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Create Top Notch Topiary With Wilkinson Sword Beginner's Guide
6/6/06
To highlight the launch of its new Topiary Shear, pruning expert Wilkinson Sword has put together this beginner’s guide to creating tip top topiary, including a competition to find the UK’s best amateur topiary artist.
What is topiary?
Topiary is the training and pruning of plants, shrubs and trees into artificial, innovative, ornamental shapes for garden design. In use since Roman times, topiary can often be found in formal gardens where hedges, trees or container-planted bushes are used. Popular types for topiary include shapes such as cones, spheres and cubes, natural forms, for example birds or animals or the really adventurous could try chess pieces or even trains!
Best plants for topiary
The plants used for topiary need to be dense enough to hold a shape, with quick growth from the bud below the last cut to help produce a shrub which is smaller and thicker throughout. Popular plants include evergreens such as yew or box, whilst holly, bay or privet can also be used. Ivy can form basic topiary and will grow up any frame.
Creating a shape
In order to create any shape the following is required; wire mesh heavy enough to stand up but flexible enough so that it can bend; sheet moss; (springy light green moss) thin strips of wire; stones; a pair of Wilkinson Sword Topiary Shears; and a quality pruner or shear depending on the size of the plant – try the Medium PowerGear Bypass Pruners or the PowerGear Hedge Shear.
The next step is to make the three-dimensional shape/skeleton out of the wire mesh, leaving a hole anywhere in the mesh big enough to later put the plant in there. Take your sheet moss and wrap it around the frame, attaching it with thin wire, leaving the cavity open. Plant the shrub in the cavity, planting it the same as you would in a container using a layer of gardening soil, and then water it. Take several stems and pin them to the moss to encourage them to grow through onto the outside. As the plant grows keep pinning the stems to the moss, pruning it with the Topiary Shears to keep it controlled on the outside.
Regularly water the whole frame including the plant inside. After a year the whole of the outside of the frame will be covered with the shrub. If making an animal make sure stones are placed in the feet, so it will stand correctly.
Caring for and maintaining topiary
Topiary requires much more accurate pruning than with normal plants, so precision and care when cutting is everything, for example make sure not to trim too much off one side and spoil the symmetry of a design for the whole season.
After just approximately six months, once a basic shape is established it is important to develop a clipping routine to maintain the shape. This will depend on the shape chosen, as complex designs will require more maintenance, and on the plant used. On average, two cuts in a growing season should be sufficient to keep a basic shape. However, plants do need to be clipped at the appropriate time of year, in the spring and again in the early autumn. Do not cut after this time as young shoots produced after clipping will need to mature to withstand any frost.
Topiary competition
To highlight the launch of its new Topiary Shears, Wilkinson Sword is launching a competition to find the best, most adventurous amateur topiary artist. If you have something unique and exotic situated in your garden, send a picture of yourself and your topiary to; Wilkinson Sword Topiary Competition, 50-51 Friar Gate, Derby, DE1 1DF. The prize for the best beginner and best overall will be £200 of Wilkinson Sword product, and all entrants will be displayed on the Wilkinson Sword website, www.wilkinsonswordgarden.com.
Grow Together With The Wilkinson Sword’s Magic Garden Children’s Collection
5/18/06
Spending time with the children are moments to be treasured and remembered for both of you. This season is the perfect time to add to those memories as you can teach your children how to grow fruit and vegetables together in the garden.
Wilkinson Sword has created the Magic Garden Kids Tool set, which consists of a Shovel, Garden Brush, Garden Rake, Leaf Rake, Cotton Gloves and Watering Can. These are the perfect tools to allow yourself to become interactive with your children and let them learn and pass on knowledge to generations to come.
Brightly coloured ensuring they do not go missing, all the tools have rounded tips on the handles so they are nice and smooth. All the products have light, yet durable, glass fibre plastic heads making them safe to use especially if the children love running about.
These tools will help build fond memories that could turn your children from novice into experienced gardeners in years to come.
The Magic Garden Kids Tools Collection is available from independent garden retailers.
Gardening Need not be a Pain
5/1/06
The aches and pains that come in later life can often make it hard to find the energy and enthusiasm for simple pleasures, such as taking walks or gardening.
However, a lack of physical activity can actually contribute to the loss of strength and stamina during senior years, and some moderate physical activity can help to relieve stiff joints1 and keep you active.
Just a little bit of gardening each day will give you the opportunity to get some exercise in the fresh air and help you to relax.
So to help you keep your garden, and your health, in shape throughout later life, Wilkinson Sword has developed a range of easy-to-use tools that take the strain out of gardening.
The ergonomically designed PowerGear pruners, loppers, shears and telescopic tree cutters are lightweight and have a range of features that help to relieve strain on muscles, hands and arms. 
The PowerGear cutting mechanism provides three times the cutting power of ordinary garden tools, whilst the handles are made from virtually unbreakable but very lightweight Nyglass, unique to Wilkinson Sword.
The PowerGear Pruner has a rotating lower handle, which allows your fingers to move with it, reducing friction and preventing repetitive strain injuries. 
PowerGear Hedge Shears also have the added feature of cushioned stoppers between the handles to prevent jarring when the tools are being used.
The range is also ideal for the 9 million people in the UK who suffer from arthritis2, as they carry an Ease-of-Use Commendation from the Arthritis Foundation.
Susi Mitschke, marketing manager for Wilkinson Sword, said: “Gardening can often become a chore rather than a hobby for older gardeners because of stiff joints or weaker muscles. The PowerGear range of tools can bring back the enjoyment of maintaining a garden because they are so easy to use and don’t put any strain on hands and arms.”
Wilkinson Sword’s PowerGear range includes Hedge Shears, Bypass and Anvil Pruners and Bypass and Anvil Loppers. The brand also offers many other easy to use products, such as PowerLever Pruners and Shears, with increased cutting power, and the lightweight Telescopic Universal Cutter, ideal for those hard-to-reach branches.
Wilkinson Sword offers an innovative range of easy to use tools for maintaining each area of the garden, from spades and forks to grass shears and tree pruners. For further information on the range visit www.wilkinsonswordgarden.com.
Prepared by Paskett Public Relations Ltd