My son really loves the Loch Ness Monster. While trolling the internet for images of his favorite magical creature we came upon this British topiary frame. It is a huge Nessie that would fit well on a large field or perhaps a palace lawn. Also it costs around $500. I have a small and shady Chicago yard and limited money to spend on my son's Nessie hobby so we came up with a much smaller and cheaper adaptation. I call this "part 1" because I am not really sure what to do with the thing now that it is ready. Hopefully in a month or so I will be able to add some photos of a verdant and mossy monster. For now I will provide directions on how to get started so you can make your topiary and get it planted up before summer.
This is how you make a small topiary. I made mine to remsemble a sea monster. You can get creative and make a heart, a dinosaur, whatever you want, Simple is better, obviously. I used lightweight chicken wire and pliers.
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| Take chicken wire and form it into the shape you want. I made a bunch of tubes and attached them to each other. I added pipe cleaner ears. |
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| When the frame is ready, fill it with soaking wet sphagnum moss. I bought a bag of this at a garden store. It expands quite a bit when it is wet (soak it for an hour or more) so a little goes a long way. |
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| I decided to place my sea monster in an Earthbox that we are not using. You could also put it directly into your garden. I used some bent wires (picture croquet hoops) to attach Nessie to the soil and keep her standing up. |
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| I clipped some ivy and planted it into the moss. It des not seem to be thriving but it also seems to till be alive so we will see what happens. |
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