Rose Topiary

A rose topiary adds a bit of elegant charm to your home, and what a beautiful gift it makes for someone. If you were to order a topiary like this from a florist, you would spend more than the entire gross national product of some countries. But making it yourself is easy, inexpensive and fun.

What you’ll need:

A candleholder with a pronged base
One brick of floral foam
Florist tape
80- 90 mini roses
Ribbon

1. Choose a candleholder

The secret to this topiary is the candleholder, which acts as the base. Choose a candleholder that holds wide-diameter candles, so the base is at least 3 inches. These candleholders also come with a prong in the center that holds the candle in place. This comes in handy for holding your topiary steady. There are countless varieties of candleholders like this available, and the shape of the candleholder will add another design element to your topiary. You'll find candleholders that are straight, scrolly, in the shape of animals, etc. You may even have some around the house that you can use.

2. Carve the floral foam into a ball.

Floral foam comes only in standard bricks. I wish they came in balls. Use any household knife (a steak knife will do) and start carving the brick to get as close to a sphere as possible. Don't worry, unless you are descended from Michelangelo, you won't even get close to a sphere. Just do the best you can. You'll be covering the ball with flowers, so they will hide the imperfections. After you have some semblance of a ball, dunk the floral foam into water. It will absorb the water in seconds.

3. Attach the floral foam ball onto the candleholder.

Place your floral foam ball onto the candleholder base so that the prong goes through the floral foam. To secure the ball further, apply florist tape around the ball and the candleholder base.

4. Decorate with mini roses.

You will need 80 to 90 mini roses, i.e., spray roses, to cover the floral foam ball. That sounds like a lot of roses, but they are tiny after all. And they are really inexpensive. At the flower mart, they come in bunches, and you can get around 40 in a bunch for about $6. Use two or three shades of roses to give your topiary some depth. Cut the stems of the roses to leave about one inch of stem coming out of the bud. Start at the top of the ball and put your first rose stem in straight up and down. Stick it in all the way to the base. Then work around that rose, from the top of the topiary downward, randomly altering the colors of the roses as you progress. You'll be finished when the roses meet the base of the candleholder. Tie a ribbon around the base of the candleholder to finish off your topiary. Are you talented or what?