The Sphere Gradient — Architectural Collection with Graduated English Yew Balls
Quality-checked and photographed before dispatch · 24 hours to review
Quick Specifications
Meet the Twins
Care & Maintenance
Botanical Specifications
Guides to Help You Plan
Specified whole.Delivered together.
Six things that arrive with the set.
N° 01
Nine to eleven specimens, graded
A composition is a complete set, not a lead plant with extras. Every listing here ships as nine to eleven specimen topiary graded into deliberate size bands — six spheres at 20–30cm, three at 40–50cm and one 60–70cm focal in The Sphere Gradient; four spirals at 60–80cm, three at 110–130cm and two towers at 150–170cm in The Spiral Ascent.
N° 02
One species across the set
Each composition is grown in a single species, so three different geometries still read as one work. Change the shape, hold the colour — that tonal unity is what stops an expensive group looking assembled rather than composed.
N° 03
The species choice, where it's offered
Several of the compositions offer a species choice — English yew or Japanese holly — taken as a variant before you add to basket, not requested afterwards. The size bands themselves are fixed, because the graduation is the design.
N° 04
An optional grass base
Every composition can be ordered with a matched ornamental-grass underplanting, supplied as 2L plants and chosen to suit the set — Stipa, Festuca, Carex, Pennisetum, Molinia or Ophiopogon. It is the difference between the lower and the upper figure in each range.
N° 05
You see the set first
Your scheme's plants — photographed before dispatch · 24 hours to review. The whole composition is laid out and photographed at our UK depot before the pallet is built, so you see the graduation you specified.
N° 06
Palletised, kerbside, backed
The set travels upright on its own pallet, free UK delivery, in 14–21 working days. Six months of Thrive backing on every plant in it, and unlimited grower support long after that. The full terms and exclusions are set out immediately below — no asterisks.
Promises withnumbers attached.
The terms, in full — no asterisks a lawyer would love.
6 mo
The 6-Month Thrive Guarantee
A composition is nine to eleven plants, so the guarantee is written per plant. If a specimen in your set fails to thrive in its first six months despite reasonable care, we replace it at 50% of that plant's single price — half what that individual specimen costs, never half the composition. Eligibility is reviewed within 48 hours of your email — subject line “Thrive Guarantee Claim – [order number]”.
One honest exclusion, the same one that applies across every Topiary Twins guarantee: if the whole set fails together, it doesn't apply. Identical failures across nine or eleven plants point at the site rather than the stock — drainage, wind funnelling down a courtyard, a buried rubble layer — and swapping specimens would only repeat the problem. That is exactly the conversation Lifetime Care Support exists to have, and we'd rather fix the ground than sell you the same outcome twice.
∞
Lifetime Care Support
Unlimited email guidance from the people who grew your composition, answered within 24 hours, free, forever. Send a photograph of a specimen that's worrying you, a question about when to clip the towers, or a picture of the shears you're about to use — there is no expiry date and no limit on how often you ask.
14–21
Kerbside, palletised, free UK delivery
Compositions travel on their own pallet by a specialist plant haulier, UK-wide and free of charge. The specimens stand upright and are never boxed, the consignment is fully tracked, and the driver phones about an hour before he turns in. Allow 14–21 working days from order — the set is being selected, laid out, photographed and documented during that window, not sitting in a warehouse.
Delivery stops at the kerb. Cones at 130–150cm and yew cubes at 70–80cm are two-person lifts, so walk the route from kerb to position — side gates, steps, gravel, level changes — before the pallet lands rather than on the day it does.
How to claim, step by step → in the questions below.
Three sitesthat hold a set.
Three placements. One pinned frame. Scroll.
Gravel, plinth, courtyard
A composition needs a stage and a plain backdrop, because sculptural forms only read against something quiet. Gravel is the honest default — it holds the eye still, drains freely, and lets you shift a specimen a hand's width after you have lived with the arrangement for a day. A raised planter or a low plinth lifts the smallest bands to where they can actually be seen, which is why graduated sets earn their keep in an enclosed space: four walls, one viewing distance, nothing competing for attention. Mark every position on the ground and leave the marks overnight before you dig — a set is far easier to move as chalk than as specimens. Compositions specified for exactly this kind of enclosed, hard-surfaced ground sit in our courtyard and patio range.
Sightlines, not floor plans
Specify from where the composition will actually be seen, not from where you happen to be standing when you order. Walk the approach — the gate, the kitchen window, the turn of a drive — and put the focal specimen where those lines cross; the smaller bands then read as approach rather than as clutter. Along a run the rule inverts: hold one measured interval exactly and the set reads as architecture, vary it and it reads as planting. The Cone Array is the clearest test of that discipline — ten sentinel cones rising to 150cm along a boundary or a drive and pathway approach, each one holding its position all winter.
Scale, light and the evening view
Scale is decided by the tallest specimen and the surface behind it, never by the size of the plot. A 150–170cm spiral wants an elevation to stand against and roughly its own height again in clear air above it: give it less and the set looks crowded, give it more and it simply disappears. Graduated sets also need depth for the size step to register, so judge them from three or four metres back before you commit. Then light one thing only — a single low, warm spike under the focal specimen throws the clipped geometry onto the backdrop and makes the composition a night object as well as a day one, whereas lighting the whole set flattens the graduation you paid for. Where one plant has to do all of this on its own, statement topiary and grand specimens are the single-plant equivalents.
What clients noticea season in.
They grow into the house. Every year the structure looks a little more like it was always meant to be there.
David · The Cotswolds
Neighbours stop to ask about them. We've handed your name over the fence more times than we can count.
James & Priya · Kent
Drag · Scroll
Once your composition is in, share it with #TopiaryTwins or tag @topiarytwins — and if you film it, our referral programme pays 20% of your order back, rising to 100% if two friends order with your code.
Seven sets.Each specified whole.
RRP including VAT, per complete composition — the lower figure is the set alone.
N° 01
The Sphere Gradient
Ten graduated balls — six small, three medium, one focal anchor. Yew or holly.
Composition £1,340 – £1,600 · 10 plants
N° 02
The Lollipop Trio
Nine bay laurel standards across three stem heights — classical, aromatic, calm.
Composition £1,640 – £1,810 · 9 plants
N° 03
The Mixed Geometry
Three balls, three cubes, three cones — all English yew, one tone across three shapes.
Composition £1,800 – £1,980 · 9 plants
N° 04
The Lollipop Forest
Eleven standards on identical canopies — repetition pushed until it becomes sculpture.
Composition £2,000 – £2,370 · 11 plants
N° 05
The Cone Array
Ten sentinel cones to 150cm — rhythm along a boundary, presence all winter. Yew or holly.
Composition £2,900 – £3,610 · 10 plants
N° 06
The Cube Matrix
Ten English yew cubes graduating to a 70–80cm anchor. Flat planes, sharp edges.
Composition £3,005 – £3,140 · 10 plants
N° 07
The Spiral Ascent
Nine graduated spirals rising to 170cm — the collection's set piece. Yew or holly.
Composition £3,605 – £5,630 · 9 plants
Several of the compositions offer a species choice; every one of them offers the optional grass base, which is what moves each range from its lower figure to its upper one.
Prefer to compare them side by side? The whole architectural collection.
Your scheme's plants · photographed before dispatch · 24 hours to review
Your composition.Straight answers.
Which composition should I choose?
Start from the shape of the space, then the budget. Enclosed ground — a courtyard, a terrace, a run of raised planters — suits the graduated sets, where many small forms, a few medium and one focal specimen build depth across a short viewing distance: The Sphere Gradient (£1,340 – £1,600) is the entry point and The Cube Matrix (£3,005 – £3,140) its modernist equivalent. Long runs and boundaries want rhythm instead, which is The Cone Array (£2,900 – £3,610), ten cones holding one interval to 150cm. If the set is meant to be the event in its own right, The Spiral Ascent (£3,605 – £5,630) carries nine spirals up to 170cm. The size bands inside each composition are fixed, because the graduation is the design.
Can I choose the species?
Several of the compositions offer a species choice. Where it is offered it is English yew or Japanese holly, picked as a variant before you add to basket rather than requested afterwards — the spirals, the cones and the spheres all carry it — and it moves the price, so the figure you see on the listing is the figure for the species you selected. English yew is the darker, denser, longer-lived option and the one to specify where the composition has to still look right in fifty years. Japanese holly gives the fine box-leaved surface without box blight or box tree moth, and lands at the lower end of every range that offers both.
What is the ornamental-grass option, and should I add it?
Every composition can be ordered with a matched grass underplanting, supplied as 2L plants and chosen to suit the set: Stipa tenuissima under the spirals, Festuca glauca ‘Elijah Blue’ under the spheres, Carex ‘Evergold’ under the lollipop trio, Pennisetum ‘Hameln’ under the cubes, Molinia ‘Transparent’ under the cones, Ophiopogon ‘Nigrescens’ under the forest, and a Festuca-and-Carex mix under the mixed geometry. It is the difference between the lower and the upper figure in each range. Add it where the set lands on gravel or bare soil and you want movement against still geometry; skip it where the composition is going into a planter that is already planted.
What ground preparation does a composition need?
Free drainage first, everything else second. Mark all nine to eleven positions on the ground and live with them for a day before you dig — a composition is much easier to move as chalk marks than as specimens. Dig each pit at least half as wide again as the rootball, break up the base so water can leave, and plant to the level the specimen was grown at, never deeper. On gravel, cut through the membrane rather than mounding over it. Firm well, water in properly, and keep watering through the first summer: mature clipped specimens carry a lot of leaf and lose water faster than their rootballs like. After that the work is small — one to two clips a year holds every form in the collection, worked to the plane rather than to the plant.
How do I judge scale and sightlines before ordering?
Stand where the set will be seen from — the gate, the window, the turn of the drive — and measure the backdrop rather than the bed. The tallest specimen should read against a plain surface with roughly its own height again of clear air above it: a 150–170cm spiral against a low wall looks stranded, and the same spiral against a two-storey elevation looks specified. Then check the viewing distance, because a graduated set needs enough depth for the size step to register — in practice three or four metres of approach. If you are unsure, email a photograph of the space 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.
How is a composition of nine to eleven specimens delivered?
On its own pallet, kerbside, by a specialist plant haulier, UK-wide and free of charge. The specimens travel upright and are never boxed, the consignment is fully tracked, and the driver calls about an hour ahead so you can be there when he arrives. Allow 14–21 working days from order — the set is being selected, laid out, photographed and documented during that window. Delivery stops at the kerb, and these are mature plants: cones at 130–150cm and yew cubes at 70–80cm are two-person lifts, so walk the route from kerb to final position before the delivery date and have help booked for the day itself.
What if one plant in the set fails to thrive?
Tell us early. The 6-Month Thrive Guarantee is written per plant, which is what makes it work for a set: if a specimen fails to thrive in its first six months despite reasonable care, we replace it at 50% of that plant's single price — half what that individual specimen costs, never half the composition. Email hello@topiarytwins.co.uk with the subject “Thrive Guarantee Claim – [order number]” and we review eligibility within 48 hours. The one exclusion is a whole set failing at once: identical failures across nine or eleven plants point at the site rather than the stock, and a straight swap would only repeat it. That is 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.
Matched beforeyou ever see it.
Every specimen in the set selected together in Tuscany and grown alongside its neighbours — so the graduation you specified is the graduation that arrives.
Your actual composition, laid out at our UK depot, before the pallet is built.
The 6-Month Thrive Guarantee covers every specimen in the set individually, through establishment.
Lifetime Care Support — a photo gets grower answers for as long as you own the set.
