diy myrtle topiary

I love, love, LOVE myrtle topiary; I think they may, quite possibly, be the chicest house plant, as much for the texture as the shape and pop of green, but despite my best efforts (or the $$$ I’ve spent buying them in the first place), I’ve never been able to keep one alive for more than a month.  While I’ve never really been one for fake plants or flowers, I just couldn’t justify spending more money on another live topiary, only to have it up and die on me shortly after, so I have been on the hunt for a pretty good fake myrtle topiary for a while now (no judging).  I always came up empty-handed, so I figured…how hard could it be to make one myself?  The answer, as it turns out, is much easier than I thought!

The hardest part was finding legit-looking greenery.  I ended up using these from Hobby Lobby; I like how the pieces kind of fall down and hide the top of the stick and the wire I used to adhere it.  All I did was use wire cutters to cut individual pieces and then wrapped the pieces with green floral wire tightly around a stick from my yard.  Stick it into a piece of floral styrofoam in a pot, cover the base with moss and you’re set!

I got a lot of questions about the pot I used for this when I posted a snap on my Instagram stories and it’s another quick project that couldn’t be easier!  I spray painted an inexpensive terra cotta pot with gray spray paint in a satin finish.  Once it was dry, I whitewashed a little watered down white paint and then wiped it back with a clean cloth.  Once that step was dry, I dry brushed a little white paint.  You can see a step-by-step tutorial for this with furniture here; it’s the exact same process I used this time, too.

I still love fresh greenery, house plants and flowers (we all know I can’t live without hydrangeas all over the house!) but I think a faux project like this one works here because it isn’t over the top (and no one gets close enough to be able to tell that it’s not real).  If anyone stumbles across a very convincing fake, pretty please share!  In the meantime, this will do!