Two views of a burning bush in the shape of a heart by Keith Buesing.

Landscape designer and topiary artist Keith Buesing isn't sure whether his 27-foot topiary on the corner of Routes 44/55 and 208 in Gardiner is a crocdile or a dinosaur. "When I transplanted it [from his nursery], it was comprised of maybe 30 plants," said Buesing. "Now it has three plates coming up out of the back. It was a definitely a crocodile before, but now it's something different, possibly a stegosaurus."

After Buesing moved his croc, he saw that it was growing differently than he first intended, but he used the natural direction of the plants (arborvitaes) to inform changes in his design; he's currently adding a "a fluttering, yodeling tongue" to the mouth of the croc/stegosaurus. Buesing said most topiaries need trimming and shaping twice a year to keep their shape.

Buesing, who cut his teeth working in his parents' nursery in Rockland County, bought the business with his brother in 1986 and eventually branched out into topiary arrangements. Buesing works with clients in two ways: Some clients don't know what they want beyond a living yard sculpture, and Buesing can create a topiary with existing plants onsite or build it from scratch.

Clients also come to Buesing with quite specific, even fanciful ideas. "A woman called me recently who has Jack Russell terriers," said Buesing. "She wants four Jack Russell terriers running across her back lawn chasing a fox."

Acknowledging that topiary isn't for everyone, Buesing said the bread and butter of his business was traditional landscape design, but that topiary is a distinctive garden feature. "Topiary is for people who get off on seeing plants and thinking about sculpture," said Buesing. "It's for people who want to take plants a step further."