there are worse out there!) but it’s interesting the tonal difference between the boxwood and cypress, and how well the wild lavender softens it all. 643

644 fake landscapes lobby NW3 buxus and bamboo

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No, us neither! It’s a lobby in a smart block somewhere up near St John’s Wood, and we never quite grasped the concept the designer was going for. Still, as always, every ball is a slightly different size and shape. Also, the bamboo didn’t come from us - so if that’s what you really really like, we can’t help you! 644

645 fake landscapes teardrop topiary group

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Last but not least, little boxwood topiary ‘teardrops’ coming to 55cm above the planter top. You’d normally put balls in slim planters like this, but the client wanted something higher to break the line of the roof terrace a bit more. These are our medium profile teardrops, made to match the diameter exactly. Sets of three always look good, as well. Neat job! 645