"At this point we're just trying to stay on top of things," said Dan Christina, Chief Horticulturalist at Green Animals in Portsmouth. "It's a continuous process. You can't walk by one thing without thinking of 12 other things you need to do."

Green Animals is the oldest and northernmost topiary garden in the United States. Alice, the daughter of Thomas Brayton, who purchased the property in 1872, gave the estate its name, for obvious reasons. When she died in 1972, at the age of 94, Miss Brayton left Green Animals to The Preservation Society of Newport County. According to the society, "Green Animals remains as a rare example of a self-sufficient estate combining formal topiaries, vegetable and herb gardens, orchards and a Victorian house overlooking Narragansett Bay."

Sulf-sufficient it may be….self-maintaining it certainly is not. Believe it or not, despite what we all know about winter in New England, when it comes to maintenance, Green Animals doesn't really get an off season. "We have the great luxury up here, where we are sited, we tend to stay pretty warm and dry," said Dan. "We are working outside until late December, mid-January sometimes. They might not be the warmest days, but there's still work we can do before the ground is frozen."

For the nearly 5 years that Dan has served as Chief Horticulturalist, he has been working to ensure the gardens are visually interesting year-round, whether things are fully green and flowering or not. The offseason is a flurry of activity, relocating plants, squaring off beds, and making other structural changes.

"There's a lot of measuring and tweaking. We're making a lot of small changes, all the time."

The only truly slow time in the garden is February, when it's too cold to dig and too early to start seeds; but there are greenhouses to clean and paint, and educational spaces to prepare.

"We're always keeping busy."

Springtime is the busiest time, when not keeping up with the rapid growth can change a form in very short order. It gets a little easier in the later season when the rate of growth slows down. One major problem Dan and his team has faced in recent years is boxwood blight, which affects the plant's ability to grow, and defend itself from other pathogens. Boxwood provides much of the structure of the gardens (and a few of the topiaries as well). In the past three years Dan has replanted hundreds of boxwoods, and he suspects that number will climb over 1,000 by the time he's done.

Of course the stars of the show at Green Animals are the green animals, of which they have dozens (as well as spirals, hearts, urns and other shapes.) The topiaries are made of a variety of plant materials, including yew, privet, boxwood, barberry, and box-leafed holly. Each has its own maintenance requirements. Privet, for example, needs to be trimmed about every 2 weeks, while box-leaf holly only needs attention once in a season. Privet has historically been popular for many of the topiaries — it's hardy, fast-growing, and easy to shape. "There are very few days in a season when we aren't cutting something on the property," said Dan.

Regardless of frequency, Cutting the topiaries is a task that falls almost exclusively to Eugene Platt, who has served as the topiarist for 16 years, and another 16 landscaping with the Preservation Society in Newport before that. Eugene has created some of the forms, while others predate his arrival, but all have been managed and reworked to one degree or another in his skillful hands. One of which he is particularly proud, a Tyrannosaurus Rex, was created from a spiral about 8 years ago. "It's a matter of interpretation," said Eugene. "It's neat to have an idea and then have it come together for you."

"The interpretation that Eugene has provided here is what everyone likes. It's his vision and his sight," said Dan.

"Most of them are still a work in progress," said Eugene, by a topiary birdbath complete with 3 birds — a bit skeletal on this early April day, but with buds throughout, they're fleshing out every day. Eugene's interpretation also included eliminating a pedestal that had long provided the foundation for one of the estate's iconic giraffes. "I just felt a giraffe should have 6 foot legs, not 2 foot legs on a pedestal," he said. "Everyone loves it."

"I walked by this for about a year," Eugene said of one topiary. "I kept seeing a sea turtle." Today, that's exactly what it it is, a sea turtle rendered in boxwood, "swimming" through the garden. It works well.

Perhaps that hasn't always been the case. "I've learned I should ask before I make big changes," said Eugene. "You can get in trouble," he said, referring to a baby giraffe a few steps away from the turtle. "It grew back," laughed Dan, suggesting that any difference of opinion between the two men was water under the bridge.

Green Animals Topiary Garden opened for the season on Saturday, April 13. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, visit www.newportmansions.org.