Sculpting with success

CREATE GREEN STATUARY– AND MAKE IT A-MAZE-ING!

You can go for a restrained, classic look with an elegant pair of leafy lollipops at your front door or be totally flamboyant and create a giant snail in your front hedge. There’s no end to the topiary shapes you can create when you clip a shrub out of its natural shape. Take inspiration from Merribee Gardens in southern NSW and its 3ha of traditional and complex hedged and topiary gardens, and learn how you can hone your meticulous manicuring skills.

1 SNAKES ALIVE!

Balls, mounds and spirals are part of a maze of trimmed hedges holding a slithering serpent. Choose one element for your garden and perhaps include a row of beautifully elegant Italian pencil pines.

2 HAVE A BALL!

The Dordogne-inspired garden is full of fantastic ideas, including a fig tree shaped into a lollipop and encircled by clipped box. Imagine this in your front garden!

3 HIDE ’N’ SEEK