“There is a tendency to restore some of the screens which formed so characteristic a feature of the Dutch style, with a view to obtain a greater degree of privacy, and more shelter for both visitors and plants. With this restoration of sheltering hedges and verdant belts has evidently come a desire for examples of Topiary art, and already there are several modern gardens where they are to be found firmly established.”—_George Gordon, V.M.H._
“Topiary Work fell into disrepute in the nineteenth century, owing to the persistence with which the more natural styles of gardening came to the front, but even now this phase of ‘gardening’ exercises a considerable fascination upon a large section of the public; witness the interest excited of late years by the exhibits of trimmed trees which have appeared at the London shows.”—_Walter P. Wright._
Notwithstanding the wonderful alteration and improvement that have taken place in British gardens since Kent began to make a clearance of Topiary work, several notable collections survived the general slaughter and these are to-day among the most interesting of the varied forms of gardening seen in the country. The gardens at Levens Hall and at Elvaston Castle may be especially particularised in this connection, but for the moment we will deal with the revival rather than the survival of the art.
During the past twenty years the practice of including at least a few specimens of clipped trees in any new garden of pretensions has been steadily growing, and within the last ten years several Topiary gardens of considerable extent have been laid out and planted. These are chiefly in the large establishments of the wealthy patrons of horticulture, and they are so situated that they are in harmony with formal surroundings, or disposed where they form a distinct item of horticultural interest and do not in any way mar the more natural beauties of adjacent subjects.
HENS, DUCKS, PEACOCKS, ETC., IN BOX AND YEW AT J. CHEAL AND SONS, CRAWLEY ]
Precisely why there has been a revival of this old art I am not prepared to say. It must suffice that there is such a revival, and a very distinct one, as any one who visits gardens and exhibitions and nurseries frequently will readily discover. At the leading London and provincial exhibitions two old established firms of nurserymen have frequently and extensively exhibited examples of Topiary; these are Messrs Wm. Cutbush & Son, Highgate, N., and Messrs J. Cheal & Sons, Crawley, Sussex; and it may be safely asserted that if there were no taste or demand for clipped trees the respective proprietors would not incur the necessarily heavy expense of displaying this particular line of goods.