History

Much has been written on the history of topiary and how the fashion for it has changed over the years. Currently it is receiving a strong revival of interest as garden designers view it as an integral part of the structure of many modern gardens and as an art form, in its own right.

The history of topiary is inextricably linked to the discovery and use of Buxus (Box) and Taxus (Yew) and the chronology of this development has been summarised into the historical summary shown below.

1. 7,000 BC

   Buxus growing in England UK. Pollen grains discovered dating to this time, destroyed during the Glacial epoch.

2. 4,000 BC

   Egyptians clipped box hedges in their gardens.

3. 800 BC

   In the tomb of King Midas a table made from the wood of Buxus was discovered in 1951.

4. 300 BC

   Greek horticulturist Theophrastus recognised the virtues of Buxus.

5. 100 BC

   Rome: In the reign of Emperor Augustus many villas were planted with Buxus hedging and Topiary. Pliny the Younger created buxus gardens. Pliny the Older documented how to use the wood for making instruments etc. Romans re-introduced Buxus to England.

6. Dark Ages

   Europe returned to topiary through hedges and galleries. One special form was the clipping of trees into tiers (wedding cake).

7. 1494

   During the reign of Henry VII, knots or knotts first recorded with clipped box, thrift or cotton lavender, bordering them.

8. 1509–1547

   During the reign of Henry VIII, individual specimens were cut for Hampton Court Palace. Cones, spheres, running greyhounds, deer, bears, urns, vases and boats, mostly in cypress (Cupressus) after the first Italian examples, but it wasn't reliably hardy.

9. 1549

   Parterre: first used in France then used in England from 1639 which may have been influenced by Queen Henrietta-Maria, wife of Charles I.

10. 1603–1625

    Clipping seems originally to have been done with very sharp but small knives. By 1606, during the reign of James I, shears similar to those used today were in use.

11. 1652

    USA: Nathaniel Sylvester believed to have planted the first Buxus sempervirens at his Long Island home.

12. 1660–1685

    During the reign of Charles II, John Evelyn writing in 1662, claimed to be the first to bring yew into fashion.

13. 1700

    By the early 18th Century, several nurseries in Great Britain were producing already formed topiary specimens in containers, and some of their original creations are almost certainly still to be seen at Levens Hall in Cumbria.

14. 1716–1783

    Lancelot Brown (known as Capability Brown), renowned for natural landscape movement, was responsible for the removal of much formal box hedging.

15. c.1720

    Ha Ha (sunken boundary): thought to be first created by Charles Bridgeman (1690–1738), instigator of the naturalistic landscape movement which caused the destruction of many formal parterre and topiary gardens.

16. c.1850

    The latter part of the 19th century saw a vast influx of plants from South and Central America and South Africa, usually tender perennials which had to be over-wintered and bedded out in late spring. This led to a return to the knot garden and parterre, with their clipped box edging and clipped cotton lavender, sometimes referred to as carpet bedding.

17. 1854–1933

    Harold Ainsworth Peto: originally an architect who sold his practice and whose contract stated that he was not allowed to practise architecture for a period of 15 years. He became an interior and garden designer specialising in Italianate gardens: Iford Manor, Bradford-upon-Avon.

18. 1869–1944

    Edwin Lutyens: architect and a former pupil for one year of Harold Peto. Created many gardens in partnership with Gertrude Jekyll.

19. 1913

    Herbert J. Cutbush, a nurseryman, also specialising in topiary. Exhibited "Cutbush's Cut Bushes" at flower shows around the country and a display of Topiary at the present site of RHS Chelsea Flower Show 1913, an arrangement of topiary including exotic birds and animals set down on grass.

20. 1925

    Nathaniel Lloyd (Father of Christopher Lloyd, Great Dixter), influenced by Lutyens, first published a book entitled 'Garden Craftsmanship in Yew and Box'.

21. Mid–late 20th C

    Emergence of great garden designers and buxus/topiary specialists; legendary names such as Jacques Wirtz (Belgium), Piet Oudolf (Holland), Rosemary Verey, Elizabeth Braimbridge, Allain Provost, and modern designers and Chelsea Gold winners, Tom Stuart-Smith, John Moreland and Arne Maynard, to name just a few.

22. c.1990

    Cleve West, garden designer: modern sculptural topiary.