Sixteen years ago, the pyracantha was just a flat hedge next to a fence. I thought it would be nice to be able to see who was coming up and down the road, so I put a dip in it. Then I started growing it up the wall, and the neighbour said, “Are you going to make it into a squirrel then?” And I thought, ah, topiary. Going back to my childhood, there was a dictionary with pictures – not many – but one of them was topiary, so I knew the word from a very young age. So I thought, I’ll create some topiary.
I am an avid reader of Rupert Bear – my wife buys me the annual every Christmas. There was one story called Rupert And The Unicorn, so the hedge evolved into a unicorn. It’s quite time-consuming: you need to cut it every couple of weeks through the summer to keep it in trim. I have a problem in the spring when you see the flowers coming – do I leave them on or do I cut them off? Last year there was quite a bunch on Rupert’s hand, like a posy, and I had some epaulettes one year.
The other one has two faces: one looks like me, the other a bit like Elvis Presley. I thought about doing a peacock, but you can’t have a preconceived idea. A blackbird nests in the head each year, so I have to be careful when I’m trimming it. They dive in: I’ve looked so often, but I can’t find the nest – it’s really well hidden.
I’m certainly not a gardener. The back garden’s reasonably tidy, but that’s about all. Front gardens are a place to meet the neighbours. People walking past ask me about it a lot, but no one offers to help. People cross the road, stop in cars – it’s an ego trip. A lot of people take photographs. My wife said we ought to charge and give the money to charity.
I do get some vandalism. I have had the horn cut off, one ear cut off, and people often try to ride the unicorn. I grew Rupert’s left arm out to try to stop people, but that didn’t work, so I think I am going to put Bill Badger on there as well. I do feel possessive of it. I had vertigo a few years ago and I got my son to help me because I couldn’t stand on a ladder. But I felt he shouldn’t be doing this. It’s mine.
My favourite spot…
I like watching from inside the house while people going past look at my work, especially when they have a smile on their face. It makes all the effort seem worthwhile.
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