Topiary Care – Inside and Outside

One thing that I have not discussed here is topiary care. A lot depends on what you’ve planted your topiary with, but topiary are unusual planters with their own logistical quirks.

Topiary care outside

Larger topiary, like Fred, can live in your garden as long as you’ve planted them either with annuals, or with winter hardy succulents like Hens & Chicks. I’ve seen rose cones suggested as a winter cover, but since these guys are kind of big, maybe a Styrofoam cooler would work. Either way, you’ll want to keep it in an area where it’s protected from snow and rain for the winter.

Watering outdoor topiary is as simple as a spray with the hose. One of the fabulous things about sphagnum moss is how readily it will absorb water. Plenty of commercial potting mixes are near impossible to re-wet once they’ve dried out, but moss always soaks it right up. The flip side of that is if you have a long rainy stretch, and you’ve planted your topiary with succulents you may need to move it to a more sheltered spot.

Topiary Care Inside

One thing worth pointing out first is that not all succulents tolerate being grown in moss. The spiky green one I originally planted in this planter quickly rotted, and again when I replaced it with another the same. Since then I’ve replaced it with a different upright succulent that does fine growing in the moss.

In a newly planted topiary – like the toad – I check on the plants often to make sure they aren’t showing any signs of rot, especially that one because I’ve never grown stone plants before.

Indoors, just like most pots, chicken wire topiary can mark surfaces so you will need a tray or saucer. I like the cheap clear plastic saucers and size my topiary to fit them. I let the topiary I keep dry out completely before watering, and when I do water them I just fill the saucer. The water gets soaked up through the feet without saturating the moss.

Planting your topiary

Please don’t think you’re limited to succulents when you plant your topiary! Any low-growing plant will work, I can’t wait to try seed begonia in my outdoor turtles as soon as the garden centers open. Indoors, I’ve planted one with mini African Violets. You could try Baby Tears, creeping thyme, English Ivy or even a snake plant. Use whatever plants grow well for you and make you happy!

When I’m planting my topiary some leaves will get knocked off, succulents almost seem designed to drop their leaves easily. I take any leaves in good condition and allow them to dry out for a bit. Once the stem end dries, I lay them on top of some soil and wait to see if they’ll start a new plant. I’ve had some successes but they take a long time to grow!

If you do happen to make a topiary from one of my tutorials I would love to hear about it. You could even post a photo to twitter and give me a shout – @shadegarden.

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Five on Friday, April 7th

This past week flew by again! In case you missed it, I’ve started working on adding video to some of my tutorials. My first attempt at video was a huge learning process that took up a lot of my weekend and evenings. Which means I did not join nearly as many link parties this week. So this week’s 5 are from my Pinterest boards.

First up are these Easter Bunny eggs from Nifty Thrifty Things. With their crochet nests and wire ears, even a plain egg looks pretty darn cute.

Continuing with the bunny theme – I adore these Layered bunnies from Scrollsaw Woodworking & Crafts. I don’t have a scroll saw, but I do have a jigsaw and with the free pattern, I think I can make a few of these for my garden.

And one more bunny – an origami one! I can’t decide which one is cuter, the natural colored one or the one made from white paper.

If you have some orange and green paper in your scrap bag, these little drawstring carrot treat bags are pretty cute too! If you don’t have the right colors in you scrap bag, some fat-quarters would work too.

And last up – how about some washi tape Easter eggs? Drugstore Divas gave some of those plastic eggs a make-over that looks pretty fab.

I also have two projects of my own completed this week. The first one involved a quick fix for my Skechers. Anybody that has a pair of the Gosteps will tell you they are divinely comfortable, but they have one teeny little issue that I’ve fixed on my own pair. I also created another topiary for you. This one is a Toad, or possibly a frog prince. You decide!

You can check out all of my Five on Friday shares >>here<<. Happy Friday and happy crafting!

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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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A Quick Fix for Smelly Skechers

I bought a pair of Skechers last year and they are absolutely my most comfy pair of shoes. In fact, the only reason I don’t wear them all the time is because they either smell too bad to wear or they’re in the wash to get de-funked. Which is a bummer because they’re the perfect cute little shoe to wear with casual capris or crop pants. So I decided to take a stab at solving the problem.

Please note: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. If you purchase an item through my affiliate links, this has no effect on the price you pay for these items. It simply means this site will receive a small commission on your purchases.

Supplies to fix smelly Skechers

How I fixed my smelly Skechers.

Before I did anything to my shoes, I did a couple of test applications on some scrap fabric.

First I put 3 drops of Dritz Fray Check in a line along the instep of my shoes. I left it to fully dry, then punched a hole in each spot.

Using the eyelet pliers, I set an eyelet in each hole. Then I applied Dritz Fray Check on the inside of the shoe all around each eyelet.

I’ve been wearing mine around the house without socks and it’s actually helped! I’ll probably still have to wash them once in a while, but if I can wear them more than a day or two before they’re unbearable I’m happy. The only other alternative is to completely remove the memory foam insoles.

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The Owl Herb Planter

The last topiary I made was an owl – you can see it >>here<<. I did not love or even like the way he looked once I stuffed him with moss and planted him. So I pulled out all the plants and moss expecting to discard the rest. Except once he was empty, I loved him again.

In the meantime, I had purchased some herbs with the idea of using them to resurrect the bunny – which I actually love but not with plants in it. But I had forgotten how much the dogs love eating herbs!

Now I’m perfectly willing to share a bit, but I know from experience that once the dogs start grazing on a plant, it’s not too long before I’m left with a bit of root and dirt on the living room floor and an empty pot of dirt. While I was trying to come up with a way to let them graze a bit without being able to completely uproot the plants, I had a Eureka moment!

I turned the Owl Topiary into an Owl Herb Planter!

I used some heavier gauge wire to create two circles for eyes and secured them in place with some light-weight florist wire. Then I scuffed up the surface of a plastic planter with a sanding pad. I spray painted the owl and the planter with Rust-Oleum Chalked paint in Serenity Blue.

I wanted the bowl to have the look of an old zinc planter so I dry-brushed some silver paint on the planter, and scuffed the paint on the owl with my sanding sponge.

It looks a bit odd to have the plants so tight to the middle but it will hopefully prevent the dogs from pulling the plants right out of the soil. This pot fits perfectly in the top of a tomato cage that goes in one of my rare sunny corners so I will probably add something around the edges to trail down from the pot.

Here’s a close up so you can see the ‘eyes’.

If you would like to make the owl cloche, check out my Owl Topiary post. Just leave him unstuffed.

If you enjoyed this post, don’t forget to share it with your friends! For more just like it follow me on Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter or sign up for regular updates by email.

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