The Cottage Drift — Border by the Metre with Ilex Crenata Ball Topiary
Quality-checked and photographed before dispatch · 24 hours to review
Quick Specifications
Meet the Twins
Care & Maintenance
Botanical Specifications
Guides to Help You Plan
Your scheme's plants — photographed before dispatch · 24 hours to review
Bought by the metre.Backed plant by plant.
Six things that arrive with the scheme.
N° 01
A metre is a module
Each metre is a fixed module — 1m long, 0.6m deep, eight to ten plants depending on the scheme. The variant you choose names the exact count. Order three metres and three of everything arrives, so the run repeats down the bed exactly as it was drawn.
N° 02
A clipped evergreen in every metre
Every module carries one topiary anchor — an Ilex crenata ball or cube, an English yew ball, a bay, photinia or variegated holly lollipop, or a blue Arizona cypress spiral, according to the scheme. It is the part still standing in January.
N° 03
The layout plan
Everything for the run arrives together with a plan showing where each plant sits inside the module. Nothing has to be designed on the lawn with the pots still in their trays — that work is already done.
N° 04
You see the plants first
Your scheme's plants are photographed before dispatch, and you have 24 hours to review them before the pallet is built. The evergreen anchors and the supporting planting, as they actually are.
N° 05
Upright, tracked, palletised
The whole scheme travels standing up on its own pallet — never boxed, never laid flat — fully tracked, with a timed kerbside delivery and a call from the driver about an hour before he turns in. Allow 14–21 working days.
N° 06
They thrive or we step in
Six months of backing on every plant in the scheme, individually, and unlimited grower support long after that. The full terms and numbers 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 border scheme is a lot of plants, so this works per plant, not per order. If an individual plant fails to thrive in its first six months despite reasonable care, we replace it at 50% of that plant's own single price — half what that one plant costs on its own, whether it is the evergreen anchor or one of the perennials around it. Email hello@topiarytwins.co.uk, subject line “Thrive Guarantee Claim – [order number]”, and eligibility is reviewed within 48 hours.
If a whole stretch goes at once rather than one plant here and there, tell us that too — planting that fails together usually points at the ground rather than the stock, and drainage, a wind funnel or a buried rubble layer will do the same thing to a replacement. That is exactly the conversation Lifetime Care Support exists to have, and we would rather fix the ground than send the same outcome twice.
∞
Lifetime Care Support
Unlimited email guidance from the people who grew your scheme, answered within 24 hours, free, forever. Send a photograph of one sulking plant in the third metre, a question about when to cut the grasses back, or a picture of the shears you are about to take to the anchor — there is no expiry date and no limit on how often you ask.
14–21
Delivery, kerbside and palletised
Kerbside pallet by a specialist plant haulier, UK-wide, in 14–21 working days from order. The plants travel upright and are never boxed, the consignment is fully tracked, and the driver phones about an hour ahead so you can be there.
Your scheme's plants are photographed before dispatch, with 24 hours to review them before the pallet is built. Delivery is to the kerb, so plan the carry from kerb to bed before the pallet lands — a five-metre scheme is forty to fifty pots.
How to claim, step by step → in the questions below.
Three decisionsbefore you order.
Three chapters. One pinned frame. Scroll.
Measuring the run — and what to do at a corner
Take a tape along the bed and read the length. That is the only measurement the order depends on: depth is fixed at 0.6m per module, so a bed deeper than about a metre simply takes a second module behind the first, offset, and a bed shallower than half a metre is edging rather than a border. Round up, never down — a run that stops a hand's width short of the corner is the one mistake you cannot plant your way out of later. Curves get measured along the front edge with a hosepipe laid where you want the line, then the hosepipe gets measured. At a corner, treat the two arms as two runs and order each to its own whole metre, so the join lands where you decided rather than where the maths left off.
The rhythm the anchors make
The spacing inside a metre is already settled — it comes drawn on the plan — so the only rhythm you are choosing is the one between the metres. Because every module carries a single clipped evergreen, a three-metre order lands three anchors down the bed at even intervals, and that repetition is what makes a loose planting read as designed rather than accidental. Set those anchors first on planting day and let everything else fall in around them. If you want the anchors to pull the eye rather than just hold the line, the taller ones do that work: the blue Arizona cypress spiral in The Silver & Blue and the bay lollipop options stand above the perennials all season, where a 30–40cm ball sits down in the planting and reads as punctuation.
An edge, a bed, or the strip by the door
A single module run tight to the front of a path or drive behaves like an edge: one row deep, the anchors carrying the line, the planting softening it — which is the same job the driveways and pathways planting does, in scheme form. Two modules front-to-back, offset, behaves like a proper bed, and that is where the taller schemes earn their keep. Around a seating area or a small paved garden, one or two metres is usually the whole planting budget of the space, so pick for scent and evening colour rather than mass — the logic behind the courtyard and patio planting. And if the run you are measuring is the strip either side of a front door, the entrance schemes are built for exactly that frontage instead.
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 border 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.
Ten schemes.One module.
Same 1m × 0.6m module every time — the palette and the evergreen anchor are what change. Each length is its own price; read the one on the length you want.
N° 01
The Formal Edge
Lavender, silver carpet, salvia and allium round an Ilex crenata ball — or a bay lollipop instead.
1m–5m £275 – £1,924 · ball or lollipop
N° 02
The Cottage Drift
Geranium ‘Rozanne’, alchemilla, nepeta and penstemon — blush, lilac and lime, May to November.
1m–5m £275 – £1,306 · 10 plants a metre
N° 03
The Silver & Blue
Festuca, agapanthus, stachys and perovskia — steel blue and silver, exceptional drought tolerance.
1m–5m £275 – £1,710 · yew ball or spiral
N° 04
The Autumn Gold
Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’, rudbeckia, sedum and miscanthus under a photinia lollipop — peaks August to October.
1m–5m £295 – £1,401 · 9 plants a metre
N° 05
The Naturalistic Grass
Pennisetum, molinia, verbena bonariensis and echinacea — prairie movement and see-through texture.
1m–5m £295 – £1,544 · yew ball or Ilex cube
N° 06
The Shaded Woodland
Astilbe, brunnera ‘Jack Frost’, male fern and hellebore under a yew ball — partial to full shade.
1m–5m £300 – £1,425 · 8 plants a metre
N° 07
The Warm Meadow
Rudbeckia, helenium, echinacea and crocosmia — gold, bronze and orange, sun-drenched, July to October.
1m–5m £330 – £1,568 · 9 plants a metre
N° 08
The White Garden
Hydrangea ‘Annabelle’, white aster, geranium ‘Album’ and foxglove — it glows at dusk.
1m–5m £330 – £2,066 · yew ball or bay lollipop
N° 09
The Winter Structure
Hellebore, carex ‘Evergold’, cyclamen coum and scented sweet box — peaks November to March.
1m–5m £400 – £1,900 · 9 plants a metre
N° 10
The Fragrant Path
Lavender ‘Vera’, catmint, sweet violet and fragrant rose round an aromatic bay — scent all year.
1m–5m £520 – £2,470 · 8 plants a metre
Border schemes start from £275 for the first metre. Every price above is the RRP for that scheme's shortest and longest run, including VAT.
Prefer to compare them side by side? The whole border family.
Designed as a scheme · photographed before dispatch · delivered kerbside
Your border.Straight answers.
How many metres should I order?
Run a tape along the bed and read its length — that is the only measurement the order depends on, because the module is a fixed 0.6m deep whatever you buy. Round up to the next whole metre rather than down; schemes are sold in whole metres, one to five per order. Then read the price shown against the length you actually want. Each length is its own variant with its own published RRP, and the schemes are not priced at a flat rate — several of them shift as the run gets longer — so scaling the single-metre figure in your head will give you the wrong number. Border schemes start from £275 for the first metre.
What actually arrives in a metre?
Between eight and ten plants, depending on the scheme, all in pots and ready to go straight in the ground, plus the layout plan showing where each one sits. The split is always the same shape: one clipped evergreen topiary anchor plus seven to nine supporting perennials, grasses and bulbs. The variant title spells out the count for the length you pick — a metre of The Cottage Drift is ten plants, one topiary and nine border; a metre of The Fragrant Path is eight, one topiary and seven border. Order three metres and three of everything arrives, so the scheme repeats down the run exactly as designed.
Which scheme suits my aspect and my colours?
Aspect first, palette second. Partial to full shade takes The Shaded Woodland, where a single metre is £300 — astilbe, brunnera, male fern and hellebore under an English yew ball. Hot, dry and sunny takes The Silver & Blue, a metre at £275 with the yew ball or £360 with the blue Arizona cypress spiral. For late colour in full sun, a metre of The Autumn Gold is £295 and a metre of The Warm Meadow is £330. For clipped formality, a metre of The Formal Edge is £275 with the Ilex ball or £405 with the bay lollipop. For the months nothing else performs, a metre of The Winter Structure is £400; for scent beside a path, a metre of The Fragrant Path is £520. Longer runs are priced individually, so check the length you want on its own listing.
What do I do about corners, curves and awkward gaps?
At a corner, stop thinking of it as one border. Measure the two arms separately, round each up to its own whole metre and order them as two runs — that way the join lands where you chose it, with an evergreen anchor near the turn to hold the angle, rather than wherever the arithmetic ran out. For a curved front edge, lay a hosepipe along the line you want, adjust it until it looks right from the house, then measure the hosepipe rather than the straight line behind it. And for a gap too small to take another whole metre, do not stretch the scheme to fill it: a single clipped specimen from the topiary collection closes a short gap far better than thinned-out planting, and matches the anchors already in the run.
How is it spaced and planted, and what happens afterwards?
The spacing inside the metre comes drawn on the plan, so there is nothing to work out: clear the bed of perennial weeds, fork over the full 0.6m band with compost rather than digging individual holes, then set the evergreen anchor first — it fixes the rhythm of the whole run — and stand the rest out in their pots to the plan before anything goes in the ground. Most people plant a metre in under an hour. Afterwards: soak deeply once or twice a week through the first summer rather than sprinkling daily, cut the perennials and grasses to the ground in one pass in late winter, and give the anchors one or two short trims a year. That is the entire calendar. The step-by-step method is in our planting guide.
How does a border scheme get delivered?
Kerbside, on its own pallet, by a specialist plant haulier, UK-wide. The plants 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 — your scheme is being selected, photographed and documented in that window, and you get 24 hours to review the photographs before the pallet is built. Because delivery is to the kerb, work out the carry before the lorry lands: a five-metre scheme is forty to fifty pots, and the taller anchors are two-handed. Full terms are at delivery & returns.
What happens if a plant fails in the first six months?
Tell us early. The 6-Month Thrive Guarantee works plant by plant, which is what a multi-plant scheme needs: if an individual plant fails to thrive in its first six months despite reasonable care, we replace it at 50% of that plant's own single price — half what that one plant costs on its own, anchor or perennial. Email hello@topiarytwins.co.uk with the subject “Thrive Guarantee Claim – [order number]” and eligibility is reviewed within 48 hours. If a whole stretch fails together rather than one plant here and there, say so — that usually points at the ground rather than the stock, and replacing plant for plant would only repeat it. That is 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.
Measured once.Planted in an afternoon.
Ten schemes, each one worked out to the plant — so the only decision left to you is how long the bed is.
A clipped evergreen anchor in every module — the border still reads in January.
The 6-month Thrive Guarantee covers each plant in the scheme through establishment.
Lifetime Care Support — a photo gets grower answers for as long as you own the plants.
