“If Philippa were alive now, I think she'd be amazed at how it's turned out,” says Tim, adding that he plans to keep going “until I fall off my ladder.”
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.