Grooming the Topiaries in My Winter House Courtyard
Here at my Bedford, New York farm, we're all busy with late season gardening chores - most recently, grooming the Australian Brush Cherry topiaries, Eugenia myrtifolia, in the gravel courtyard behind my Winter House.
Topiary is the horticultural practice of training perennial plants by clipping the foliage and twigs of trees or shrubs to develop and maintain clearly defined shapes. Topiary Eugenia prefers sunny locations where all parts of the plant can receive direct sunlight. It is relatively slow growing, so occasional trimming and grooming are needed to keep it nicely sculpted.
Here is a short clip of me grooming one of the topiaries with my favorite STIHL HSA 26 Battery-Powered Garden Shears followed by some photos, enjoy.
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- All the topiaries in this courtyard are Australian Brush Cherry trees, Eugenia myrtifolia, also now known as Syzygium paniculatum. The Brush Cherry is an evergreen tree or shrub with shiny dark green leaves native to Australia and New Zealand. All of them needed grooming, so Phurba and I got to work early yesterday morning.
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- The leaves of the Eugenia are lance-shaped, firm, and arranged in opposite leaf pairs. In spring, the Brush Cherry may bear small puffy white flowers. The ripe red fruits in autumn are edible and loved by birds. One can see the new growth that has developed.
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- The bark is medium gray, rough and with an interesting pattern.
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- And underneath each topiary, we planted carpet sedum – a low maintenance, sun-loving, evergreen, succulent spreading plant with pretty light green foliage.
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- Phurba looks under each topiary ball and trims any dead or crisscrossing branches. The branches are thin twigs, so they are easy to clip using hand pruners. Phurba is using Okatsune Bypass Pruners with their signature red and white handles.
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- Then, with the same STIHL HSA 26 garden shears I am using in the video above, Phurba carefully goes over each ball, lightly trimming the new growth and shaping the balls as I showed him.
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- This tool is so lightweight and easy to use. It has a rubberized handle for comfort and a secure grip and it comes with its own roll-up case to store all its accessories. The hedge shear attachment with double-sided cutting blades cuts in both directions.
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- He also trims underneath each ball, keeping in mind, the preferred rounded shape.
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- And then steps back to see the work he has done and where he still needs to trim.
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- These topiaries are quite tall – more than 10-feet each, so Phurba uses a step ladder to reach the tops of each topiary. It’s always a good idea to gather all the necessary equipment one needs to get the job done – it will save time and energy scrambling during the process.
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- Here is a view from above. Trimming topiaries regularly will help to keep the plant in its intended original form. And groom topiaries several weeks before the first-frost to prevent damaging any of the new growth.
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- The STIHL HSA 26 garden shears hold the charge well. The battery strength indicator on the side is easy to read, and can be checked frequently during the task at hand. We got all the topiaries done on one charge.
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- This is the topiary I trimmed. It is well-sculpted and rounded on all sides.
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- But notice the top ball. Because Eugenias love full sun, this one is already pointing toward the light. It will be turned, so it starts to grow back upright again.
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- And here are four of the larger topiaries all trimmed and displayed with potted sago palms. In the center is an antique faux bois gazebo and my antique bird bath. They all look so beautiful in this courtyard.
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- Once all the work is done, Phurba uses our STIHL battery-powered blower to clean up all the cuttings. We use this blower every day to clean up any debris around my Winter House. On the right is one of my Multi-Purpose Reusable Heavy Duty Tote Bags. These bags take a beating around the gardens, but they’re so strong and so useful.
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- The quiet, lightweight blower is great for blowing all the debris off the underplanted sedum.
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- It’s also powerful enough to blow all the cuttings from the gravel into one area, so it can be picked up easily.
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- Finally, Phurba rakes all the cuttings and collects them in the tote bag. The entire job took all morning, but the topiaries look great.
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- Here is one of two smaller topiaries that flank the door. They all look much better now and will remain outside in the courtyard for another month or so before all the potted plants are stored indoors for the winter.
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