Beginner Gardening: Are you interested in Topiary, 0 by DATURA12

DATURA12 wrote:
Here is a project in progress....I don't normally use frames for my topiaries. I won this one so I decided to use it, its simply a boxwood with the frame slipped over the top. The frame is about a foot high and eighteen inches wide. I am letting the box grow to about two inches outside of the frame so that the frame will not be seen. It will take a full year I expect to fill it. I check it on a regular basis and clip whatever growth is more than two inches. This forces the plant to fill in foliage. In this case I do not have to do what is called "selective pruining" which I use in all other topiaries without frames. Selective pruining is used to control the size and direction of the new growth.

I am not a big fan of frames that are stuffed with moss, wrapped in fishing line with a few spotty plants growing on them, I rarely use them, only if I am forced to. True old school topiaries are not created in that way. The stuffed frame technique to me is a trying to pass itself off as a topiary. That technique is more about instant gratification. A topiary usually takes years to make, it is a labor of love.