When Quarto Books asked us to help launch a magical new children’s book, we knew it called for something truly special. Children of the Throne by Waterstones Children’s Laureate Joseph Coelho is a moving, hopeful story about climate change, community, and the hidden power of nature. To celebrate its release, we created a life-sized living throne in lush green Ligustrum delavayanum, inspired by Richard Johnson’s enchanting cover illustration.
The living sculpture was unveiled at Waterstones Wandsworth, right in the heart of Southside Shopping Centre. For one week only, families, book-lovers, and fans of Coelho’s poetry could sit upon the throne, step into the story, and take home their signed copy of Children of the Throne.
The result? A joyful installation that brought the pages to life. Shoppers stopped in their tracks. Children scrambled up to try the “magical seat.” And parents snapped photos to remember the moment. The throne became a beacon—of play, imagination, and the book’s message of living in harmony with nature.
As Joseph himself said:
“It’s been lovely seeing families approach and sit upon this fantastical seat that feels pulled forth from the pages of mine and Richard’s Children Of The Throne.”
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We’re proud to have created a sculpture that helped spark curiosity and wonder—while also echoing the story’s deeper themes of protecting our planet for the future.
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Some projects make you smile from the start. Our regency-inspired Gromit topiary, named Austentatious, was one of them.
This summer, The Kendleshire Golf Club revealed him as part of Gromit Unleashed 3—a public art trail raising money for The Grand Appeal, the official charity of Bristol Children’s Hospital. With 53 sculptures of Wallace, Gromit, Feathers McGraw, and new character Norbot the Smart Gnome, this trail captured imaginations across the region. And ours was special: the very first living Gromit to join the line-up.
We sculpted Gromit in Ligustrum delavayanum woven around a metal armature, a plant prized for its dense foliage and fine leaves. This gave us the detail we needed to capture his famous ears, alert stance, and lovable personality. Once installed, the greens team at The Kendleshire and Ammil Garden Design took over care, keeping him lush and full of life throughout the trail.
The result? A sculpture that stopped people in their tracks. Playful, surprising, and full of character, Austentatious brought something fresh to the trail. He wasn’t just a tribute to an iconic British character—he was a celebration of creativity, horticulture, and community spirit.
At Agrumi, we believe living art should delight as well as inspire. This project proved how versatile topiary can be—turning a children’s film favourite into a green masterpiece that raised smiles and funds for a brilliant cause.
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A racing car made from artificial boxwood. That’s what we created for Einhell, thanks to the vision of WING’s brilliant campaign.
Photo courtesy of WING & Einhell
Our team built and delivered a bespoke topiary car to the stunning city of Nice in France. The challenge was to design a show-stopping piece that captured speed, precision, and innovation—values at the heart of Einhell’s brand for use in a campaign to promote their garden equipment
With a tight deadline for the video shoot, we opted to use artificial boxwood, and crafted the car with care and detail. Every curve and contour echoed the sleek lines of a racing machine, while the lush green finish brought it to life in a unique, natural way that fitted in perfectly with the real boxwood hedging on set.
The final sculpture was shipped safely across Europe and installed on-site for the campaign launch.
The success of the project lay in teamwork. WING’s creative concept, Einhell’s bold branding, and our craftsmanship came together seamlessly. The result was a campaign full of energy and style.
The full advert can be seen on YouTube here:
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Agrumi Topiary Art was delighted to collaborate with Sister London and the Canary Wharf Group on the visionary Eden Dock project, an ambitious transformation of the Middle Dock into a vibrant urban oasis.
The aim of the project was to enhance biodiversity, reconnect people with nature, and contribute to the wellbeing of workers and visitors in this iconic financial district.
Eden Dock is all about blending urban life with nature, creating spaces that boost biodiversity while offering city dwellers a peaceful escape. As part of this vision, Agrumi was asked to create 21 moss-covered, life-sized (and taller) figures that beautifully capture the connection between people and the natural world. These sculptures were a key feature, symbolising harmony between urban living and nature’s beauty.
We worked closely with the Sister London design team to make sure the sculptures were not only stunning but also eco-friendly. Using sphagnum moss and dried flowers, we crafted these life-like figures that seem to rise naturally from the water and greenery at Eden Dock. Each figure symbolises the interplay of nature and urban living, embodying the project’s ethos of biodiversity and ecological balance.
The Nature Rising sculptures have become a standout feature at Eden Dock, adding a striking, natural element to the waterfront. Visitors can now admire these unique moss figures as they explore the floating gardens, boardwalks, and new habitats for birds, bees, and other wildlife. The installation is already making a difference to new wildlife in the area, showing how art and nature can work together to boost biodiversity.
Our work on the Eden Dock project shows Agrumi’s commitment to ecological art and sustainable design, bringing large-scale, creative concepts to life in urban settings.
This project is a pioneering effort to create spaces where nature and people can thrive together. We’re proud that our Nature Rising installation has played a part in transforming Canary Wharf into a greener, more biodiverse environment.
Behind the scenes of an ITV production....
Agrumi helped by providing a topiary New Forest Pony for the filming of a children's comedy arts and crafts show called 'Makeaway Takeaway'.
Bec Hill, who presents the show, always takes on a big creation at the end of each show. This time she was taking on a pony, a familiar sight in our area of the New Forest.
Firstly, we created a pony shaped framework and planted up several trees and bushes inside, to hide the frame from view.
Then this was taken to the filming location, just down the road in Sway. A local arts charity, spudWORKS, provided their premises for the day’s filming.
Our topiary artist started work turning the plants into the form of the pony (while the cameras were off) , and Bec copied his technique for the filming shots.
Slowly, but surely, the Pony shape came to life...
Lots of the local community came to help out, including children from the local school who helped create the floral necklace that embellished the pony at the end of filming.
It was a joy to be part of such a great project!
You can watch this epsode of Makeaway Takeaway called 'Unbe-Leaf-Able' on ITVX.
Drusillas Park, the best zoo in South East England, approached Agrumi with the idea of some sculptures, up to 10 feet tall, to be created for a new roundabout. The roundabout is right next to the zoo and the layout was designed so it looks like the animals are all walking towards the zoo.
We were more than happy to take on this project, a joint effort between Drusillas Park, Alfriston School and National Highways.
All the sculptures had to be ‘road safe’, which meant creating the pieces from soft metal rods. This was a new experience for us, but we were up for the challenge!
The ‘D’ shape was the most complicated design to produce , as it was about 3.5m tall! We had to make sure that it was stable and completely safe on the roadside.
There are a collection of animals around the ‘D’: three Meerkats, a King Penguin and a Lemur. All of which can be found in real life at the zoo itself.
Agrumi brought to life the designs, initially created by children from Alfriston School. A number of the children’s design submissions depicted animals from the Park, which inspired Drusillas’ final design.
The project was a collaborative effort, also involving National Highways, who installed the sculpture on the public roundabout.
National Highways route manager for the south east Peter Phillips, said:
“This green sculpture is a glowing example of how a topiary like this can improve the local spaces of people living and working near our roads.
Hopefully it will also inspire generations to come.”
Drusillas Park said:
“Our new fabulous roundabout sculpture feature is finally in place, and we love it!
Local school children from Alfriston School inspired the design behind our new topiary lemurs, penguins and meerkats that now proudly sit at the Drusillas roundabout.
Read more on the project here.
Next time you're driving by, be sure to give our topiary animals a wave ”
The Wild Rabbit and The Fox are both part of the Daylesford estate – one of the most sustainable organic farms in the UK.
Agrumi has a close relationship with Daylesford and was more than happy to create a few custom topiary pieces to adorn their Inns.
Firstly, a threesome of living topiary foxes were created - each with a unique pose: alert, leaping and sitting.
They are displayed in 3 different areas around 'The Fox' Inn, to create interest at the front entrance, garden steps and bar window.
The inns were both restored using locally sourced natural materials and centuries old techniques, creating a long-lasting environment with minimum impact to the surroundings. They used reclaimed timber, with roof insulation made with sheep’s wool from their organic farm and turned their own cattle hides into leather for the pub’s seating. The aim is to leave the lightest imprint on our planet while creating unique spaces filled with warmth and character.
Sustainability is a key value for Daylesford, which is why they choose to use living plant topiary in their designs. This approach not only adds natural beauty and life to the Inns, but it is also environmentally friendly as the plants continue to grow and thrive over time. By using living topiary, Agrumi and Daylesford are showing their commitment to preserving the environment and promoting sustainable practices in their work.
More recently, a pair of living topiary rabbits was created for another inn: 'The Wild Rabbit'.
The name is a nod to its original title: Conygree Farm – an Anglo Saxon word meaning rabbit enclosure. More recently it was the Tollgate Inn; a building constructed in Cotswolds stone with beautiful proportions, known for its convivial atmosphere and unusual double fireplace.
“Sitting Spiritually” is a Dorset based manufacturer of quality wooden swing seats. They are the only bespoke swing seat maker endorsed by the Royal Horticultural Society.
Their headquarters are located down a country road and they wanted a statement piece of topiary out front, so that customers could easily find them.
We designed a topiary version of their favourite swing seat design: the Kyokusen , which is Japanese for “Curves in the air”. The seat’s design draws upon the curves and flow of the Torii, a traditional Japanese gate most commonly found at the entrance of a shrine.
The stand’s shape was adapted to fit into their custom made planter, and covered in star Jasmine plants. In the summer the stand will be covered in white flowers, which will create a wonderful scent.
The seat was covered in Ligustrum plants, which is traditionally our favourite topiary plant. It’s evergreen and has little leaves, perfect for design details.
We installed the topiary into their planter at their Lyme Regis HQ, ensuring that the planter and compost had sufficient drainage.
Sitting Spiritually said about the topiary sculpture:
“TA-DAA
Check out our latest installation at Sitting Spiritually HQ!
There's no missing us now!”
Could your business benefit from some topiary sculptures? Just get in touch!
The Manchester Flower Festival is an integral part of this exciting city, many important landmarks and streets are enhanced with blooming flowers and vibrant colours.
The festival is always popular in Manchester, even more so with it being the first big event of 2021… and it didn’t disappoint!
Agrumi designed and created an artificial baby giraffe and elephant to be placed in Angel Meadow Park. The topiary were within budget, required no maintenance and provided an Instagramable opportunity for visitors to the event.
The pictures that were shared on social media platforms were a huge hit and really became a stand out feature within the city.
We at Agrumi love to be part of such events and create topiary features that stand out for others to enjoy.
Could your town benefit from some topiary sculptures? Just get in touch!
Agrumi were thrilled to be asked to support Linney – the creative production specialists in marketing- with their launch of Peter Rabbit's topiary tour at the start of the summer holidays, ready for the film’s release.
The promotion of the feature involved creating a 3 metre tall rabbit in a similar pose from the film, made from artificial boxwood for the body and specially ordered light blue artificial grass for Peter’s denim shirt jacket on top of a green base.
It was crucial that the sculpture was able to be moved around multiple locations including Manchester’s Trafford Centre, the Bullring in Birmingham, London’s Olympic park and Brighton beach. The base was specifically designed with a compartment for weights, meaning they could be easily removed when travelling and weighted down once in place, for security.
Topiary Peter proved extremely popular for families to take photos including stars of the film and celebrities such as Imogen Thomas, who posed with her daughters at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, recreating his cheeky pose!
Could you promote your upcoming event with some topiary sculptures? Just get in touch!