This week I wanted to share how I made the trees and topiaries for our Palm Sunday event. These would also be a great project to DIY for an upcoming wedding or garden party. They would even be lovely on your front porch as long as it’s protected. Trying to stay within a budget is not easy when you are working on something as big as this project was. So instead of spending thousands of dollars on pre-made realistic looking trees, I made six of them from scratch. We needed size, volume, color, depth and dimension particularly for the closed and open tombs. Were they authentic to the time period and geographic location? Absolutely not! However, I chose to go with a green and creamy white color palate for this event which helped me stay closer to my budget. I also tried to use a lot of what I already had on hand. Sometimes you have to compromise on authenticity versus cost.

I started with inexpensive plant containers because I knew they would be hidden either inside another nicer container or covered with burlap. I set my wooden sticks, tree trunks, in each container with painters tape to keep them centered, then added river rocks for weight in the bottom to keep them from being top heavy once they were finished with the greenery.

The next step was to add spray foam from the hardware store. We used a lot of these for different parts of this entire project. I’m guessing we used close to 30 cans! You have to be extremely careful with this stuff as it grows more than you think it will, and it does not come off of your skin or out of your clothing if you get it on it. You will also want to do this project in your garage with a plastic drop cloth underneath in case any foam decides to go crazy. And yes, sometimes it does! Once dry, it turns into a hard foam that you can cut or carve with a serrated knife if you need to.

I left these to dry for a minimum of 4 days as I used so much of it. Don’t push on it as it dries or it will “burp and spit” wet foam on your favorite jacket… I may have learned this the hard way years ago. 😊 Just let it dry at its own pace. Use less than you think you will need, and make sure you get it down into the cracks of the rocks in the base of your container as well as around your wooden tree trunks that you’ve made with sticks.

Once the foam is dry, you can wire your leaves on to create your trees. I used large palm leaves I found for 50% off at J & J Nursery in Layton, Utah. Much cheaper than buying a ready-made tree.

Once my leaves were wired in place, I went back and secured them permanently with hot glue being careful not to let it drip down my wooden sticks.

Then I carefully wrapped over the top of the leaf stems, wire and hot glue with a thick diameter of jute twine from Hobby Lobby. This is a type of knot I used back in the 70’s when I made macrame plant hangers, which are actually trending again! 😊 It is called a “Wrapping Knot” or a “Gathering Knot”. You can Google those words to view tutorials on how it’s done. I also love using this knot for the stems of boutonnieres and some more rustic wedding bouquet handles using thinner jute twine.

The willow ball trees were a bit more intensive as they required one wrapping knot to attach the willow branches to my wooden stick tree trunks. Then another wrapping knot to secure the ends of the willow branches lower down on the tree trunks to form the willow cage ball. You must use extremely fresh willows to make these or they will snap. Because the willow branches were not quite as thick as I had hoped they would be, and I knew I would be filling these balls with faux flowers and greenery, I added a small woven basket at the base of each willow ball using the same heavy jute twine I used for the wrapping knots.

I loved how these turned out! They helped fill the large empty spaces at the event, adding color and texture to the closed and empty tombs. Mixed with many of the other arrangements I made, it didn’t look sparse and that was my goal.

The two topiary trees were made using the same stick, rocks and foam process that I used to secure the larger trees with the variation of using two round foam balls at the top of each stick. I used many different variations of greenery to create the topiary balls at the top of each stick.

It’s important to always cover your mechanics. This can be done with greenery garlands, greenery wreaths, or moss. I used all three on the six trees I made. I learn something new each time I create something, and I love that! I have discovered that learning creates LIGHT! I absolutely LOVE to learn how to do new things often through trial and error and figuring things out on my own. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.

When it doesn’t turn out, I do my best to figure out a way to make it differently so that it does. In the end, I can usually come up with a solution.

But there are times that I just have to chalk it up to a learning experience and give myself credit for trying. 😊 Thankfully this project turned out better than I had envisioned!

My wish for you this week is to try something new! Learn how to do something you’ve never done before. Sure, it can be a little intimidating and scary, but you were born with skills, talents and gifts meant for you to uncover and discover. Sharing these with others brings LIGHT to you and to them! If you want more information on creating trees and topiaries from scratch, feel free to message me! I’d love to help! Have a great week and go create some LIGHT!

Love Ya, Les 😊

Create

Making Trees and Topiaries From Scratch