Learn how to make a topiary with wire for your vining houseplants to create a beautiful decorative element in a tight space for your home.

Topiary plants are always so pretty. Often, they are somewhat like a bonsai where the plants like boxwoods are pruned to grow into a standard with the main trunk bare and the branches and leaves shaped into a ball topiary.
Not to be confused with outdoor landscape topiaries you'd find in English gardens with hedges shaped into spiral and other ornamental shapes, this DIY project uses a topiary frame to create a beautiful piece of home decor.
You also may have tried or seen these faux topiary trees made from foam balls, moss, and a dowel rod.
However, you can also make a wire topiary by wrapping and training real plants onto a wire form. Above is an image of my Peperomia, Ruby Cascade plant. It's growing well, and the vines are getting very long, so I thought it would be a good candidate for this DIY project.
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Supplies
- Trailing/vining plant
- Wire coat hanger
- Flowerpot
- Potting Soil
- Wire Cutters
Crafting a Wire Topiary
- Start with an ordinary wire coat/shirt hanger.
- Open it up and create a loop at one end.
3. Straighten out the rest of the wire and cut off the excess. Just make sure that the straight part is the right length for the pot that you are using.
4. Place the wire frame into the soil carefully, making sure to keep the vines in front of the wire.
5. Gently separate the vine stems into two groups. One is on the left, and one is on the right.
6. Start on one side and gently take one of the vines and wrap it along the wire, starting on the bottom until you run out of vine.
7. Continue with the rest of the vine stems in that group.
8. Repeat the same process on the other side.
Water the plant well and set it in a spot where the plant will thrive. Indirect bright light is best for ruby cascade.
As you see new growth, you can gently wrap it into the other vines or prune them and propagate the cuttings into new plants.
It looks really pretty on our mantel.
However, I'll probably keep it in here by the window and supplemental lighting where it was growing so well originally.
Other Vining Plant Options
- Ivy
- Angel Vine
- Trailing Rosemary
- String of Hearts
- Creeping Fig
So far, this Peperomia Ruby Cascade plant seems very happy as a topiary. I like to see plants' long, growing vines, but this neater version is pretty sweet too.
More Indoor Plant Projects
How to Make a Wire Topiary
Equipment
Materials
- Trailing/vining plant
- Wire shirt hanger
- Flowerpot
- Potting Soil
Instructions
- Unwrap a wire shirt hanger and create a loop.
- Straighten the bottom to form a stem long enough to place in the pot with a circle above.
- Cut off excess wire.
- Plant your vining plant into the flowerpot.
- Carefully insert the wire circle hoop.
- Split the vines in half.
- Slowly start wrapping each vine around the hoop starting at the bottom and wrap as far up one side of the hoop as the vine will reach.
- Repeat with the other half of the vines on the other side of the hoop.
- Water well and display in an area that is appropriate for the plant.
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