Rose Topiary
1 Greek Urn Vase
1 Bunch Dried Curly Willow
1 Oak Ivy Bush
6 Rosebuds
7 Open Roses
4” Styrofoam Ball
4”x 3”x 2” Styrofoam Block
Glue Gun(low temp)
8 yds. Sheer Wired Ribbon
Floral Picks
Wire Cutters
Green Floral Tape
1. Glue the styrofoam block into the vase with low temp glue gun. Take a bunch of the curly willow sticks and holding the bottoms together tightly, push into the styrofoam block in the vase. Keeping them together, pull the sticks out and put some glue into the holes made by the sticks. Push the sticks back into the holes, and making sure the sticks are straight, hold in place until the glue hardens. About 16” above the styrofoam, gather the top of the sticks together and wire tightly. With wire cutters, trim all the curly willow branches about 1” above the wire. With the point of a pair of closed scissors, make a small hole in the styrofoam ball. Put some glue in the hole and wait a few moments for the glue to cool slightly (so it will not run down the sticks). Before the glue sets, carefully push the glue filled hole down onto the sticks. Hold until glue sets. Cover the styrofoam in the urn with spanish moss. Cover the styrofoam ball with moss also, securing with u pins or small pieces of wire bent into a u shape.
2. With wire cutters, cut one oak ivy bush apart at the large stem. Attach a wood pick to three of the ivy pieces and arrange in the styrofoam in the urn near the bottom of the sticks. Allow the ivy to drape gracefully over the edge of the urn, pulling one part of the ivy up along the sticks. Cut the rest ot the ivy into small pieces of about 2 or 3 leaves each, add floral picks to the stems and place in the styrofoam ball. It is important to keep the round shape. A few leaves can project out farther than others, but if it looks too shaggy, trim the leaves back, re-pick and place back into the styrofoam ball.
3. Cut the 6 rosebuds and the 7 open roses off the stem 1 1/2” from the head, wire to floral picks, and wrap with floral tape. Place the open roses in the styrofoam evenly spaced around the ball. Space the rosebuds between the open roses. Pull or cut all the leaves from the leftover rose stems and wire to picks. Use to fill in spaces around the roses on the styrofoam ball and in the base around the sticks. If the leaves stick out too far on the ball, cut down to 1 or 2 leaf clusters, add picks and replace in the styrofoam.
4. Make a large (about 8” across) 6 loop bow out of the sheer ribbon, adding a tail which is 1 yard long on one side and 1 1/2 yards long on the other side. Wire together with a wood pick and insert the bow on the underside of the ball near the sticks, filling in any bare space. Loosely twine the shorter ribbon tail around the sticks. Loosely twine the longer ribbon tail around the sticks, forming a couple of loops to create a small bow near the end of the ribbon. Secure the loops with a floral pick and anchor into the styrofoam in the urn. Try to place the bow at the bottom of the topiary on the opposite side from the bow at the top of the topiary. (Refer to the photograph for placement)
5. Make 9 to 10 ribbon loops to fill in spaces on the top of the topiary. Use about 12” of ribbon for each loop. To make the loop, leave a 4” tail, fold the remaining 8” into a loop, wire with a floral pick, and wrap with floral tape. Place into the top of the topiary as needed to fill in spaces. When complete, the top of the topiary should be round in shape, with the color of the roses and the ribbon, spaced evenly.