By Jim McCausland, Sunset senior garden writer

When I was at Monrovia Nursery this summer, I watched a remarkable crew of artisans give perfect spiral cuts to white spruces (Abies glauca) in minutes. It might take you and me longer, but it’s still possible and a fair amount of fun. Just start with a fairly full, symmetrical, containerized evergreen conifer. If you give it a bad haircut, just keep it out of sight until it grows in, then try again.

The artisan I watched started the process by roughing in her design with a pair of Felco bypass pruners. For finish work, she used hedge shears which she alternately held right-side up and right-side down, whatever her angle of attack required.

Her methods work on any kind of evergreen at any size that you can reach with shears. When your confidence reaches Michelangelo level, you can tackle in-the-ground broadleaved evergreens. The swan pictured in the Seattle front yard below shows what’s possible.