Index : H : Homes & Gardens

Structure Sub-topic of: Hobbies Other encyclopedia entries of interest: Flowers & Plants | Interesting Questions, Facts and Information There are a total of 10 general entries. Frequently Asked Questions & Answers There are 27 user-asked question matches ( goto ) Special Topics Do you know how to Feng Shui? All About Toilets Carpentry for Dummies: Part I Feng Shui (The Decorating of Homes) Sweet Messages Parts of Your Home General Aquaria The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread Vegetable Gardens General Ceramic Knowledge Traditional Hand Tools Salt: The True Story The Littlest Room Old House Renovation, part 1 Black is Beautiful Home Economics for the Domestically Challenged Landscapes and the Pests that Eat Them Lost Arts 3 - Natural Dyeing House Painting 101 Log Homes

Interesting Questions, Facts, and Information

Homes & Gardens

What is topiary?

Trimming the Hedge--A Quiz About Topiary (lacybear)


All of these (The art of shaping and training plants to create a living sculpture in the garden., One of the oldest means of creating decorative elements in the garden., A softer alternative to statuary and architecture in the garden.). This art goes back to the imaginative creations in ancient Egyptian and Roman gardens and blossomed during the Renaissance where clipped alleys and avenues were an important part of the cultural scene. Today, with easy access to frames and materials, anyone can create topiary.



What is the most reliable plant to use on a portable topiary?

Trimming the Hedge--A Quiz About Topiary (lacybear)


ivy. Once the ivy is rooted, it covers the frame rapidly. Solid green varieties of ivy are best to use since they can grow well in shadier areas indoors and out. Variegated varieties need more light but also tend to scorch in full sun.



What is a type of topiary where a tree is trained in a flat, open pattern on a lattice or trellis? (often used on fruit trees when space is limited).

Trimming the Hedge--A Quiz About Topiary (lacybear)


espalier. Apples and pears make great espalier specimens. The fruit can be thinned to hang decoratively from the branches.



What is a topiary standard with multiple balls of branches trained along the stem also known as?

Trimming the Hedge--A Quiz About Topiary (lacybear)


a poodle. Typical poodle standards have two or three balls along the trunk or stem.



Standards, Poodles, and Spirals are classic topiary forms. How long can a potted specimen take to fully develop its form?

Trimming the Hedge--A Quiz About Topiary (lacybear)


2 years. The plant usually needs to go through 2 growing seasons to fill out fully. Shaping can be done continually--but not drastically--all during this time.



Portable topiary is created by training plants to cover the outside of a metal frame which is usually shaped like an animal, a standard, or a geometric form. What should you stuff the inside of the frame with?

Trimming the Hedge--A Quiz About Topiary (lacybear)


sphagnum moss and sterile soilless growing mix. The sphagnum moss and sterile soilless growing mix allow the plant roots to take hold, as well as retaining moisture and providing some nutrients for the plants. Garden soil is too heavy and full of damaging insects and pathogens to be used in a framed topiary.



Knot gardens, shaped into elaborate ornamental patterns, evolved from medieval kitchen gardens where cooking herbs and medicinal herbs were kept in separate beds. Where did the first knot garden design appear in 1499?

Trimming the Hedge--A Quiz About Topiary (lacybear)


Venice. Vancouver and Virginia were not established in 1499. Not sure about Vulcan.



In what Stephen King novel did the topiary outside a snowbound hotel come alive?

Trimming the Hedge--A Quiz About Topiary (lacybear)


The Shining. One of King's creepiest descriptions in the entire book.



A puzzle hedge is a network of paths framed by tall sculpted bushes or trees to make a life-size game. What is it also known as?

Trimming the Hedge--A Quiz About Topiary (lacybear)


a maze. Mazes became especially popular in Europe in the 1500's and often had a topiary sculpture in the center. Many mazes had geometric or animal topiary sculpted on the tops. Yew was the plant of choice for mazes since it grew quickly into an impenetrable barrier.

• What are stone gardens for? ( goto )



• Who lived at 32 Windsor Gardens? ( goto )



• The gardens at Versailles in France were created by whom? ( goto )



• What happend to Kew Gardens, London, on 3 July 2003? ( goto )



• Which king constructed the Hanging Gardens of Babylon? ( goto )



• What is the most dangerous activity in American homes today? ( goto )



• What opened in Niblo's Gardens in New York City in 1866? ( goto )



• Why was Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens closed down? ( goto )



• What year was the maidenhair tree in Kew Gardens in London planted? ( goto )



• On a per capita basis, which state has the most mobile homes? ( goto )



• What do more than 90% of homes have but less than 40% use? ( goto )



• Why do contractors place a tree on top of new homes they are building? ( goto )



• What is so interesting about the building at 23 Leinster Gardens, Bayswater London? ( goto )



• British soldiers were housed in the homes of American colonists because of what practice? ( goto )



• Besides the obvious doors, walls, roofs and windows, 75% of American homes have this in common? ( goto )



• What year did microwave ovens become very common in North American homes? ( goto )



• Which prophet condemned the Israelites for building themselves beautiful homes but ignored the building of God's House? ( goto )



• What 20th-century decade did Formosan termites begin showing down on Gulf Coast homes? ( goto )



• What do many people have in their homes that features a picture of a monk standing in an archway blowing a horn? ( goto )



• What California state historical monument, is open to the public for tours, is an estate with 165 rooms and 127 acres of gardens? ( goto )



• What percent of the time George W. Bush has been in office has he spent in his many vacation homes? ( goto )



• What is the colloquial name given to the statue of Thomas Jackson that sits in front of the Hong Kong and Shanghai bank at Chater Gardens in Hong Kong? ( goto )



• In a past life as a French Mayor, I together with over 22,000 of my counterparts, was to be found on September 22 1900, in the Tuileries Gardens in Paris. What were we doing there? ( goto )



• "This former Royal Palace is a magnificent and absolutely vast building which stands at the end of the Tuileries Gardens, next to the Seine." This is a description of which famous Parisian tourist attraction? ( goto )



• Who famously mixed something people used to use for washing with something people used to use for preserving corpses and ended up with a substance that people used to have a lot of around their homes? For a bonus, what does ten-pin bowling have to do with the discovery? ( goto )



• There were only four of these ever made from the original materials. Scattered across America, found in gardens and conservation parks, one of them was in a cemetery, until it became so popular after it was photographed for the cover of a best seller, it had to be removed and placed in a museum. What is it, what was the name of the book, and how is it connected to a trivia fact relating to JM Barrie? ( goto )



• After retiring from a military career, this gentleman reputedly lived such an extravagant life that his name became a byword for certain, quite expensive, social events. Famed for his gardens, he is credited by some for having introduced certain fruits to his homeland, while an ingredient in fancy salads and a pasta dish containing very costly ingredients were named for him. Who was he? ( goto )