Get to the Garden!

Come see these enormous, boxwood giraffes and bunnies before it’s too late! You know – even peat teddy bears have to hibernate.

Remember our list of the coolest sculpture parks in New England? Well – if you’re trying to make it to some of these spots, you’re time is running out. The Green Animals Topiary Garden in Portsmouth season is ending especially soon. You can head to Portsmouth and see the carved giraffes, elephants, and dinosaurs one last time before they’re closed to the public on October 10th, since much of the garden’s small-leaved dense boxwood needs a bit of seasonal maintenance.

Photo courtesy Green Animals Topiary Garden website

The Green Animals garden is particularly interesting and unique for many reasons. First, the topiaries within the garden are all hand tripped and trained using the traditional technique, which takes decades to perfect. When the giraffe lost its neck during a hurricane in 1954, it took almost 5 years to grow back and it reappeared a bit shorter. Most modern topiary gardens use metal frames or trellises to sculpt the shape, making this garden, perhaps, the most authentic version of a topiary garden in the region. In addition, its sculptures have been a part of the landscape for over 100 years, first being purchased back in 1875. This garden, the oldest of its kind in the northeast, not only features animal renderings in peat and boxwood, but also displays 35 formal flowerbeds, geometric pathways, rose arbor, grape arbor, fruit trees, and vegetable and herb gardens. The on-site greenhouse is also used extensively to provide seedlings for the rest of the estate.