Topiary: Cloud Pruning as Arboreal Art - Gardenista
Photography of topiary features at Levens Hall by Nick Seaton. On a recent trip to Japan, our friend Jess Seaton, an avid gardener and co-founder of Toast clothing and house wares shops, saw a kind of topiary she’d never encountered at home in England: plants shaped into soft, billowy clouds. The collaboration between Toast and Hobson included commissioning a photo essay on cloud pruning at Levens Hall in Cumbria by the Lake District. The 17th century gardens have some of the oldest topiaries in the world, with trees holding some of the same shapes created nearly four hundred years ago by gardener Guillaume Beaumont. Hobson believes that the long blades and wooden handles of these Okatsune secateurs provide the perfect balance for detailed topiary work, while being tough enough to trim hedges. Okatsune shears (L) or one-handed clippers for box clipping and other topiary have a spring action that makes them comfortable to use; £39 at Toast. Wakasaya topiary clippers (R) are the top choice of professional gardeners in Japan. A sturdy, open-ended, Wicker Log Basket is practical for collecting cuttings; £39 from Toast. A Linen Stripe Apron (L) with adjustable, contrast herringbone straps and single deep patch pocket; £35 at Toast. A Long Handle Metal Dustpan And Horsehair Brush with oiled beech handles can be used for sweeping cuttings without stooping down. In Jake Hobson’s second book, The Art of Cloud Pruning, he describes his “‘organic topiary” approach; £25 from Toast. Jake Hobson’s book covers the history and culture of Niwaki; £25 from Toast. Many of the garden’s shapes echo the surrounding landscape, rounded hills that swell and roll away to the horizon.