Topiary Garden

A couple sits on the ground surrounded by shaped topiary with a child running in the distance during sunset
District
Main Fountain Garden District
Style
Formal, Playful, Whimsical
Best Seasons to Visit
Spring, Summer, Autumn
Scale
0.8 Acres

From playful bunnies to fanciful spirals, you’ll find more than 35 specimens of meticulously maintained, highly cultivated yews in our Topiary Garden. Fancy a game of hide-and-seek? Children (and the young at heart) are often seen darting from behind the shapely, statuesque forms. Whether you’re here to play or here to marvel, a stroll amongst these impressive living sculptures is sure to leave a lasting impression.

About This Garden

Regardless of how you felt about high school geometry, no one can deny the arresting effects of this garden's mathematical precision. Over the years, the garden's shrubs have been groomed into pyramids, screws, a chair and table, a rabbit, and cubes, among other shapes. The rounded mounds, when topped with fresh snow, resemble colossal cupcakes; in the spring, an allée of paulownia trees planted in 1937 provides a pastel backdrop of softness to angular silhouettes. On hot days, guests can be found in the shade of a tiered, conical spire, upon which an alert bird lingers. Come fall, the deep evergreen color of the yews provides an earthy, dramatic contrast to the blue sky and autumn hues of surrounding trees. Echoing the clipped trees of the Main Fountain Garden and the tidy circle of yews in the adjacent Rose Garden, this formal space connects the landscapes artfully, with an elegant spirit.

Go Inside our Topiary Garden

A Classic Beauty

Set against a backdrop of ever-changing seasonal color and texture, the Topiary Garden is a historical gem of artistry and horticultural commitment.

the silhouette of a tall, leafless tree frames a view of topiaries on a misty morning

Winter brings a shroud of early-morning mist to this living sculpture garden’s cones, columns, and spires.

Pink flowering trees line the entrance way to a topiary garden down a set of stairs

A double alleé of Paulownia tomentosa (princess-trees) brighten the eastern entrance to the garden. Below the blooms, which appear in late April and May, a pair of Shishi (foo dogs or guardian lions) protect the grounds. Donated by B.F. Jones III family of Sewickley, Pennsylvania, this Shishi and its mate have stood guard over our topiaries since 1967.

Purple blossoms adorn tree branches behind a gray food dog stone sculpture against green topiary and a blue sky

The history of this type of lion sculpture goes back to the Western Han Dynasty of China. Since lions are not indigenous to China, ancient sculptors used dogs as models. Their creative act gave rise to a mythical, hybrid animal form of a lion-dog. For hundreds of years in China, pairs of stone or bronze lions guarded the entrances of official buildings, prominent residences, gardens and courtyards.

clipped green topiary in many shapes under a bright blue sky with puffy white clouds

Crowded with clouds, the bright blue sky provides a dynamic backdrop to the historic yews (and an oversized avian friend).

A couple sits on the ground surrounded by shaped topiary with a child running in the distance during sunset

Our most energetic visitors delight in the always-popular game of hide and seek, finding refuge amongst some of Longwood’s giants.

Green domed topiaries sit in the foreground with fountain in the background

The Main Fountain Garden’s water jets flirt and frolic behind rounded forms during the Festival of Fountains.

golden sunlight breaks through clouds over a garden filled with topiaries in geometrical shapes

The formality of the neighboring Main Fountain Garden echoes that of this space, as well as the adjacent Rose Garden—a reflection of our late founder’s deep admiration for classical garden design.

snow covers a layered topiary topped with a clipped bird shape

Hundreds of hours are spent clipping and shaping the yews into precise, intentional forms—but a dusting of snow can transform everything in just hours.

White snow covers the ground and topiary during a blue and yellow winter sunset

Year after year, there is comfort in the constancy of this historical garden, where stalwart forms anchor this landscape with their quiet beauty.

A Bit Of History 

As far back as ancient Egypt, where topiary designs were depicted on the walls of tombs, to Rome, where ars topiara publicly conveyed social status, this artform has intrigued gardeners (and garden admirers)—and continues to inspire today. While styles and approaches vary, the yew (Taxus baccata) is one of the most common plants to be used in this type of design, owing to its hardiness, longevity, and density of foliage.

The history of topiary is as long as the history of gardening itself.

Christopher Crowder & Michaeljon Ashworth
Students stand around a stone oval sundial on the ground in black and white photo
Students gather around the sundial in 1957.

Today’s Topiary Garden was once known as the Sundial Garden, as it was the location for our analemmatic sundial, founder Pierre S. du Pont’s (1870-1954) final construction project at Longwood. Inspired by a similar sundial he had admired outside the Monastère Royal de Brou in Bourg-en-Bresse, France, Pierre sought to create a timepiece both beautiful and accurate, an appealing undertaking for a man who loved mathematical challenges. He surrounded the sundial with 33 yews, some of which would grow splendidly into a horseshoe-shaped hedge while others were pruned into large mounds and cones.  After six years of careful record-keeping on sunny days, the sundial was able to tell the time within 5 minutes of accuracy.  Once the sundial, surrounded by an expansive lawn, was calibrated, Pierre is said to have mentioned that Longwood was finally complete.  The garden, however, was still evolving.

Black and white photo shows a early 20th century stuck with two topiary tress loaded on its back
Miller's Landscape Service of Greenvale, NY delivered 30 yew topiaries in 1958.

In 1958, Longwood purchased 30 large yew topiaries in six different designs from a Long Island, New York, estate, and these were planted among the existing yews. More specimens were acquired in 1962 and 1971, with renovations and reshaping in the 1980s, including five figures that had been trained behind the scenes at our nursery facility. Yews require meticulous care to maintain the desired precision of shape, and over the decades, many hours have been spent hand-pruning this historic collection.    

The topiaries have also set the stage for holiday lights and special exhibits, including a spectacular art installation entitled Nightscape: A Sound and Light Experience by a Philadelphia firm, Klip Collective. Colorful, abstract moving videos were digitally projected onto the yews as specially composed music was played.

Shape & Symmetry

black and white aerial photo of perfectly planned an designed gardens covered in snow
A Matter of Form

This 1930s aerial image captures the symmetrically designed Rose, Topiary, and Main Fountain Gardens, highlighting the intentionality of these formally designed gardens.

black and white photo of an oval shaped sundial in a garden
A Moment in the Sun

The horseshoe shape of the northern hedgerow was influenced by the elliptical shape of the analemmatic sundial that Pierre S. du Pont constructed in 1939.

A line of unplanted topiary trees sculpted into five sections sit atop a grassy area
A Show of Hands

Today, with the help of cranes and other industrial equipment, it is not uncommon to install mature tree and hedge specimens in a new garden. However, no such industrial equipment was used at the inception of this garden, making pre- and post-planting care and placement a critical element to its ongoing success.

two people stand on ladders hand pruning a large shaped topiary in a historical black and white photo
Better Together

Caring for a topiary garden takes a steady hand—and plenty of collaboration. Caretakers work closely together to ensure precision and holistic oversight of these coniferous evergreens. Over the years, a nuanced set of skills was passed down from one gardener to another, ensuring a healthy evolution of slow growth (and future beauty).

Vintage aerial photo of a topiary garden where everything is green
Point of View

Taken in 1978, this impressive image shows an expansive view of the yews, emphasizing their healthy, mature progression. Several of the evergreens were purchased from the Charles Fiore Nursery in Prairie View, Illinois in 1971—the same year this space was officially renamed the Topiary Garden.

vintage aerial photo of two adjoining planned gardens
Best-Laid Plans

The Rose Garden, seen here in the foreground, draws the eyes through a linear configuration of pathways, but a closer look emphasizes the purposeful, connected positions of the conical shapes to the north. 

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