The pruning kerfluffle started with a "Plant Life" column I wrote for Pacific Northwest magazine about the concentration of fantastical topiary on Beacon Hill. Joel Lee, art-maven, non-gardener, and blogger at BeHi Bonsai, sees the topiary as cool, neighborhood-centric and a fresh expression of folk art.
Much as I enjoyed the fun Beacon Hill urban safari Joel took me on, and as impressed as I am by his enthusiasm for shrubs sheared into weird shapes, last Sunday I felt the need to run a rebuttal column, quoting Cass Turnbull of PlantAmnesty about her despair over all the shrub shearing going on in Seattle these days.
Joel's response to Cass's words? He threw down the challenge of a slightly incendiery blog post, as well as designing the T-shirt logo above. I love working with such creative people!
So check out PlantAmnesty's shear madness campaign to promote better pruning vs. Behi Bonsai's January 9th post wondering why PlantAmnesty gets to decide aesthetics...
This is all kind of ridiculous. I think BeHi Bonsai took her comments out of context. I'm a big fan of Cass Turnbull's pruning books and outreach, and she should be focusing MORE on mal pruning that is NOT done for artistic effect. I'm sure there are many horrible topiary examples out there and the pictures BeHi Bonsai were pretty neat, but we are only seeing the good ones on his blog.
My bigger point is about whether or not topiary is good or okay for a plant. Some of those pruning jobs may be unhealthy for the plant, but so what! We gardeners love our plants, but we also learn pretty quickly to be merciless when they don't fit the vision we want for our yard. If something doesn't fit and you can't find a home for it, it goes in the compost heap.
Many of these forms may not be ideal for the plant's health or fit it's natural shape, but if the gardener knows that and wants to shape it that way anyways, that's fine with me. They may be locking themselves into a pruning nightmare, but if they can pull it off, good for them.
Posted by: Ryan Miller | January 12, 2011 at 09:10 AM
Most topiary I see?? My vote? Plant torture!! :) Not to be confused with good bonsai...btw!!
Posted by: Chris | January 12, 2011 at 09:38 AM
Hi Ryan,
I think Cass is worried about longer term maintenance and plant health, because she sees so many problem plants.
And you're right, maybe this is a silly controversy, but I love people thinking and talking about pruning, because it'll cause them to look closer at gardens and discover their own aesthetic....
Posted by: valerie Easton | January 12, 2011 at 01:13 PM
Well now wait a minute, I don't think I took Cass out of context when she is saying things like "My family often jokes about the "Tortured Bush Society" landscaping we see in some neighborhoods. They look awful." I think she is being pretty clear about her position and I happen to disagree with her and I think there is a lot of merit in the incredible amount of work and creativity that people put into their topiary.
I'm also not so keen on being labeled a 'non-gardener', a lazy gardener or maybe a creative gardener might be more accurate. I love plants as much as most gardeners, I just also happen to have an admiration for self expression and an understanding for people that choose to use their yards as a means of self expression.
-Behi Bonsai
Posted by: Joelseattle | January 13, 2011 at 04:21 PM
Hey Joel,
I was quoting you when I called you a non-gardener - never a judgement I'd make myself. I do believe you described yourself that way to me - something about hardly finding time to mow the lawn?
Val
Posted by: valerie Easton | January 13, 2011 at 06:43 PM
oh yea, lawn mowing...the ultimate topiary. Who has time for that?!
Posted by: Joelseattle | January 13, 2011 at 07:02 PM