I see topiary everywhere I go.  Last weekend I went to the highest of high end boutique nurseries and saw more topiaries than I could count (and none that I could afford).  Earlier today I went to my middlebrow local garden center and saw more of them.

I have seen little eight-inch tall minis and two-foot tall maxis.  I have even see topiaries that remind me of clipped-to-a-fare-thee-well French poodles, with poufy balls of foliage on top and shapely rings of clipped leaves surrounding the central stalk.

The most popular topiaries seem to be the ones made out of rosemary, santolina or lavender.  All smell wonderful, though rosemary, with its finer leaves, makes a tidier looking specimen.  Small-leafed ivies and boxwood work nicely and I have also seen impressive coleus topiaries, which add a lot of color in a relatively small space.

Why is topiary so popular?  It might represent a return to more formal decor elements or signify the latest incarnation of the trend towards "green" holiday decorations.  Then again, it might just mean that some European designer used one as an accent for a photo shoot last year and the whole world followed his lead.   Whatever the reason for its popularity, I like topiary so much that I bought a medium size 'Godwin Creek Grey' lavender, its foliage clipped into a shapely ball.  Next summer I'll invest in some lavender and rosemary plants and start from scratch on a few small topiaries of my own.  Who knows, it may just become my latest obsession, and I'll end up with ten-foot high boxwood peacocks on the front lawn.