April 14th, 2024

Yew La La: Topiary’s French Connection

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With the worldwide phenomenon that is World Topiary Day just around the corner, the creator of the multi-award-winning gardening awareness day, Jane Hunt, managing director of Catapult PR, talks to Patrick Salembier, President of the European Boxwood and Topiary Society in Europe.

Jane discovers why the award-winning travel PR idea is a huge hit in France but also in the USA, Belgium, Italy, Portugal and other far-flung places and not just in the UK, where it has put Levens Hall and Gardens at the top of the topiary tree.   Jane discovers how the travel PR idea, and founding World Topiary Day, has underlined Levens Hall’s unique selling point – being home to the world’s oldest topiary garden – right across Europe.

Jane explains about some of the specifics of the World Topiary Day activity this year, both in terms of what is happening with regard to an initiative between participating gardens and what is specifically happening at Levens Hall and Gardens.

She also gives listeners an insight into why the day of World Topiary Day – May 12 – had such significance and why the raucous Radish Feast, which preceded it centuries ago, was so notorious.

Patrick highlights what worldwide gardens find so appealing about the concept and describes some of the French gardens participating again this year, including an amazing garden that is his society’s current award winner and his personal favourite, which is just ‘perfect’ all year round.