Planting & Caring For Your Topiary

Planting Tutorial

Spring green frogs, majestic elephants, purring cats, fluffy rabbits. Animals have always lifted our spirits and brought joy to our lives.
What fun, then, to introduce ‘botanical animals’ to your garden! A ‘Creeping Jenny’ cat on your windowsill, ‘Hens & Chicks’ tyrannosaurus in the forest, ‘Woolly thyme’ poodle on the patio, ‘Periwinkle’ alligator by the pool or ‘Bugleweed’ dachshund guarding the back door. Choose an animal that is meaningful to you, or to someone you love.

Then create the unique…

Some Considerations

1. PLANT TEXTURE: Take a few moments to look at your animal. Then look for plants which best represent it. Fur, feathers, mane; smooth, fluffy, scaly. Picture your animal dressed in plants. Don’t forget detail: whiskers in kittens, stripes for bees, and eyes for personality! Plant color can create a pattern in your animal.

2. SCALE: Smaller leaved plants work best on smaller animals. The idea is to compliment, not overwhelm the form.

3. CULTURE: It is best to use plants that like the same conditions. We tend to use succulents which are drought tolerant. Rockery type plants which are invasive and low growing make great topiaries.

4. OVERWINTERING
1) Water well before frost
2) Mulch and /or move to a protected area or unheated garage near a window (water here about once a month)

3 WAYS TO CREATE TOPIARY

1. PLACE FORM OVER A LIVING PLANT: and let the plant (box wood, euonymus, ivy) grow into the form. Trim the plant until it fills the form.

2. PLANT FROM THE OUTSIDE OF THE FORM: soak the moss filled form in water and let drain. If you have 'cell pack' sized plants (3/4”-1 ½” sq.) you can poke a hole into the damp moss from the outside of the form and insert the plant.

3. PLANT FROM INSIDE OF THE FORM: soak the moss filled form in water and let drain. Snip the plastic connecting ties and open the form into its parts. (This is exclusive to Green Piece Garden Art) Pull out some of the moss. Remove a little of the soil from around the root ball and insert your plant into the form. Wiggle the leaves up through the wires. Repack the moss around the roots. When planted, reattach the form with the cable ties provided.
If using 2 or 3 above, water with starter fertilizer 10-52-10 & keep in a shaded area, out of the wind for several days before moving to the selected area in your garden. Check for water daily, as you would a hanging basket. Fertilize every other week with a 20-20-20.
Planting a topiary, taking care of it, determining its development and watching it grow-is a rewarding and fulfilling craft and art.

This is just the beginning!
Have Fun!

Plants at Play

Topiary brings out the 'imagination' in all of us! You're not creative you say! Not so, says I!
Keep in mind that rockery plants work best--ground hugging, drought or shade tolerant.
Then, there are 5 easy steps that will take your topiary garden from mundane to magnificent!
1) Plant Texture
2) Pattern
3) Color & Scale
4) Culture
5) # of Plants Needed

Let's pick an animal to dress--the horse for example. (Horse aficionados 'bear' with me.) Whether you are thinking Pinto, or Arabian, horses have a short-haired coat and long mane and tail. (Perhaps a carousel horse comes to mind. But that's a 'horse of a different color'.)

With the horse in mind, let's go through our five steps.
1) Plant Texture
A plant that is long and slim would represent the mane and tail. Grasses tend to be our choice. (But I won't get on my 'high horse')
The body can be any low growing plant to give a smooth look. We tend to use sedums as they are drought tolerant. (Pick something colorful for your carousel horse eg. Tri-color sedum.). And eyes. Eyes of hens and chicks, colored stones, cacti, give personality.
Don't 'hold your horses'; look around your garden or local garden center and think "horse" while contemplating plants.
2) Pattern
Going back to your original horse, does it have a pattern? The painted horse could have a plant that comes in two colors eg sedum acre in the green and gold. Can't you just picture it?
3) Color and Scale
The use of color is always fun. Color can create pattern for your animal. It can also be an unexpected bonus when your plant flowers. For contrast the horse could have a dark mane and tail, and light body (or visa versa)
Scale is simple: the smaller the animal the smaller leaved plants work best. The idea is to compliment not overwhelm the form.
4) Culture
Again, this is simple. Whatever plants you choose to represent your animal, they all should like the same conditions. Having said this there are exceptions. If you are going to plant in the ears, legs, any of the smaller portions of the animal, these tend to dry out faster than the body. For this reason we tend to leave these parts unplanted as they look great just left mossed. We use plants to highlight the rest of the form. This is just a personal decision.
5) # of Plants Needed
Are you having a garden party and need spectacular, instantly? Plant every 2inches. If you plan to watch the season's growth unfold, plant every 4 to 6 inches.
By now you have the situation reined in. Choose an animal that is meaningful to you or someone you love. Then, well, just 'horse around'!