Topiary Bonus
One of the topiary Yews that Chris has designed and future gardeners will clip.
It feels extraordinary that a garden, Levens Hall, designed 329 years ago has only had 10 Head Gardeners. An average stay for each of 33 years. Chris Crowder who is the current custodian of the topiary which is near Kendal in the Lake District, has been here for 37 years. I think you can sometimes sense ‘continuity’ in gardens. I have felt it at Great Dixter - where there have been 3 gardeners: Daisy Lloyd, Christopher Lloyd and Fergus Garrett. I felt it at Kiftsgate Court Gardens - created by 3 generations of women. It doesn’t mean they are preserved in aspic, constrained by a planting plan that must be observed but they have a continuity; knowledge, observation and care that has been passed down. At Levens Hall you multiply that by several generations and you stand in a garden where every year for over 300 years, gardeners have observed, cared for and clipped the topiary each Autumn, working their way around about 100 pieces.
Chris Crowder agrees that he is ‘standing on the shoulders’ of previous Head Gardeners but he has also added his own pieces of topiary to the garden - something for future generations to tend and clip. Perhaps they will hold their shape for the next 300 years like the Umbrella, seen on the right or perhaps like the Henry Moore that Chris can be seen cutting, they will bend or twist and be reshaped. ‘Shape’ was a word that came up several times in our conversation. This is not the place for topiary squirrels or elephants to dart or roam, this is a place of shapes though as Chris has described previously, those shapes do ‘people’ the garden. I love the thought that generations of visitors have gazed up at the topiary whilst also admiring the planting beneath them which has changed and Chris does not feel constrained by any management plan, it’s a creative space.
I also love the thought that they have welcomed other topiary enthusiasts to come and spend some time in the garden helping them with the topiary clipping. I follow many topiary accounts on Instagram, I wonder if any of them have ever thought of writing and asking to spend time at Levens? I hope this episode will encourage listeners who haven’t listened to the original Topiary Plant Story to take a listen to that and its Offshoot. If you want to try growing a yew tree and shaping it there is plenty of advice from Chris in the plant story episode. Just remember his key piece of advice - ‘don’t tell anyone what it is because you’ll just end up with a ton of advice on how you could do it better!’