Resident shapes her world Topiary creations bring life to Saxonburg yard
SAXONBURG — The hare is in the lead in his race against the tortoise.
Saxonburg resident Terry Heasley has the match shaped up in her front yard.
“You can go online and buy wire forms for people who aren't creative and just stick it over a shrub and, as the shrub grows, they can cut off parts until finally it has the shape,” said Heasley, 62.
“Nobody else can have one of these because they are unique.”
Since 2002, Heasley has carved shrubs at her house into animals, which is called topiary, the practice or art of training, cutting and trimming trees or shrubs into interesting or ornamental shapes.
Giant cats, turkeys, chickens, camels, seals and squirrels are among the animals that have adorned her wonderland of a garden.
To start, a person has to begin shaping the plant.
Some of the bushes can take years to form, she said.
“Every now and then, I see something that has to go,” she said as she took an electric cutter to the plant.
In the beginning ...
Before Heasley began, she had a general knowledge of topiary and horticulture, she said. Her husband had a 20-acre nursery with rows and rows of shrubs, which is where she got her bushes.
The first topiary art she created was the hare, which she made from two bushes, Heasley said.
Now, she has a variety of animals she has freehanded and carved from juniper, burning bush, yew, Japanese barberry, azalea, boxwood and arborvitae shrubs and bushes.
Three times in the summer, she performed maintenance on the garden and does not work on all the shrubs in a day, Heasley said. After she trims them, she combs them with a shrub rake.
The giant chicken in her yard changes with the seasons, Heasley said.“Most people don't use topiary that are deciduous,” she said, which is a plant or shrub shedding its leaves annually. “I wanted to use this because it turns bright red.”Another creation that changes with the weather is Heasley's herbivore that she thinks almost resembles a sheep and is made from three azalea shrubs that grow bright pink in the spring.Another tale in the garden is between the Dr. Seuss-inspired bird and a hen.“He's been trying to flirt with this one for six years now,” she said. “She has her head turned away because she doesn't like him, and she knows he's not a rooster.”Shaping the sceneAccidents do happen in the garden. Heasley previously had a goose with a long neck, she said.“If you get distracted and you cut one thing off it's, 'Oops ... sorry ... there goes the head,'” she said, laughing.One of her favorites is a squirrel shaped out of a boxwood, which took Heasley years to create.“In my mind I said 'It's going to be a squirrel, how am I going to make it?'” she said.Between the squirrel's hand is a nut made from a candy dish.“First I made tiny wire handles and I glued them onto the sides. Then, I glued the whole thing shut and put a rubber band around it,” she said. “There's a wire on each side so he can hold his nut.”
Heasley plans to give the squirrel to the manager of a veterinarian clinic, who will replant it in her yard.Another handcrafted creation is the purple ball balancing on the nose of her seal, which she made from two boxwood shrubs.Heasley mixed epoxy and put it on a metal stick to attach the ball. Next, she stuck the metal down its head.“This is the first year he's had a ball,” she said.Originally, the seal was going to be a dog, Heasley said.“It changed identities a few times like most things in my yard,” she said. “The more I looked at it, the more I said this is trying to look like a seal.”ChallengesBoxwood makes the best topiary for detailed pieces.“Their little leaves are so fine, you can make intricate shapes,” she said.However, the downside is the shrub's smell which is like cat urine.“We live in the country and I have seen strange tomcats come into our yard, back up against these and spray them,” she said, which kills the shrub. Heasley caged the squirrel because of the issue.
Another phenomenon is the time a ring of deer ate her tortoise.“I looked out and, lo and behold, there were four of them in a circle just biting at it and spitting the pieces on the ground,” she said. “That was amazing seeing them chew on the turtle.”Heasley is currently experimenting with how long it would take to shape a square from her yew shrub, which is proving difficult.For Halloween, Heasley puts a glow-in-the-dark hockey mask on her squirrel and decorates others with giraffe ears and tail.During winter, she plans to carve a large Grinch-inspired creation for Christmas.Heasley's love of animals inspired her designs, she said, adding she has rescued different animals.“I was born with it,” she said. “It's so nice to help something that needs help.”Heasley said topiary is a stress reliever.“If I'm sad or depressed I can just come out here, work on some of these guys for a while and lose track of time completely,” she said. “It gives me a lot of joy to see the school bus go by and little kids faces looking out and pointing at them.”
