Easy, Homemade Topiary/Mother's Gift Idea

Topiaries are beautiful pieces of living sculpture that bring beauty to a garden, deck, or house. They can be a bit pricey if you buy them premade at the store, which is a shame because they can be quick, easy, and cheap to make.

To any fathers of young children reading this blog, this is also a great Mother's Day gift idea to help your kids make for mommy.

Here is a step-by-step tutorial on how to make a heart shaped topiary.
 

You'll need an ivy, metal hanger, a pot w/soil, and a pair of pliers. Optional:floral wire and a stick

Using the pliers, straighten the hook of the hanger. Use the pliers and your hands to shape the rest of the hanger into a heart shape. The heart doesn't have to be perfect because the frame will be covered by the ivy.

You can push the hanger directly into the pot until the heart portion of the hanger touches the soil, or, you can secure the hanger to a stick with floral wire, (or twine, fishing line, etc) and push the stick into the soil.  

Plant the ivy in the pot and carefully wind it around the heart frame. Check your ivy once or twice a week and wind any new growth around the frame. Ivy grows quickly, so you should have a full topiary in a few weeks time. You can leave your topiary outside.

Or bring it inside.

If young kids will be making this for Mother's Day, obliviously, there are some steps they will need help with, (anything to do with pliers), but they will have a blast picking out the ivy from the nursery and helping wind the ivy around the frame. This will be a gift any mother would be proud to show off for years to come.

Enjoy!