What's with poodle bushes?

On Monday My son and I went to Disneyland. It was just the two of us and we had a wonderful time going from ride to ride as the mood hit us. It was a blast getting to see the renovations to rides we had not been on in a couple of years. Rides like Pirates of the Caribbean, the submarine and It's a Small World.

Although not my favorite ride I have fond memories of It's a Small World. It was one of my Gramie's favorite rides. The topiary outside It's a Small World ride make me smile. The well place animals are playful and fun. I remember looking at them when I waited in line with my grandmother many years ago. They were and still are a whimsical extension of the ride. A kind of entertaining view while both entering and leaving the inside portion of the ride.

As I was running several errands lately I noticed a multitude of well groomed bushes and hedges. None of them are topiary but for whatever reason many of them are oddly (although some would say artistically) shaped. I look at them and in some cases see the artistic beauty but mostly I see the loads of work it must take to maintain that well groomed look. Some are kind of nice while others are just kind of weird. They are everywhere. You can't drive down a street anywhere near here and not see one or more "fancy" shaped bushes.
Then I went with my daughter to a store to get her phone fixed and all down the street were trees with similar looking puff balls throughout them. I kind of smiled thinking they looked like something out of a Dr. Seuss book. On the way back from the store (and after our trip to Disneyland) I saw one bush that was simply a series of puffy balls throughout the bush. It struck me as kind of silly and Dr. Seuss like. It made me giggle. As I got closer to our house I drove past one more house with a puff ball bush and thought it looks like a poodle and really laughed.

I get adding the whimsy of a topiary in a place like Disney and maybe on a huge estate but I'm not much into the idea of a yard full of overly groomed oddly shaped shrubs.I don't get it. Why would you want something that takes that much work and looks so silly? Then I discovered how much people pay to have these bushes maintained. I'm a little too practical to pay that much or spend that kind of time on a poodle looking bush.

Then today it happened. I discovered one more reason not to have these goofy bushes. Again I'm driving along when I see a little fender bender. Really common where I live but the cause this time was too funny. The driver was craning his neck to see one of those bushes and bumped into a parked car. It was equally funny and sad!So the question is what is with all those poodle bushes?