 Art
Topiary in Italian Gardens
The Use of Art-Topiary in Italian Garden Design
 Italian
garden design has always adopted the use of art topiary to establish
strong, evergreen structure in the Italian garden. From the origins
of the Italian garden, Italian garden designers have shaped evergreen
plants into both symmetrical, obtuse and representational forms to highlight
entrances, underline geometrical features or to accentuate angles etc.
Even in Roman times plants were being formed into manmade forms in order
to highlight and underline the Roman's supposed control over nature
and it's laws.
The use of topiary continued through into the 16th and 17th Centuries
across the whole of Europe, but was particularly popular in Italy, France
and Holland.
Italian garden designers have always enjoyed a certain precision
styling in all aspects of their design, but particularly in Italian
garden design, as this addresses the Italian's need for clean lines
and sharp styling. Fine examples of topiary in Italian gardens can be
found at gardens like Boboli, La Bagnaia or Villa Gamberaia.
Images of Villa Gamberaia
There are various plants that are perfectly adapted to being pruned
into shapes that would otherwise not be present in the natural world.
Plants like Boxwood (Buxus sempervirens), Yew (Taxus baccata), Holm
oak (Quercus ilex) and Bay laurel (Laurus nobilis) have been among the
most favoured plants since Roman times. These plants can withstand constant
pruning, provide a smooth finish and are able to form a healthy evergreen
structure that can easily be shaped into square hedges, spheres and
even triangles.
A topiary plant needs to have a naturally dense growth habit that
 responds
well to hard pruning, with a good resistance to disease. A topiary plant
also has to be long lived, in order to provide a structure that will
last for many years. The plants mentioned above are particularly slow-growing
and there are faster growing alternatives, such as certain privet species.
However a plant like privet requires more pruning due to it's speedy
growth habit and the finished effect can appear somewhat ‘cheaper',
rendering the garden less elegant as a result.
Contemporary Italian garden design
still adopts the use of topiary in this age of fusion design and I feel
that topiary is fundamental for linking areas within a garden design
and it is vital for adding a touch of elegance and class. Topiary clearly
represents man's intervention, as without man's hand such shapes could
not exist, therefore certain areas suit it's use and certain areas do
not. Areas closer to the house and living space generally lend themselves
well to the use of topiary, as the presence of man is felt more in such
areas. Areas near the house often continue the architecture of the house
into the garden and therefore clearly suit a more formal and elegant
feel.
Topiary, in the form of formal hedging, is essential in establishing
the feel of a classic Italian garden and even contemporary Italian garden
design should certainly still adopt the use of some form of topiary
to provide structure. Formal hedging and topiary in general can be considered
as important to the landscape architect as walls are to a standard architect
or engineer. They provide the basis upon which the rest of the garden
can be designed and constructed, so are therefore indispensable when
creating an Italian style garden!
By Jonathan Radford
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