One of the most visually striking of our "standard" topiary shapes, the spiral draws the eye like no other, and visitors to our gardens frequently comment on the tactile nature of the shape. There's an almost unsurpressable urge to reach out and run your hand around the coil, brushing your fingers through the leaves. It's probably a credit to the topiarists skill, since creating a dense spiral like one of those illustrated here takes many years of dedication, skill and patience. Yew is a very long-lived species, but it is also very slow-growing.

A handsome specimen like this demands centre-stage in any garden, and we find that our customers tend to place them either in a planter, or as a centrepiece to a parterre, knot garden or lawn. These are locations where the spral stands out most strongly and can be appreciated most readily.

Plant Species

Yew is by far the most effective plant for creating the spiral shape, where the sturdy central stem, showing starkly through between the coils, can be seen rising up through the heart of the spiral. The lateral branches, as they splay out naturally from around the trunk, can be clipped back or encouraged as they work their way up to the growing point.