Strauchwerk

Strauchwerk is a landscape-design term derived from the German words strauch for shrub and werk for work or construction. It describes the use of shrubs and small trees as a primary architectural material in outdoor spaces, including hedges, living walls, and topiary forms that shape the landscape and provide structure, texture, and seasonal interest.

Historically, the practice is linked to European garden traditions dating from the Renaissance and Baroque periods, when clipped shrubs and geometric borders defined axes and spatial order in formal gardens. In contemporary landscaping, Strauchwerk also encompasses more naturalistic approaches that prioritize native species, ecological considerations, and lower maintenance while still using shrubs to create bounds, screens, or sculptural elements.

Techniques commonly associated with Strauchwerk include regular pruning to maintain shape, training flexible branches along supports to form arches or alleys, and careful species selection based on growth habit, texture, and flowering. Maintenance cycles are typically seasonal, balancing growth with health and aesthetic goals. Designers may combine evergreen and deciduous shrubs to achieve year-round structure and color, and often integrate Strauchwerk with other plant layers, hardscape features, and outdoor rooms.

Strauchwerk finds application in parks, botanical gardens, and private landscapes, where it serves functions such as privacy screens, windbreaks, sound attenuation, and ornamental form. Variants range from formal, closely clipped hedges to expansive shrub borders and pleached or living walls that create defined outdoor spaces without rigid masonry.

See also: topiary, hedge, garden design, pleaching.