Jeff is a terrific gift giver.  I don’t know how he can choose just the thing that is meaningful to the person receiving his choice.  One gift that my husband gave me was a fig ivy covered giraffe topiary.  This adorable living ornament measured about 1 foot wide and 1.5 feet tall and had the sweetest expression you ever saw.  What a wonderful gift that ignited my interest in topiary.  

     It is interesting that growing plants trimmed to shapes was written about by Pliny the Younger.  He lived from 61-113 AD and is well known due to his writing and publishing 9 books of letters.  He describes the topiary that was grown in his own garden and the Roman gardens of the time.  It describes very elaborate animals, geometric shapes and figures being shaped into art with plants.  

     Topiary has waxed and waned in popularity as a gardening art form.  Sometimes it has gained popularity due to being able to grow trees and shrubs in walled in gardens such as during the medieval period.  It can also be used to grow food in tight spaces such as espaliered fruit trees against walls.  

     Well, I have been interested in trying a larger topiary for a long time and this year we are going to give it a real go.  After some hemming and hawing, I finally decided to grow a pair of Improved Meyer Lemons as clipped tops on single stems.  This variety is grafted on Flying Dragon rootstock which has the benefit of greater cold hardiness, disease resistance and an advantageous dwarfing characteristic.  These attributes create a plant suited for container growing.  The other reason I’m attracted to this tree is for the fruit!  I am excited to have the beautiful yellow lemons contrasting with the glossy foliage of the lemon tree.  We discovered somme ollas made by The Dripping Springs Ollas Company at The Natural Gardener.  So beautifully made and perfect to incorporate into the containers.  I plan to use this method in watering the Lemon Topiary.  

     We are also going to go with tried and true Japanese Boxwood in a much smaller size.  I have thought to trim them in a ball form but still thinking on that one.  Jeff and I visited three garden centers before I found boxwoods growing in a small enough size to fit the cute containers we already had but you know I enjoyed every minute of the searching.  

     While delving into topiary I discovered that a great many plants are suitable for clipping into interesting shapes that grow well in our area.  My imagination is reeling just thinking of Sunshine Ligustrum, maybe a Lorapetulum or Silverberry (Eleangus) and quite possibly a Yaupon Holly.  The list is ever expanding but let’s see how the Improved Meyer Lemon works out first.  

     Wishing each of you a happy week in the garden!