Clipping Topiary at Levens Hall
How to Clip Topiary
– Or –
At least, what I REMEMBER being told
During my stay at Levens Hall Gardens in 2021, I was trusted to clip some topiary after being instructed by head-gardener Chris Crowder.
First I was given a little cone affected by the box blight, hidden in the furthest corner so it would not be a disaster if I would mess it up.
Armed with quite big heavy topiary shears, a bamboo cane and a water spraying bottle and the excitement of being trusted to give it a go in the world's oldest topiary garden as well as the fear to fail this trust, I started.
Luckily I could remove some of the bedding plants around the box, which made it a lot easier to access. Then my first ever clipping started. Taking it bit by bit, trying to find the sweet spot between as much as possible but not too much so the plant will still be able to come back. Spraying the secateurs with water to keep them moist and prevent them from getting sticky and blunt and shaking the box with the bamboo cane to get also the shoots that entangle themselves and could be missed.
I could still see the difference between the part where Chris demonstrated how to clip and my humble attempt to get it as smooth as his, but overall it was a success as I was trusted with the next piece.
A little ball on a round cone, kind of a furry snowman.
Still working with secateurs…
The challenge here was first of all not to accidentally chop the head off, but to give it back the appearance of floating over the cone by separating them sharply. Another challenge was to handle the uneven growth, as the sunny side of the plant had grown of course more than the shady side, but you still want an even cone, which also has a chance to appear even in the coming years. And then there is the difference in cones, they can have curved sides or more straight ones, this one seemed to have one more curved side and another more straight side, so I tried to curve the straight one a bit more.
After getting comfortable with the secateurs I had to face the truth of the electric world and the new danger that comes with the power of automatic cutting.
One wrong movement and the shape of the plant is ruined… or the trousers. Happily, it only caught my trousers and not the topiary, so I will be able to return to Levens.
Same procedure, keep the blades moist, shake with the bamboo cane and concentrate on the shape, taking it step by step.
It is probably the most meditative work I have ever done. You can not think of anything else than the plant in front of you, zooming in and out from the overall shape and to the little shoots, back and forth.
If it wasn’t for the visitors wanting to have a chat. During two days of clipping I was offered three jobs as a hairdresser for almost bold men – but I can´t resist English humour presented with all the politeness in the world. All the visitors at Levens Hall are so appreciative of the garden and the gardeners working there, that it was always a pleasure to have a little chat as it left me every time with a big smile on my face and a feeling of gratitude to be able to work in this magnificent garden and to be rewarded on top with so many lovely words.
And every little distraction was also a very good excuse to put the heavy machine down for a minute and give the arms a little rest.
It is so impressive how the gardeners at Levens will have to clip for six months to get all the topiary done. My arms fell off after a couple of hours only two days in a row. Also, the weather was all on my side during my stay. To think Levens gardeners were just starting the clipping season and had all the rainy and cold days in front of them…
Because of dwindling arm power I had to do adjust the procedure on this one. You are supposed to start with the top part and work your way down but I just couldn’t get my arms that high anymore without fear of screwing it up. So I did the bottom part first and only got to the top after brew time and a decent pause for the little arms.
At last I did the bottom part of a yew before my stay at Levens ended…
I feel like I did not really finish this one properly, leaving it a bit too wobbly and uneven. But at the end of the day concentration and arm power left me.
I feel incredibly privileged to be now forever one tiny part of Leven Hall Gardens, one layer of cutting on those four pieces –like annual tree rings – was being shaped by me and made me feel connected to them forever.
One of the gardeners, Tony, sent me a picture of my little buddy in wintertime, and he looked still clean and sharp.
© pictures: Karola Prutek, Tony Walton
VISIT LEVENS HALL Garden
Kendal, Cumbria, LA8 0PD, UK
See also
Interview with Pam Howson. Gardener at Levens Hall.
Books
The Garden at Levens. By Chris Crowder. Photographs Vivian Russell.
‘All Things is Well Here’ – Letters from Huge James of Levens to James Grahme, 1692–95. Edited by Annette Bagot and Julian Munby.