I must confess, at my last job I did A LOT of very straight, very precise hedging with gas-powered dual cutting shears. Granted, most of that hedging was boxwood at 18″ tall by 18″ wide but there were 15 acres of rows and boxes and diagonals and all of it had to be perfect for aerial photography. SO, I came into the topiary practicum with a bit of an advantage and my “experience” was really apparent to my classmates as we powered along 36″-48″ tall and 30″ wide yew hedges with single action electric shears (sorry guys if I made you look like beginners, but you were!). I look forward to shaping some of the animal topiaries (possibly next week), and I marvel at Roger’s precision cutting multi-planar shapes while leaning out of an air-lift. Except for some tedium and a very numb left hand, trimming is so satisfying. It isn’t necassrily instant gratification but the difference between a hairy bush and a tamed hedge is SO obvious and immediate. What’s more, only you as the trimmer know the effort necessary to clip and tame every wayward branch into geometric perfection. The garden guest is oblivious except they know bushes do not normally do that. Is it de-icing a cake back into the batter’s molded form straight from the pan? Maybe that is a metaphoric stretch?
