Container Topiary

These days it is becoming increasingly popular to enhance the garden and to create the idea of an "outdoor room". Using topiary is a way of enlivening the garden with living ornaments, whether in a large or small garden, on a patio terrace, or even a balcony or window ledge. Container gardening is also a popular subject, and this title shows you how to combine the two skills to create topiary in containers. Topiary, the art of shaping trees and shrubs into geometric designs has traditionally been a feature of classical gardens and is often considered suitable only for grand, formal gardens. This guide brings the subject up to date with modern, urban spaces in mind and is both a practical and inspirational gardening book. With over 16 step-by-step projects, it describes how to grow and shape topiary for containers in a variety of styles, from simple box balls and pyramids to more elaborate shapes. Aimed at gardeners with little experience, it covers the basics of cultivating, pruning and training plants. As well as the traditional box (buxus), there are also faux topiary projects using fast-growing ivy and even flowers, and the guide features advice on displaying the finished examples, a comprehensive directory of plants and a list of useful addresses.

Table of Contents:
Topiary techniques: container shapes and sizes; decorating containers; topiary frames; basic cultivation. Simple shapes: simple topiary cube; simple topiary pyramid; simple topiary balls. Fancy shapes: topiary spirals; topiary pompoms; animal shapes; topiary heart. Topiary standards: flowering standards; foliage standards; grafted standards. Quick topiary: false topiary globe; false topiary pyramid; false topiary spiral; flower pyramid; topiary chair. Displaying topiary: framing a view; doorways; balconies; windowsills. Directory of plants.

About the Author :
Susan Berry is an experienced gardening writer and editor, specializing in container and small-space gardening. Her previous books include Container Gardening on Balconies and Terraces and Plants for Small Spaces. She has contributed to BBC Gardener's World, Homes and Garden and the Sunday Express magazine. She lives in north London

Review :
Add form and structure to your garden with topiary. Grown in containers, they make attractive portable additions to use wherever needed - to fill an empty gap, to bring cohesion to a collection of pots, to add formality to a doorstep. But topiary is not cheap. The price reflects the years of care, cultivation and training involved in this centuries-old art to develop balls, pyramids, pom-poms and standards from box and other small-leaved shrubs. This attractive guide to container topiary by garden writer Susan Berry shows how this time and cost can be cut by using other, quicker-growing plants or by buying larger shrubs and training them yourself. Beautifully illustrated with the photographs of award-winning photographer Steven Wooster, this is a visual feast of topiary inspiration. From painted pots to lead planters, topiaried animals and birds, cultivation and display advice, Susan Berry covers every aspect of growing plants in this attractive, clever way. - Lucy Watson