The Three "T"'s

I adore topiaries

Between A Botanical Touch by Cynthia Gibson and Carolyne Roehm and her "Seasonal Notebooks",

I fell in love.

It was the mid 90s and I drooled over Cynthia's topiaries

and topiary forms.

They (topiaries) had not gotten to the prairie as yet!

But a girl can dream from afar and dream I did . . 

In 2000, I decided to host my first Valentine's Luncheon at Linderhof.

A girlfriend lunch to celebrate not love but friendship.

I had my table all planned, the menu fixed

And then I was in a market in the city

And what did they have?

Topiaries!!!!

Heart shaped ones and ball ones.

I was smitten with the heart shaped ones 

(for Carolyne had done something similar for a Valentine's table in one of her books)

But I really hoping to have a topiary for the long haul . .  .

A heart in March would be like the poinsettias in January

or the Easter lilies in May

passe!

So as much as I thought two hearts would make a great Valentine's centerpiece,

I bought instead

A ball

And just one --

One never should be too greedy!

It was a wonderful centerpiece for that very first Valentine's Luncheon

And it's a tradition we continue 

My annual luncheon for friends on Valentine's Day.

And as much as I like tradition,

the topiary isn't always my Valentine's centerpiece!

But it is like an old friend -- for "she" and I go back

almost 12 years!

Most times she stays in the east window of the upstairs sunroom.

She seems to like it up there

And she has orchids to keep her company

She was the first . . . 

but others followed.

Including myrtle topiaries.

I simply adore them.

You can find them readily now.

And you see such great pictures of them

sitting here and there in homes.

Usually in twos.

One on each end of something with "things" in between.

But alas, I've bought many a myrtle topiary

And I was not myrtle topiary worthy

For within a month or so I managed to kill them off.

Until . . . last April

I got this little guy -- the last one -- for $10 instead of $50

Once home, I repotted in one of the hand thrown pots I brought home from England.

And babied it and watched it

And it grew and another month passed and it grew some more

We're almost to the one year point and it is thriving!

It needs a haircut, I know.

It reminds me of a comedian in the 60's who had sort of wild hair!

And I will give it a trim.

I have a couple of times already!

These myrtle topiaries look good no matter where you place them

Either singly or in pairs!

I've got my fingers crossed that we'll celebrate the one year anniversary in a few months.

And then, I feel, that I can add myrtle topiary to my list of plant accomplishments.

My third . . .

A topiary form that the shopped called

"A Wobbler"

bought last August

the plant purchased from Wal Mart for a song

and planted in a Guy Wolfe pot

It lives in the breakfast room

And seems to be happy there

for I do think it's grown a bit since August

Don't you?

It's often on the breakfast room table

If there isn't anything else to put in the middle.

The rest of the time it lives on the floor in front of the windows.

My three topiary successes

come at the expense of a lot of failures.

I'd like to say that I bought the topiary

and was successful in cultivating it.

But no, there are a lot of "topiary graves" at Linderhof.

Plants bought that didn't make it.

But I am proud of my three success stories

And hopefully, they will encourage you to try you hand at these fun plants!

And my "girl"

Photo of  Miss "D" courtesy of Jeffrey Glenn

Reminded me that the title of this post should be

The Three "T''s and a "D"!!!

It's Wednesday and once again on the prairie it is too cold to even think about being outside.    I've got a big lasagna in the fridge for we're having company for dinner.     It's a good time of year to have company over!

I'm joining Susan at A Southern Daydreamer for Outdoor Wednesday.