The word topiary derives from the Latin topiarius, which means “ornamental gardener”. It can have slightly naff connotations — such as the large leafy squirrel I once spotted off the A406. But done properly it can lend structure and style to your garden.
You don’t have to go as far as geometric parterres and knot gardens, or large chess-like pieces as in Peter Greenaway’s film The Draughtsman’s Contract, a single box ball in a terracotta pot can suffice if that’s the look you’re after.
The Japanese have their own plant clipping artform, niwaki, which generically means “garden trees” or is used as a descriptive word for “highly sculpted trees”. The shaping is more organic, with trees and shrubs “cloud pruned” or shaped to
