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Art comes to life in topiary, natural creations shaped by a gardener's hand
The art of training or sculpting living plants into ornamental shapes dates back at least to the Roman Empire. The encyclopedist Pliny the Elder (A.D. 23-79) made note of topiary in the form of "hunting scenes, fleets of ships, and all sorts of shapes" fashioned from shrubbery growing in Roman gardens. Pliny (in rather typical imperial fashion) attributed the practice's invention to fellow countryman Gaius Matius, whose other claim to fame was a kinship through marriage to Julius Caesar. This connection to Caesar is of interest both historically and horticulturally, because the only other evidence of topiary predating the time of Christ appears in obscure ancient Egyptian references: It's plausible...
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