The art of trimming and pruning trees and shrubs into fanciful shapes. What’s up with our unrelenting desire to clip and sculpt the natural world into submission?

Including:

Magnum Opus Topiarium – Botanical philosopher Norbert Peeters takes us through the history of topiary and the changing views of nature.

Le Bal Des Ifs – a comic by artist Fiona Lutjenhuis.

Topiary in Art History – From holy, to phallic, to terrifying, topiary has been depicted in many ways.

It may have been a formal garden, once – We talked to the wonderful Chris Crowder, head gardener at Levens Hall, the oldest topiary gardens in the world.

Niwaki – Alec Schellinx observes the Japanese tradition of niwaki

What’s Eating Hedges – Writer Eliot Haworth ponders the fight against suburban monoculture. With illustrations by Jordan Herregraven.

The Shape of Shrubs to Come – A glimpse of the future of topiary by artist Rustan Söderling.

Centrefold miniatures by Andrei Pacea

The cover is by Lou-Lou van Staaveren & Guus Kaandorp and the inside cover is by Jan Dirk van der Burg

Graphic design is by fanfare

Concept and editing by Guus Kaandorp, Floor Kortman and Lou-Lou van Staaveren

40 pages, plus miniatures in centrefold, 18 × 24 cm, English

Softcover, October 2024, ISBN 9789083284354