Cherry Laurel before prunning

The goal with a poodle topiary is to make the shrub look like a string of balls. You can prune many shrubs into this topiary shape, including Yew, Cherry Laurel, Cypress, Privet, and Pittosporum.

To begin, decide how many balls you would like. Two or three is typical. Then, decide if you would like each ball to be the same size, or if you would like the bottom ball to be bigger than the second, and then the second ball bigger than the top.

It helps to tie a ribbon where you would like to make your pruning cuts. Then, cut the branches below and above the ribbon to clear a space between the balls.

Multi-stemmed poodle topiary

If you have a multi-stemmed shrub, you can keep the thicker branches intact and just cut out the smaller branches and leaves; it will still look like there is space between two balls.

After you have cleared space between the balls, make small pruning cuts to shape as desired. You can attempt to make perfectly round balls, or you can make the balls flat on the top–or be as creative as you like.

The nice thing about working with plants is that if you don’t like how your garden artwork project turned out, the leaves will grow back.

Cherry Laurel poodle topiary

Why choose concrete lawn ornaments?

Concrete Garden Artwork

It may seem strange to use concrete as an ornamental material, but concrete is now being used for far more than simply laying paths or roads. It is a versatile material and relatively inexpensive, so it was no surprise when people started to look at alternative uses and particularly considered the garden as an area to utilize concrete. Concrete is made from cement, gravel, sand and water, is the most used manmade product on earth and is a $35 billion worldwide industry, employing 2 million people in the United States alone. You can trace its origins back to Babylonian times, but modern concrete, as we know it, has been in production since 1756 when a British engineer, John Smeaton, started using cement in the construction of concrete. Nowadays, a wide variety of recyclable materials are used in the production of concrete, so it is also environmentally friendly. Concrete has many properties that make it suitable for lawn ornaments; it has the ability to be molded to certain shapes; it has a high compressive strength, low elasticity and low-tensile strength. Concrete can also be painted, easily, so this gives it an added attraction when making concrete lawn ornaments.

Types of concrete lawn ornaments

The simplest and most widely seen garden concrete ornaments are the pillars, often a bird bath or a sundial. Bird baths made from concrete are stable, they will hold water, nuts, seeds and bread as they can be constructed as a shallow dish with a lip on which the birds perch. Sundials made from concrete can have the sundial mechanism fitted into the concrete at construction, or drilled into later, another good aspect of concrete you can drill it for fixings. Another popular use of concrete is to make stone garden benches, durable, solid and stable; you can see many concrete benches in the gardens of stately homes across Britain. Somewhat more whimsical uses of concrete developed in the 18th and 19th centuries with the advent of the garden statue, made of concrete. Popular themes for these statues were Greek influenced gods and goddesses; signs of the zodiac and various representations of wildlife. There are concrete deer lawn ornaments which reflected a tradition of hunting, but also harked back to mythology and paintings of paradise which always depicted deer and birds.

Looking after your concrete lawn ornaments

If you decide to add concrete garden ornaments to your lawn, paths or flowerbeds, you need to follow a few simple rules for taking care of the concrete. It can be painted, so if you choose the right paint then that can act as a protective covering. Part of the charm of concrete is how it looks as it weathers, so you do not want it to be kept too shiny and new. Using a concrete sealer will protect it against the rain, especially on the base, which often sits in water. If you can place your concrete lawn ornaments on a piece of wood, paving or deck block, that is good as it will keep them from getting soaked with mud. Choose and maintain your concrete garden ornaments carefully and they will last a lifetime.

Author Patricia Wainwright Resource: Get all the facts about landscape gardening and gardening articles at GreenThumbArticles.com!

Article Source: Concrete Lawn Ornaments

Article From: Organic Gardening Articles

Materials Needed to Build a Pebble Fountain

To build a pebble fountain, you’ll need the following materials:

• A preformed pond liner or pond bucket
• A fountain pump
• Something to cover the pond liner or bucket, such as a metal grate or chicken wire
• Bricks and rocks

Steps for Building a Pebble Fountain

Complete the following steps to build a pebble fountain.

1. Dig a hole and place a preformed pond liner or bucket in the hole. You can use anything sturdy that will hold water.

2. Place the fountain pump into the fountain. Depending on the depth of the fountain, you may need to add bricks for the next step.

3. Place a metal grate or chicken wire over the fountain or bricks. You can even recycle things you have around your backyard, such as a plastic carry tray from your last trip to the nursery. You’ll just need to cut a hole in the center of whatever you use to allow for the fountain tubing to go through.

4. Add rocks over the fountain to hide the pond liner and fountain parts. You can add enough rocks to completely fill up the fountain, or you can leave a shallow pool for the birds to drink and bathe.

5. Add water, plug in your fountain, and enjoy!

Building a pebble fountain is easy to do and adds a nice touch to any backyard.

By Shannon Mendez

When a frog is attracted to your yard, you will also have a natural way of eliminating your yard of pesty bugs and insects. A frog is a valuable little friend to have because it will repay you many times over by eating insects and cutworms that could damage your flowers and vegetables.

Directions For Making a Frog House

Frog house garden artwork made from a flower pot and painted with patio paint

Here’s how to build a frog house and let a frog know your garden is open for business. You will be recycling, as well.

Find a clay pot. It can be as small as six inches, but can also be bigger. You can also recycle other items to use for the frog house. You can cut a hole in a bowl or margarine tub and place it upside down. You can use a coffee can as long as it doesn’t have sharp edges.

Lay the pot on its side in a moist, shady spot in your garden. Push the pot down into the soil a bit so it is stable and doesn’t blow away. Bury about one-third of it in the dirt. The pot can even be cracked or broken–if so, be sure to put the damaged part under the soil.

Place the saucer from the clay pot near the frog house and fill it with water.  Any shallow saucer or pan can be used for the frog pool. Your new frog friend will enjoy sitting in this water, as a frog absorbs water through its skin instead of drinking it. If you want the frog pool to be pretty, you can add colored aquarium stones.

That’s all there is to it! Just as quickly as that, you’ve made a frog house for some lucky frog. If you locate it near a night light, you may be able to watch your frog eat insects that are attracted to the light.

As long as there is an abundance of wiggly, creepy, and buzzy things to zap, your frog may live in the frog house in your garden for a few years.

If you ever take the time to observe a frog, you will discover what a remarkable little amphibian it is. It is a very patient hunter that can eat thousands of bad insects and cutworms during summer months.

A frog hunts at night and waits quietly for something wiggly or creepy to pass by. Then the frog’s long, sticky tongue darts out. Zap! The wiggly or creepy thing disappears into the stomach of the frog. The frog doesn’t have teeth, so its food doesn’t even get chewed. What a natural, delicious way for you to be rid of flies, mosquitoes, and other insects you don’t want to have around.

So when you’re considering adding garden artwork and helping wildlife in your yard, remember the frogs.