One of the things I was least expecting to find in Mexico City when I moved here was..............topiary!! In England it is confined to the sedate and highly rarified elitist world of Stately Homes and Knot Gardens a la Hampton Court, but here it is quite literally everywhere... 
Cast your eye over any surburban street, supermarket carpark, garage forecourt, restaurant garden, school playground, motorway verge and you will find topiary... be it in the form of spaceship trees, giant leafy cockerels, antlered deer or tiny pigs quietly snuffling at the side of the road...
Turn any quiet corner on any suburban street and you will be as likely to be confronted by a piece of topiary as anything else...So what's the story?? Is it simply that the box tree grows rampant here and is begging to be clipped?? Is it that Mexican culture has such a strong penchant for Surrealism and magic realism?? Or a nation of frustrated Edward Scissorhands?? Please let me know - I am dying of curiosity here......................
For more gorgeous glimpses around the world this week click here for My World Tuesday postings..........
10 comments:
thats funny. i agree, it has rather posh, formal associations in europe - very different in this part of the world. Hey, Mexico question for you...where is the best place to do Spanish immersion courses? I was thinking Merida, but do you have any other good suggestions?
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Funny I was just out at little site and there some in gardens as well.
Surprising when you see it in such a huge metropolis for the first time, we saw the same in Beijing, but mainly in median strils and roud-abouts. It is actually quite logical to have them where labour is cheap since they need a lot of maintenance.
Ha! Now that's a surprise to me & I have no idea what the story is behind it. I really like your suggestion of a nation of frustrated Edward Scissorhands :D
You know, all the topiary doesn't surprise me. In my mind, it goes along with the fanciful nature of Mexican culture.
I think the comment on cheap labor may be part of the equation, but I suspect the broad-spectrum artist impulse to mask & decorate is the other half....
....I always refer to topiary as "bush torture." Can you guess I'm not fond of it!?!
PS I haven't forgotten about museum/restaurant suggestions, just been busy with my youngest's high school graduation. When is your vacation to DC?!
Well, if you're going to clip a hedge, might as well get creative. They have Tony Roma's in Mexico City? There's one round the corner from me in Vegas.
They really are everywhere. Even in the most mundane, scruffy hoods the occasional trimmed ani-bush can be found. Good photos too...they are usually fairly difficult to capture!
Catherine: today's post is just for you! Stop by and visit...
Fun to look at, and I like to read about the bikes and to see the bike ridding over the cars!
/MB
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