Wednesday, August 16, 2006

I Love Topiary



I love topiary! I think it is a perfect meld of my love of gardening and my taste in design. I would love to have a classic European garden. It would have lovely shaped boxwood edges, vistas of fountains and statuary framed with evergreen, and secret rooms walled in by hedges older than I, and entered in through green arches. Maybe even a labrynth for playing hide and seek in. Of course, I'd need a legion of gardeners with hedge trimmers in hand to achieve that. Instead I try to create my own much more modest versions.

The heart one above is one I've done more than once. It is really easy, just a metal coat hanger shaped into a heart. I don't even untwist the hook of the hanger. I just straighten out the hook and poke it into a pot of ivy. I then wind the ivy around the wires. Ivy is a great houseplant for those who are watering challenged like myself. They actually like to dry out between waterings. This one I water just once a week, despite its tiny pot.

I made a globe shaped one once by reshaping the wire hanger off of a hanging plant. To cover the wire "stem" I twisted the vines smoothly around it, removing the leaves along them till they reached the globe section.



This is my biggest version. Purchased wire topiary forms can be expensive, so one day at the hardware store I had an inspiration. I picked up a tomato cage that was proportional to the pot I planned on using. First, I tied the three wires that usually poke into the ground together with a bit of wire. (It actually was the wire out of a twist tie!) I heated the wire tips over a flame on my stove and used needle nose pliers to curl them under. Then I spray painted the whole thing with flat black paint, stuck it in my pot and planted the ivy. The whole thing cost me $2. Unfortunately, I had to leave it behind in Utah when we moved. (Which also explains the poor picture of it.)

My next topiary project is a pair of these:



I want to try trimming them into spirals when they get a bit bigger. I'm adding ivy around the edges to hang over the sides. The trimmings are actually coming from my heart topiary above. Ivy cuttings root really easily. I just stick the ends of them into water till they have enough roots to plant.

Maybe, someday I'll be brave enough to try a chicken. Or an elephant. Emily would love that. (She keeps asking me if she can have a pet elephant.)

12 comments:

  1. I love topiaries too! What great ideas!

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  2. Those are BEAUTIFUL! I have no gardening talent. None. Zip. But that heart topiary looks do-able, even to a garden-phobe like myself!

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  3. WOW another secret learned. I wish I had your talent.

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  4. Love it! Thanks for the wire hanger tip. :)

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  5. I came home once and made a topiary after talking to you about them. You are inspiring!!! Unfortunately it died in our last move. I have an ivy that I should get growing on one. I think your heart idea would be fun for it. Your spiral pines will be fun. DH tried out his talents on his parents bushes and made them look like dr. seuss plants. They actually look pretty neat. Your "dream" garden sounds fabulous.

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  6. Nettie, Nettie! You're so sweet. You always comment on my bloggy, I wonder how you always know what to say? All I can come up with, is "I like your topiary." Which sounds kinda dumb. But I want you to know I've been enjoying your pictures of vacation and projects, even when I don't know what to say. *hugs*

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  7. I love topiaries too! I've never made my own, but I'll have to try. I have a really cute one in my living room. It's kind of shaped like a ball, but it has flowers all over it. Soo cute!

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  8. Topiaries are so cool - these are great!

    My wedding centerpieces were tulip topiary - about ten tulips tied really tightly the length of the stems and a big ball of tulip blooms at the top. LOVED them...

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  9. I so want to be like you when I grow up. You are one talented mama!

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  10. I have always wanted a topiary animal in my yard. I am sure it would be the envy of the neighborhood. Your plants are lovely.

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