At the Green Animals Topiary Garden, keeping up appearances takes careful work
| Portsmouth, R.I.
What happens when gardening meets imagination? At Green Animals Topiary Garden, ordinary shrubs have been transformed into elephants, bears, and mythical creatures 鈥� each one shaped by patience and precision.
Spread across 7 acres in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, the garden is home to more than 80 topiaries. It鈥檚 the oldest such garden in the United States, with roots extending back to the 1870s, when businessman Thomas Brayton purchased the property.
In the 1900s, Brayton hired a gardener, Joseph Carreiro, who began creating and maintaining the green sculptures. These early creations laid the foundation for the whimsical landscape that defines the garden, which is part of the Newport Mansions properties and is maintained by The Preservation Society of Newport County.
Why We Wrote This
Over the years, the contours of each shrub in this garden have been lovingly maintained. It鈥檚 all part of an effort to preserve a unique animal kingdom, whose roots extend back to the 1870s.
Over the years, different gardeners have kept the topiaries alive, carefully trimming to maintain the contours of each creature. Today, the trimming falls to just one gardener: Evan Aten.
Now in his third year as chief horticulturalist, Mr. Aten believes that the gardeners before him put in a lot of time and effort to establish the garden. He says it鈥檚 his job to preserve what they have built. 鈥淎s much as I do try and be an artist about it and impart my own personality on the topiaries,鈥� he says, 鈥渋t鈥檚 very much maintaining a tradition and keeping this garden going.鈥�
From mid-May through early September, Mr. Aten trims the topiaries every seven to 10 days 鈥� work that takes up nearly half his week. 鈥淸People] want to see a clean-looking animal,鈥� he says. 鈥淚nstead of a bunch of scraggly bushes.鈥�
Mr. Aten鈥檚 work doesn鈥檛 go unnoticed. Visitor Lauren Coombe says she loves how well-preserved and natural the garden is. 鈥淚t鈥檚 nice to connect with nature and get away from our busy lives,鈥� she says. 鈥淭o see the beauty that鈥檚 outside all the cement walls that we鈥檙e used to.鈥�
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