#topiary

Heavy Victorian doors belie the modern interior of the house, a creative renovation that infused a sixties design with traditional elegance. Terraces only a brief walk from the front door are planted with lush tropical plants and flowers.

Plant of the Day

Saturday 14 February 2026

The vigorous, evergreen, self-clinging climber, Hedera helix (common ivy, bentwood, bindwood, English ivy, ivory, ivy gum plant, love united) can be prune to make wall topiary! The juvenile stage has adventitious roots (growing from the stem) that cling to a range of surfaces. Mature plants produce bushy, non-clinging branches with diamond-shaped leaves, and small, nectar-rich, greenish-yellow flowers in the autumn, followed by black berries in winter.

Topiary. "The beautiful garden of Hessem at Wolfenbüttel surrounded by water has its different parterres richly supplied with every kind of figure cut in the hedges (Fig. 388)."

A history of garden art. 1928.