Make a Topiary in Less Than 20 Minutes

Bookmark and Share


Remember those pots I spray painted with the hammered metal paint? Well, I planted them with Bacopa and I intend to train the Bacopa to grow on my homemade topiary form. It was so ridiculously easy, I thought I’d share what I did and encourage you to try it out for yourself.

Topiary is an old artform. It dates way back to the time of Julius Caesar. To do it “right” you don’t use a metal form to guide the plant. You carefully snip a slow growing plant like Boxwood into the desired shape. While I can appreciate how beautiful the end result is, quite frankly, I don’t have the patience for something like that.

Here’s what I did:

  1. Purchase 14 guage black wire from the hardware store. I found it in the electrical section. I bought 50 feet for less than $10. I made two topiary forms and still have enough wire let over to make several more.
  2. Get out a medium sized pot and wrap the wire tightly around the lip of the pot to shape the wire into a perfect circle.
  3. Then, while the wire is still wrapped around the pot, twist the ends together several times, and leave a 4 inch tail.
  4. Repeat step three so that you have two circles with tails.
  5. Arrange the two circles so that they criss-cross and use a twist tie to hold them together at the top.
  6. Then insert the tails into the soil in the middle of a pot already planted with the Bacopa, or other plant with long flexible stems, like Ivy.
  7. Gently twist the stems of the Bacopa around the wires.
  8. Voila! A topiary in 20 minutes.
Update: Check out the bacopa topiary all finished!
September 12, 2008 | Filed Under General 



Comments

5 Responses to “Make a Topiary in Less Than 20 Minutes”

  1. Cynthia on September 12th, 2008 8:19 pm

    I love this idea! Have you seen how expensive those topiary forms can be in catalogs? I am going to for sure be trying this out. Also, I never would have thought to train Bacopa into a topiary. I bet it will be pretty.

  2. jen on September 12th, 2008 8:26 pm

    Love that simple but great idea.
    Jen

  3. Roberta on September 13th, 2008 12:46 pm

    This is so great, Fern. I love topiaries (sp?). Maybe I’ll give it a try.

  4. Fern on September 13th, 2008 11:22 pm

    Cynthia — I didn’t even dare to look.

    Jen — Thanks!

    Roberta/Mom — If you do, I’d be glad to help.

  5. 20 Minute Topiary Update : Life on the Balcony on October 22nd, 2008 6:00 am

    [...] that topiary I made out of some electrical wire and a Bacopa plant? Well, in a little over a month the Bacopa has completely covered the topiary form. Of course, being [...]

Leave a Reply