You can show your devotion to your pet or love of a particular breed by giving your garden bushes a canine-flavoured makeover
Topiary - the art of training or pruning living trees and shrubs into artificial, decorative shapes - can turn your foliage into Poodles, Beagles, Terriers and more.
For those who undertake elaborate designs on massive hedges, it takes patience and an artistic eye to grow and shape the foliage into a recognisable shape or animal.
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But there is an easier way for the less green-pawed among us, and that’s to buy a frame to guide your pruning shears into your favourite doggy shapes, Team Dogs reports.
With a bit of patience you can create a leafy Labrador, a bushy Bichon Frise or even a mossy Mastiff.
Made of weather-proof wire, there are dozens of designs online ranging from £30 to £950 depending on the size and quality of materials.
Rachel at Top Topiary has shared tips on what the best plants to grow within the frames are - and a couple of “cheats” if you either don’t have the patience to wait for new leaves or generally can kill a plant by looking at it.
What are the best plants to grow in topiary frames?
Rachel says the best plants for growing in your topiary frames are Buxus sempervirens (box plants); Ilex Crenata (Japanese holly), and Taxus Baccata (yew). If you’ve never watched an episode of Gardeners’ World, these are all hardy hedge plants and can be sourced from your nearest dog-friendly garden centre.
But be warned that yew can cause dizziness, a dry mouth, abdominal cramps, salivation and vomiting in your dogs, so you may not want to make your dog-shaped hedge too appealing. The Dogs Trust has a factsheet on plants that are toxic to your pet.
Rachel says her company mostly uses box as it’s “fast growing, a lovely bright green colour and can be manipulated into the shaped frames”.
“Ilex crenata is a great choice for those that like the look of box, but are concerned about the possibility of box blight and box caterpillar. Yew can be quite slow growing, so it is best for the patient gardener.”
How to keep your topiary in shape
To make sure you keep your patio pooch in the right shape you’ll need to prune it regularly using sharp shears to encourage new growth - roughly between 4 to 8 times during the spring and summer.
Rachel advises that it’s important to feed your plants during these seasons too to encourage the quality of the leaf.
But for the impatient gardener there is another option - you can use artificial foliage or even dried moss to pad out your topiary frame and it won’t need to be watered or pruned.
What types of topiary frames can you buy?
Top Topiary sells its garden dogs in several finishes - custom-made steel wire frame only, stuffed with dry-dyed moss, with a growing ligustrum (box-leaved privet) plant, or covered with artificial grass or artificial boxwood foliage.
We think the bare frames themselves look pretty stylish and would stand out in a rockery or placed on a patio surrounded by pots.
How to take care of your growing plant
If you’re adding a growing plant, remember you need to place it somewhere you can easily access all sides to ensure even pruning.
The artificial greeneries will take care of themselves, rain or shine, which would make them a good option for a city centre balcony, while the dried moss just needs a little touching up each year to ensure it keeps its colour.
Rachel says moss topiary pieces can fade in the sun, but if you dilute some green paint in water you can dab your mossy Mastiff back into green glory.
