Birthday
HydrangeasGarden mazes are one of landscape design’s most delightful inventions. A walk between tall green walls becomes a game, and from above the maze looks like a pattern. Here is where the fashion came from and where the best-known plant mazes are.
Living greenery for home and garden: potted plants and flower baskets.
A little history
Strictly speaking, a classical labyrinth is a single winding path that leads to the centre with no branches. Puzzles with dead ends and choices are called mazes. Mazes of clipped hedges became fashionable in Renaissance and Baroque European gardens, and later a popular attraction in parks and on farms.
The most famous mazes
- Hampton Court, England. The palace maze was planted in the 1690s for William III. It is Britain’s oldest surviving hedge maze and is still open to visitors.
- Longleat, England. The Longleat hedge maze was planted in 1975 with more than 16,000 yew trees and is considered one of the longest hedge mazes.
- La Masone, Italy. Opened near Parma in 2015, this maze is made of bamboo — the largest bamboo maze in the world.
- Pineapple Garden Maze, Hawaii. The maze at a pineapple plantation on Oahu entered Guinness World Records in 2008 as the largest by area. Its walls are made of thousands of tropical plants.
In France, seasonal maize mazes are popular: at Reignac-sur-Indre in the Loire Valley, a huge maze with a new design is cut every summer. Farms in Ukraine also open maize mazes in autumn.
A maze in your own garden
- Plants. Yew, hornbeam and privet make classic walls. Box looks lovely in low edging, but in Ukraine it is badly damaged by the box tree moth, so it needs regular protection or can be swapped for other shrubs.
- Scale. In a small garden you can make a knee-high maze from lavender, santolina or perennials — children will love it just as much.
- Patience. Living walls take several years to close up, and regular clipping keeps their shape.
See another remarkable garden in Mainau island, and read about ancient trees in 10 facts about trees.
FAQ
How do you avoid getting lost in a maze?
In many mazes the “hand-on-wall” rule works: keep touching one wall and you will eventually get out. In mazes with “islands”, though, it may fail.
How long does a hedge maze take to grow?
Low walls take 3–5 years; tall yew walls take more than ten.
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Author: Maria Svitlovir
Graduated from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Institute of Biology and Medicine (2001). BSc in Biology, MSc in Horticulture. Writes about plants, works at a garden centre selecting and repotting plants, and contributes to plant reference guides.
