If you want evidence that His Majesty The King has a whimsical sense of humour, you only have to look at his Thyme Walk. When he moved to Highgrove House near Tetbury, Gloucestershire, in 1980, the golden yews that march away in pairs from the Terrace Garden were already in place, but back then they were little more than shapeless balls. Rather than root them out, as various of his gardening friends and advisors urged, he spotted hidden potential and decided to give them a second chance.
The word went out to the gardening team to come up with some more exciting designs for them, so heads were scratched, sketches were submitted, the then Prince of Wales made his choices and the present flights of fancy were born. Now, jostling alongside a bauble and a Christmas pudding are a helter-skelter, a seven-tier wedding cake and a pack of cards, which all catch the imagination of the garden’s visitors
There are 15 acres of cultivated gardens at Highgrove, including four acres of meadow, and the many topiary pieces – at least 70 now – are a unifying feature, most particularly on the Main Lawn, along the Thyme Walk and in the Sundial Garden.
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The boundary yew hedges around these and other areas were among the first features to be planted in the gardens, to provide much-needed privacy and shelter on what was then open pastureland, and to create structure, especially in the winter months. These used to be straight-topped until The King consulted with Sir Roy Strong, and then a series of topiary swags, domes and balls began to adorn them, with ‘windows’ offering views out across the meadow.
These, and everything else, are cared for by a team of 11 gardeners, including head gardener Gráinne Ring and senior gardener Ryan Bowden, who leads on the topiary, along with an apprentice and a WRAGS trainee. Gráinne started at Highgrove in 2016, initially working under former head gardener Debs Goodenough.
After a two-year break Gráinne returned and was appointed head gardener in May 2024. “It is a very magical place, and as it is a significant garden, working here makes you feel like you’re a little part of history. His Majesty is passionate about it, so it feels like a gardener’s garden. He always has new ideas for different areas – it’s an expression of his work and personality so you really want to help deliver his vision.”
The clipping, working from the ground, a ladder or a cherry picker, begins in June with the box. This is followed by the yew from September until Christmas and into January. The team use a combination of battery-powered hedge cutters and hand shears, with the latter used to get into tight corners and to finesse any intricate designs. Every gardener gets involved, so that essential skills get passed on. “Constant development is really important to us as a team,” says Gráinne.
Ryan – who started a new career in horticulture just four years ago, after working in financial services – thought he might be eased into the art of topiary cutting gently when he started at Highgrove in 2022, but his first assignment was on the seven-tier wedding cake.
“It’s actually good to have that bit of pressure, working on a prominent piece; it makes you want to do it well. I give the new trainees the same challenge, with a piece that is already formed, so that they can follow the lines of the previous cuts. You soon learn that you need to walk round and view a piece from all angles, spending as much time looking at it as you do cutting it. Work gradually and enjoy the process.”
Weather conditions are crucial. As they garden organically at Highgrove and no chemicals are used, every effort must go into keeping the plants as healthy as possible at each stage of their growth, to fight the twin challenges of box blight and moth.
This means cutting on a dry, overcast day. If the sun does come out while they’re doing it, they might cover the newly cut foliage with hessian to protect it. Tarpaulins are laid down to catch all the cuttings, which are scrupulously cleared away and disposed of to prevent the spread of any pathogens.
Strict rules of hygiene apply, with all tools sanitised with disinfectant as they work. They do still experience some box blight at Highgrove but have found that good air circulation round the plants
is key. “With care, it does recover, but if it doesn’t, we take it out,” says Gráinne. “His Majesty knows that in an organic setting, you don’t have perfection. He is willing to accept a certain level of damage and to wait for plants to recover.”
They have trialled various alternatives, including Lonicera nitida – deemed to be too untidy – and Euonymus japonicus ‘Green Rocket’, which they found didn’t give the same structure as box does.
To combat box moth, the team put out pheromone traps in April/May to attract the male moths. “This gives us an idea of how many we’ve got and the potential scale of the problem,” says Gráinne. “We check them every week and if we find quite a lot in them, we use nematodes for the caterpillars. That has been quite successful in minimising the damage to the box.”
The yew is somewhat easier to manage as it is less susceptible to pests and diseases. Care includes keeping it free of ivy and weeds at the base and feeding with blood meal, an organic, high-nitrogen feed.
“We have drip irrigation set up and we will also drench the base of them during extended drought periods. We want them to get their roots deep down so they are better able to cope,” says Gráinne. “Mulching also helps to reduce evaporation. By rotating what we put on the plants we can add different kinds of nutrients, micro-nutrients, mycorrhizal fungi and so on.”
Gráinne and Ryan’s advice on shaping topiary is to look for the leaders, which determine where you are going to cut back. Often you’re waiting for good growth to bulk up in just the right places – perhaps to develop a pair of wings or shape the beak of an eagle – which takes observation and, above all, patience.
How to get started with topiary
- Get your shrubs from a reputable source.
- Start with yew (Taxus baccata) because it is very forgiving. If you make a mistake when cutting, it will soon grow out.
- Choose a cone-shaped shrub with a strong central leader – the main, dominant shoot or stem. It can be turned into other shapes, for example a spiral or a pyramid.
- Prepare the ground well and plant when the plant is at its best (that is, when healthy and not stressed).
- Water generously for the first couple of years, to drench the roots and encourage deep rooting, which will make the plant better able to cope with drought.
- Feed early in the season with an organic, high-nitrogen feed, such as Maxicrop for box or blood meal for yew.
- Regularly clear weeds from around the base, and mulch liberally with a mix of garden compost, leaf mould and well-rotted manure.
- Hand-held sheep shears are a good starter tool. Keep them well sharpened, for a crisp cut.
- If you are a nervous cutter, practise your skills on an inexpensive golden cypress first.
Useful information
The King’s Foundation, which runs Highgrove, arranges garden tours on selected dates from March to October. Special topiary tours may be available. For details of all tours, visit highgrovegardens.com
