Earlier in the school year, Passiglia’s Nursery and Garden Center located across Highway 109 from Lafayette received four topiaries in a shipment from New Jersey.

Passiglia’s has had topiaries annually since they were requested by customers.

“We carry them every year. We have done it for 20 years,” Julie Straatmann, Passiglia’s manager, said.

Three of the topiaries, or sculptures made out of shrubs, are shaped like deer and one is in the shape of a golfer.

The topiaries are for sale and run  $895 each. They cost this much because of the amount of time and work that is put into making them look like they should.

“It takes a long time,” Straatmann said. “You have to grow the plant to full size and then trim it out, and then it takes many years to keep them trimmed to fullness.”

The topiaries have not been very popular this year because of the care that they require.

“We thought people had an interest in topiaries but a lot of people don’t want to keep up and have maintenance like that,” Paul Passiglia, Passiglia’s sales associate, said.

Although the topiaries are not attracting any potential buyers, Passiglia’s has found a use for them.

“This Christmas [the topiaries] were set up as reindeer,” Passiglia said. “The guy that is out there is actually a golfer and he was supposed to be Santa Claus.”

To maintain the topiaries’ shape, the landscaping team at Passiglia’s trims them. “If you want to keep them really nicely trimmed, it would be every 60 days to keep up-to-date with [the topiaries’ growth],” Passiglia said, “that is if you have a lot of money and you have a gardener at your estate.”