Large Topiary Balls
Topiary is a horticultural practice that involves maintaining clearly defined shapes by clipping, trimming, and pruning the foliage of trees, shrubs, and subshrubs. Topiary can be in fanciful shapes or geometric structures like the topiary balls we are about to discuss.
What Are Topiary Balls?
English Yew Large Topiary Ball – Taxus baccata
Topiary balls are a beautiful and elegant addition to your garden. They are showy plants that are shaped from small trees and shrubs to create a focal point and add all-year-round interest to your garden. Topiary plants are usually evergreen and woody plants that grow dense foliage of small leaves and needles. They are used to create boundaries, short walls, or privacy screens.
Topiary balls are easy to make with just a little pruning and trimming. Patience and a steady hand is the traditional topiary creation method, but in modern horticulture, shaped wire cages are used in the making of topiary balls to guide unpruned stems.
Plants That Can Be Used As Topiary Balls
Several plants can be used to create topiary balls as long as they are evergreen and woody plants that can be easily pruned and trimmed without hurting the plant. Some of the most popular plants used as topiary balls include Buxus sempervirens which is the most common choice.
Buxus sempervirens for large topiary balls
Buxus is another popular plant used to create large topiary balls because of its compact and round growth habit. It is among 70 other species of the Buxus genus. It is a great option for topiary balls decoration because of its slow-growing nature and broad evergreen leaves. Hence, it doesn’t require much pruning. They are regarded as evergreen large shrubs or small trees with several dwarf varieties that can be used for topiary ball decoration or other landscaping purposes. View Buxus balls here.
Privet for large topiary balls
They are often used to create topiary hedges, but when used as topiary balls they are called Lingustrum privet. Several other Privet plants are used for topiary but the most commonly used to create topiary balls is Ligustrum Jonandrum.
It is a hardy evergreen plant with small oval leaves quite similar to the boxwood plant. They require an annual clipping to maintain their ball shape, but if left untrimmed, they produce tiny white flowers in spring that mature into small black berry-shaped fruits in autumn. It is a popular hedging plant and topiary ball plant in the UK.
Where can I buy large topiary balls?
FAQ
How safe are topiary balls?
Topiary balls are safe. Precaution should be taken when choosing the plant for your topiary balls. For example, Yew bushes are a great topiary shrub that is poisonous so should not be planted where children play outdoors. Also, when using topiary balls as a decorative hanging design, ensure that the planter can carry the weight of the topiary plant to avoid falling hazards.
What plants can be used for topiary balls?
There are several options to be used for topiary balls, the most commonly used shrubs and trees being Dwarf Alberta Shrub, Buxus, Japanese Holly, Privet, Yew Bushes, and Cherry Laurel.
What are the topiary balls styles available?
The styles for interior topiary balls include topiary balls in planters, vases, hanging plants, wall features, etc. However most are used in the exterior garden!
Can you grow topiary balls in a pot?
Topiary plants can be grown in the ground but oftentimes, they are as well grown in planting pots and containers. This makes it a moveable plant decoration.