What came out of a trip to Sweden?
Written by Chris Poole
In June last year, Darren Lerigo and I ran a ‘Learn to Clip’ course for GardenConservation.eu an organisation that aims to bolstering awareness, expertise and skills within the conservation of historical gardens as cultural heritage. This was a practical workshop based Gunnebo House and Gardens in the West of Sweden near Gothenburg. It followed on from a webinar that I presented on ‘Maintaining topiary & hedges in historic gardens’ which you can watch below.
Our part of practical course followed a day of learning how to shape plants using scary traditional hand tools such as hedge slashers & pruning hooks! By comparison our ‘Learn to Clip’ course was less likely to cause major injuries if not carried out correctly, although both Daren and I have a number of war wounds gained in the pursuit of topiary!
You can see various parts of the course in the videos below and we would highly recommend visiting the Garden Conservation website to watch the other videos about hedges and topiary, as well as the the other subjects covered as part of this Erasmus+ funded project.
Some of the videos from the hedges and topiary day at Gunnebo House and Gardens
It was great to be talking to such enthusiastic people on the course and getting them to think about what they could do with native local plants, not just the traditional box, yew and hornbeam etc.
Better still two of the attendees were so keen to learn more they arranged to come to the UK and volunteer their effort at Chiswick House and Gardens and to work alongside Darren Lerigo on a project for his in laws, so no pressure to get it right!
Countries like Sweden and Norway, where most of the attendees came from, have a much shorter season in which to tend their gardens, hedges and topiaries, the rest of the time it is covered in frozen snow. Unfortunately due to a dental emergency one student wasn’t able to come to the UK in February 2024 as planned, but Bernt did make the trip over from his snow cover home in Norway and hopefully he got as much out of the visit as we did. Fingers crossed Hellen will be able to make it over for a visit next February.
You can read his thoughts opposite.
If you would like to learn more about clipping, keep an eye on our events page for future ‘Learn to Clip’ courses or get in contact with us via info@ebts.org if you would like us to run a training day for your group.
Bernt's thoughts
This winter I had the privilege of spending a week with Chris Poole and Darren Lerigo, learning topiary. There are several notable differences between Great Britain and Norway, in terms of topiary, all related to climate. Firstly, the huge range of evergreen plants available when you don’t have to contend with harsh winters. Secondly, given the freezing temperatures we must avoid clipping to early or too late in the season whereas in Britain you could clip all year round. Thirdly, how lovely it is to visit London in 16 degrees and drizzle, just like any summer’s day in Oslo!
Topiary is quite a rare sight in Norway. It might be due to the somewhat underdeveloped culture of fine gardening here, and also reflect the strong cultural sway of The Great Outdoors so beloved in a country with large forests, lakes, and mountain ranges. It’s a shame, in so far as both Box and Yew thrive here. Still, given the number of plants not yet pruned, I have reason to sharpen my shears and secateurs.
