English Yew Cube Topiary Pair - Brooks & Fenna

Cube pairs are sold by the dimension of the cube, in bands from 30–40cm up to 60–70cm. Match the cube to the width of the spot the pair has to hold, not to the budget: 30–40cm suits pots, steps and low walls; 40–50cm works mid-border and on a modest frontage; 50–60cm is the doorstep size on most houses; 60–70cm is for wide elevations, double doors and drives. Remember that a bigger cube is simply an older tree — more clipping-years in its faces — so the larger bands arrive denser and flatter-planed, and the price moves with the age rather than the postage.

Closely, because they were grown as twins rather than picked as a pair on dispatch day. We guarantee a height difference of no more than 10cm between them, and before your pallet is built you receive your pair's quality-control certificate — origins, dimensions and six photographs of your actual two cubes — with 24 hours to review before dispatch. If the pair that arrives still isn't right, email hello@topiarytwins.co.uk within 7 days of delivery with the subject “Matching Guarantee Claim – [order number]”. Claims are resolved within 24 hours, with a replacement pair or a full refund, whichever you prefer.

Site first, surface second — and happily the two lead species are among the best shade plants in topiary, so a north-facing frontage or a shaded courtyard is well within range. Brooks & Fenna, our English yew pair, is the heritage rendering: the deepest green, the densest planes, remarkable density in low light, and one unhurried trim a year. Juno & Kai, the Japanese holly pair, gives the finest surface of the three — leaves small enough that the faces read almost seamless — and it is the box look with total immunity to box blight and box tree moth. If you are set on true box texture, Orrin & Bria is Buxus microphylla 'Faulkner', the small-leaved cultivar noted for its blight resistance, grown at our top cube size.

On a doorstep, one cube each side of the door, centred on the width available and clear of the door swing — the pair should frame the entrance, never obstruct it. Square the faces to the building rather than to the path, because a cube is read against the architecture behind it and a few degrees out will nag at you for years. Along a path, drive or border, leave roughly one cube-width of clear air between blocks: close enough to read as a rhythm, far enough that each cube keeps its own outline as it fattens. If you're unsure, email a photo of the spot to hello@topiarytwins.co.uk and we'll mark it up, or take the two-minute Entrance Edit and we'll suggest a layout for you.

Trim to a reference, never by eye alone. A sphere forgives a wobble; a flat plane advertises it — so run a taut string line, or hold a light batten against each face, and cut to that. Work little and often, because a light pass beats one heavy correction, and do the flats first, then square the corners last. English yew asks one session a year; Japanese holly and box prefer two light trims a season. Neither is more than an hour per pair. The clipping calendar for the yew rendering, month by month, is in our yew topiary guide.

Kerbside, on its own pallet, by a specialist plant haulier, UK-wide. Your two cubes travel upright and are never boxed, the consignment is fully tracked, and the driver phones about an hour ahead so you can be there when he arrives. Allow 14–21 working days from order — the pair is being selected, photographed and documented during that window, not sitting in a warehouse. Delivery is to the kerb, so plan how you'll move two well-grown plants from the kerb to their position before the pallet lands.

Tell us early. The 6-Month Thrive Guarantee covers a plant that fails to thrive in its first six months: we replace it at 50% of the single-plant cost. Worked example — a £1,000 pair is £500 a plant, so your replacement costs £250. Email hello@topiarytwins.co.uk with the subject “Thrive Guarantee Claim – [order number]” and we review eligibility within 48 hours. One honest exclusion: if both plants fail, the guarantee doesn't apply, because two identical failures point at the site rather than the stock and a straight swap would only repeat it. That's precisely what Lifetime Care Support is for — unlimited email guidance from the growers, answered within 24 hours, free, forever, so we can fix the conditions instead.