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> How to Plant your Moss Filled Topiary
> Care of your Moss Filled Topiary

How to Plant your Moss Filled Topiary


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• Mossed Form (dried)
  
• Pins
  
• Chopsticks
  
• Plants if ordered
  
• Instruction Sheet

Soak Moss Filled Form

Use a large tub and submerge as much of the dried mossed form as possible in water. If the entire form doesn’t submerge, just flip it over to soak the other end. Depending on the size it is good to soak 1 to 24 hours. Allow the form to drain until it stops dripping.

Setup a Work Area

You will need a work space where you can work with the wet form and you can spread out the tools, supplies and plants. I like to use a Lazy Susan because it allows me to constantly turn my topiary form while I am planting.

Imagine Planting Plan

Lay your plants out and visually see how you might like to arrange them evenly on the topiary form. I like to plant our forms very full so they are ready for sale as soon as they are planted. However, spreading the plants out on the form will allow room for them to grow and fill in the form.

Plant Topiary Form

Once you have a planting plan, begin to add the unrooted cuttings to the topiary form by using the chopstick to make a small indentation in the moss. Stick the unrooted stem end into the moss. Nestle the stem of the cutting all the way in using the chop stick to make a hole so the plant rests on the moss. Since these plants are not rooted it is important to anchor the plants to the moss by using the pins provided in the topiary kit.

Sometimes you may need to use more than one pin to insure the cuttings are secure. In general, it does not hurt to push the pin through the cutting to get it secure.

Continue this process until you are satisfied with how many cuttings you have added to the form.

Do not leave your topiary outdoors if the temperature is going down below freezing. Likewise, do not leave your succulent topiary out in extreme heat. Even in some climates that get moderate heat in the summer your topiary may need some shade. The ideal temperature range for succulents is 50 to 75 degrees.

Pruning and maintaining shape

Monitor your topiary regularly. If you see a plant stretching out from the form and causing your topiary to lose shape clip off that plant as close to the topiary form as possible. Trim the length of the stem, make a new hole in the moss and pin it back to the moss to fill in the vacant spot. If you do this regularly maintenance will be simplified.

Sometimes your topiary many only need minor repairs by adding fresh cuttings where needed.

If your topiary has become over-grown and no longer recognizable it is time for a major repair. Cut off all the stretched plants, soak the form in a tub of water, and remove as many of the old pins as possible. Now your moss form can be replanted by following the original planting instructions.

Also see Care