Why “topiarist” is a great word
A person who practices or is skilled in the art of topiary, the trimming and training of trees or shrubs into ornamental shapes. From topiary (from Latin topiarius, "of or pertaining to ornamental gardening," from topia, "ornamental gardening," from Greek topia, plural of topion, diminutive of topos, "place") + the agent noun suffix -ist. Unlike a "gardener," whose domain is the general cultivation of a plot, or an "arborist," whose focus is the health and structural safety of trees, a topiarist is a sculptor whose medium is slow, green, and living. It is the patient snipping of boxwood into a perfect corkscrew, the guiding of yew into the form of a heraldic beast, and the silent communion required to maintain a geometry against nature's constant, soft rebellion—an exercise in imposing permanent order on a thing whose very essence is growth.