Personalize your exterior with 100% maintenance free HedgeScapes

Who knew that a few plants could make such a huge difference in the way you feel about the exterior of your home? I'm realizing just how important a little greenery is, and how much fun it is to have another area to decorate and personalize. One week with this fun little topiary greeting me morning and night and I'm already smitten. 

When we first moved into our house, the one thing that bothered me was how prominent our garage doors were in our house plan. They were nice doors, with windows and all, but they just seemed so BIG and eye catching. I had dreams of adding some fun topiaries on either side of our garage, so I went out a spent way too much for some spiral trees and planted them in the faux zinc planters I bought for this purpose.

Unfortunately, I forgot to factor in the garage overhang and roof coverage of the area, and it turns out that those planters get absolutely zero rainfall. I, of course, was not watering them, thinking that the Pacific Northwest rain would take care of that for me. As you can imagine, my pricey trees ended up in the compost bin. And, then I was bothered by my empty planters for almost 10 years, waiting for the perfect faux plant to fill them.
Well, I'm happy to say that I finally found that perfect faux plant, and my planters are now happily filled. I found HedgeScapes.com this spring and had so much fun looking through the pages and imagining them adding some life to the front of our house. I decided on the boxwood topiary because I loved the bright green color and I loved that they were tall enough to add some greenery, but not so tall that they would be distracting.

When they arrived, I quickly got to work getting the planters ready for placement. To start, I poured in sand in the bottom of the planters to help weigh them down and add a little height as well as give the boxwood topiary a level base to rest upon. Then, I placed in the boxwood topiary base, wedging the base into the sand to level the topiary and keep it centered in the planter. Next, I covered the sand with large rocks to keep the topiary in place and secure it in the planter. This also mostly covered the plastic base that the topiary comes in, which I was really happy about. I have plans to add some smaller rocks around the larger ones to fill in the holes, but for now I'm happy with the way they look and how stable they are. Once they were in and stabilized, all that was left to do was stand back and admire. But, if you know me, you know that I probably did not stand back and admire and instead I started brainstorming ways that I could personalize them and add even more fun to the front of the house. 

Here's just a few options for adding some more fun and whimsy to your outdoor topiary:

Option 1: Lighted topiaries
I found these awesome battery operated light strands that are a great length to wrap around the topiaries. We rarely do outdoor lights on the house during the holidays, so I know the kids will LOVE decorating these trees with light strands to turn on and off automatically.

Of course, I could leave them out year-round if I wanted, but I love being able to change things up each season, so I'm going to plan on lighting them in fall and winter. Note: It's important that the light strand be rated for outdoor use to indicate that the battery pack is water tight or even a little bit of moisture will ruin the strand. Option 2: Bunch of blossoms
I've had some awesome faux blossom stems kicking around for a few years and I've tried them in different vases and planters, but nothing seemed quite right. Until now.After playing with them for a bit, I realized that if I cut the stems they would tuck nicely into the core of the boxwood topiary to add another dimension of fun. I took scissors to the stems and cut the branches so each small stem held a few blossoms. I then attached those stems to the inner core of the topiary, securing them with floral tape or thin wire when necessary. The result is just stunning in person, and I love how springy they look. Who doesn't love a tree with blossoms? Really, the only issue with blossom trees is that they lose their blooms so quickly. Now, I can have them bloom however long I would like and then change them out when I want something new.Option 3: Seasonal Tree

My kids love anything creative and are always trying to convince me to decorate for every holiday that pops up on the calendar, whether I have decorations or not. Now, I can send them outside and encourage them to add durable, homemade decorations to the topiaries for every holiday they would like. From nature-inspired Christmas ornaments, decorating with plastic Easter eggs for spring, or adding spooky skeletons for Halloween, I know they are going to love decorating these over and over again.

For now, though, I'm enjoying my spring blossom topiaries and enjoying the fact that they are no-maintenance, because I have exactly zero time to garden these days. But, not having time to garden doesn't mean that my home is lacking in greenery, because this little guy {and his twin on the other side} greet me every time I leave or return home. I love that it adds a bit of softness to the rock exterior, and that no one but me knows the are faux fauna.The kids really enjoyed helping me personalize our topiaries, and I know they have big plan for them throughout the year as we decorate for holidays and seasons. This little one was super proud of her flower arranging skills and how she helped add blossoms to our boxwood topiary.I have big plans to add some greenery to our front porch with HedgeScapes later this year, since I have the same watering issues there that I do by the garage. I really want some 100% maintenance free options to replace the cheap faux plants I had there years ago that were horribly sun-bleached after one summer and I know HedgeScapes is the way to go. After checking out the HedgeScapes site, I was blown away by all the options for adding greenery to homes, businesses, and for events.

Want to know more about HedgeScapes and the products they offer? Check out the HedgeScapes site and follow them on Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, and Google+. How would you personalize your topiaries? Share in the comments below!