Children's projects Garden project Gardening Topiary

DIY Topiary Cat With Succulents

Here’s a fun little DIY project, just in time for your summer garden: create your own topiary cat with succulents!

By Timi Schmidt

The upcoming summer season means that your garden will start looking its best, given that you spend the time and energy on it. You have surely already started working in your garden, ensuring that all the flowers and plants are ready to thrive during the warm season—so why not go the extra mile and add some decorations too?

Topiaries are becoming increasingly popular, ranging from simple shapes to large extravagant sculptures. Creating a topiary or living sculpture may seem like a project that requires some serious skill. However, the good news is that it doesn’t have to!

The following project by Wire Fence shows how to make a DIY Topiary Cat, which could be a unique addition to your garden or porch. And you’ll find that it’s fairly easy to create as well!

What you’ll need:

  • Pliers;
  • Wire cutters;
  • Protective gloves;
  • Chicken wire;
  • Succulents;
  • Moss;
  • Multipurpose potting mix;
  • Coco basket liners.

Step 1. 

Tool and ingredients for topiary structure.

Gather your supplies. Make sure you have everything you will need for the topiary before getting started.

Step 2.

Chicken wire mesh cut into correct shapes.

Roll out your chicken wire mesh and cut out the shapes shown on the photo above. You will need two pieces of each shape.

Step 3.

Needle nose pliers twisting mesh ends together.

Connect the identical shapes by twisting the ends together using pliers and protective gloves.

Step 4.

Body, head and ears ready for filling.

Once all identical shapes are connected, you should have the body, head and ears. Make sure to leave the bottoms of each shape open, so you can fill them with multipurpose potting mix later.

Step 5.

Coco basket liners used to fill parts.

Cut the coco basket liners into pieces and line each part of the structure with them before connecting them together.

Step 6.

Underside of topiary, with fiber, but still empty.

Here is a close-up on what the sculpture should look like with the coco liners before connecting the parts of the sculpture together

Step 7.

All parts assembled with mesh.

Connect all the separate parts together by twisting the loose ends together. Your sculpture should start to resemble a cat now.

Step 8.

Filling sculpture with potting mix.

Start filling the sculpture with multipurpose potting mix. Make sure you use enough mix, and push it firmly into the sculpture.

Step 9.

Closed bottom of sculpture after the soil is added.

Once the sculpture is completely filled, close it up, using the twisting method.

Step 10.

Planting succulents in holes in sculpture.

Create holes in the coco lining, inserting the succulents one by one into them.

Step 11.

Adding moss to cover the structure.

Add moss to fill the gaps on the sculpture. In order to keep the moss firm, squeeze some of the ends between the wire and lining.

Step 12.

White cat and topiary cat sculpture.

Once you’re happy with the way it looks, place your sculpture into its final spot and water it gently. With time the moss and succulents will become denser and your sculpture will be greener!

About the Author

This guide was created by Timi Schmidt, a blogger and gardening enthusiast. She loves new challenges and interesting new ideas that make your garden look unique.

4 comments on “DIY Topiary Cat With Succulents

  1. hi. i love cats and gardens. ..on sunday 15th
    please may i ask . i found a couple that do not live on our private road cutting bushes and shrubs of a 74 year old sick man. just survived severe covid been in hospital a week etc lived on the road bought his hoes 36 years ago. i live facing him lived bought our house 34 years ago. that i am a key holder to this mans house. i faced with aggressive. back chat ‘it will be all right .we tell him afterwards a. yet they don’t live on our cul de sac 5 house road. they are merely visiting the rented house. is this un lawful. is this intimidation. they walked past the mans door and his living room window was open and began attacking his hedges. they don’t even reside on the road. PLEASE Can any one offer me help. as the family that rents keep asking if he is considering selling his house and moving. please i need some assistance advise. thank you

  2. Weird but kind of fun. Might try it. Would this survive a Zone 5b winter?

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