Topiary Toad

I did not set out to create a topiary toad this week. The plan was actually to create a hanging planter that looked like a purse. But then I saw a bunch of stone plants, aka Lithops and plans suddenly changed.

Stone plants are pretty cool looking in a warty kind of way and since toads are warty too – we now have a topiary toad to join the turtles. The little guy above was my ‘muse’.

A bit about stone plants

With succulents that form clumps or mats, it’s easier (and cheaper) to plant them if I separate the individual plants as much as possible. These came apart fairly easily, so instead of paying $2.99 each for a lot of pots, I bought a few pots at $3.99 and wound up with more plants.

When I read up on the care of these odd little plants, I learned in their native habitat, most of the plant is underground to conserve moisture and avoid being lunch. So the surface is actually little solar collectors to feed the plant. They call for no watering from fall to spring, so they’ll need watching to see if they tolerate growing in moss.

Making the Topiary Toad

I’m still brushing up on my video skills, but I did make this one as short as I could. I also avoided talking during it so it could play faster. I do hope you enjoy it!

Here’s how the form looks stuffed with moss and ready for planting. You can see where I’ve made bulges to represent the eyes.

I’ve taken so many pictures of this little toad, but none of them showed how amazingly cute he really is. He looks just like a toad hunkered down in the garden would.

So I added more succulents. Better, but he was still missing something.

He needed eyes! The bumps just weren’t cutting it, but those springy looking eyes did the trick! What do you think? Did the eyes finish him off or does he need more something to go from Toad to Frog Prince?

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