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Tim Bushe lives on a street in Islington, London, and has been trimming hedges for 15 years. For the “hedgecutter of Highbury,” it’s his hobby, his artistic expression, and a way to raise funds for his sister with Down syndrome. But most of all, it’s a way to keep the memory of his late wife alive.
“This is her legacy,” Bushe told CBS News this past July. He and Philippa met as teenagers in art school and spent 47 years of their lives together.
The electric clippers became his paintbrush
One day, Philippa was looking out the window and asked Tim to shape the hedge next to their house into the shape of a cat. “I thought that sounded a bit challenging, so I started with a steam train which is a much simpler shape,” he told The Standard in 2023. His initial success showed him that the electric clippers could become his paintbrush, and Philippa was quick to suggest that he do the neighbor’s hedge as well.
The neighbor had a hard time trimming his hedge, so he took Tim up on his offer of help and his hedge became a giant cat, so in the end Philippa got the view she wanted.
Charitable work
Bushe, who worked as an architect, lost his wife to breast cancer seven years ago. In memory of her and her idea, he decided to keep designing his neighbors’ hedges until the road was filled with elephants, hippos, fish, and other works of art.
The living hedges trimmed into these various sculptures are not an end in themselves. With each commission, Bushe raises money for good causes: an organization that takes care of his younger sister with Down syndrome, and others dedicated to environmental causes.
“We’re a tourist attraction on Google Maps now,” says Polly Barker, Tim’s neighbor, pointing to the hedge in her garden, immaculately trimmed to replicate Henry Moore’s famous sculpture, “Reclining Nude.”
Some of his sculptures have become internet famous, including his elephants and the original cats. “I came back the other day and the Brompton Cycle Club were all outside the cats and they were taking photographs of all the other guys standing with their bikes in front of the hedges. They were delighted when they clocked me so I got a photo with them all,” he told The Standard.
Philippa is never far from Tim’s mind. “If she were alive now, she would be fascinated, I think, by the way it’s taken off,” he says, adding that he plans to keep going ”until I fall off my ladder.”
And today we celebrate...