Custom topiary design and fabrication is what this workshop does: you bring a shape — an animal, a logo, a landmark, a sketch — and we engineer it as a welded steel frame, finish it against the weather, and dress it in living or UV-rated faux foliage. Any size, from tabletop forms to sculptures forty feet tall, built in our own studio and shipped or installed across the US and Canada.
How a custom piece is engineered
The frame decides whether a sculpture lasts, so we do not build on lightweight wire. Frames are welded from steel rod sized to the sculpture — typically 1/8″ to 3/16″ for smaller forms and ¼″ to ⅞″ for large installations — with internal tubing for load-bearing strength on anything tall. A shaped mesh skin over the rods holds the foliage layer, and the whole structure is finished against corrosion: galvanized steel for rust protection, powder coating where you want sturdiness plus colour, or enamel paint and galvanized dipping for harsh environments.
Foliage to suit the setting
The same frame can carry very different finishes. UV- and fire-rated faux boxwood mat holds its colour outdoors and meets the specification most venues ask for indoors; grass turf gives large sculptures a sculpted, mowed texture; sphagnum moss suits classic animal forms and can host live plants that grow on the piece over time. We will tell you honestly which finish fits your site rather than the one that suits us.
Recent work
Two commissions written up in full: the PGA Show exhibition build and an eight-year-old swan restored to new.
Every commission starts as a CAD drawing
Before any steel is bent, the piece exists as a 3D CAD model. The drawing fixes proportions and scale against the real site, lets us plan the internal structure — where the load paths run, which limbs need internal rod, where the anchor points land — and shows you exactly what you are commissioning while changes still cost nothing. On animal forms the model also maps where each foliage type goes, so a flowing mane and a smooth flank read differently on the finished piece. You approve the drawing; then we build to it.
A build, start to finish: the connected spheres
A commission of stacked, connected globes for an outdoor site shows the sequence. The welded sphere stack arrives from fabrication as raw steel; it goes for hot-dip galvanizing; then every surface is covered by hand in UV-rated outdoor boxwood.
Where the work stands
Our custom topiary has stood on display for major high-profile events across the USA — including at Rockefeller Center, where we built the 40-foot NBC Peacock for the launch of Peacock TV. The same workshop builds for botanical gardens, zoos, hotels and private gardens, at whatever scale the site takes.
Commissioning a piece
Browse custom made topiary we have already built to see the range, or — if you are a landscaper, designer or buying in volume — start with wholesale topiary pricing. For a one-off commission, send a photograph or a sketch with rough dimensions and we come back with a design and a price: call 866-306-1020 or use the quote form on any product page. Custom frames are also available on their own, in traditional and tabletop designs, if you want to plant and shape the foliage yourself.
