Dedicated to Topiary since 1992
Standards of Excellence is a boutique nursery business and leading products of the highest quality topiary plants. Since 1992 owner Claudia Gorringe has been combining her love of plants and sculpture and topiary her creations grace some of new Zealand's finest gardens. Apart from her stunning conifier spirals, Claudia grows all the classic and formal shapes. Stroll through the nursery and you will find single and multi-tiered balls, cones, standards, espaliers and a range of 'free-form' creations. Claudia has also developed a line of plants based on bonsai shapings technicques. Known as ZEN CLIPS, these plant sculptures are up to two metres high and look equally stunning in contemporary gardens with an oriental feel.

Topiary - Living Sculpture
Topiary is one of the oldest means of creating decorative elements in the garden. The ancient Egyptians and Romans practiced the art with imagination and ingenuity. In Renaisance Europe the clipping and shaping of plants was as important as the cultivation of flowers. Today, once again, there is a strong revival of the art and Topiary is a sought after ingredient in many garden styles. Topiary reinforces the layout of formal gardens and can provide a focal point for informal plantings. It adds an element of surprise to any garden. Just imagine an entrance-way flanked by flowing standards or a pair of buxus balls at the end of a flight of steps. Or cone shaped bay trees in a formal potager.

No special skills are required in maintaining an already established topiary plant - even the most inexperienced gardeners can care for their plant sculpture by following some very basic gardening rules. You don't even need a garden to enjoy topiary. A lot of specimens will live quite happily in containers on your patio or terrace for many years. Best of all, you can have fun with your topiary. Every time you play with it, giving it a snip here and a tie there, the shape improves. But be warned: Once you have started your three dimensional plant gallery you may easily be hooked for life!