The shrubs are in topiary form.

Seating, tables and gazebos are 25 to 40 percent cheaper; smaller items like topiary forms and hanging baskets are 10 to 15 percent less.

The 39-inch round table below, made of two half-rounds, is $735; topiary forms start at $65 and baskets start at $50; www.bluegreentrading.com or (212)988-1486.

The garden is also featuring a display of six "Sesame Street" characters in topiary form, including Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch.

For the ballroom, he dipped English ivy leaves in liquid floor wax to extend their life before they were glued on mock topiary forms.

But house plants, too, are amenable to sculpturing and are often trained in a variety of elegant topiary forms.

Uses for dwarf myrtle: This shrub is often grown for screening or as a hedge and can also be pruned into topiary forms.

Dwarf jasmine is a container plant or trained around topiary form.

Sculptural topiary forms are found everywhere from garden centers to antiques shops to downtown design stores.

A grand axis between the village and woods was laid out, an alley linden trees was planted, along with yew trees strimmed into topiary forms.