Topiary Love

The subtitle of this post should be "Can I Keep Them Alive?" 

My track record with green things is not so good. In fact, I am the kiss of death to house plants. "You can't kill fill-in-the-blank," I have been told. But yes. Yes, I can. Which is why I am a huge fan of faux greenery.

I love the classic look of topiaries and I have several faux. But when these live beauties called my name in the Walmart garden center, I threw caution to the wind and put two in my cart. 

I put one on my kitchen island . . . 

. . . and the other on the drop leaf table in front of the picture window, both places where they will get plenty of light. 

Determined to do my best to keep them alive, I did a little research. My new friends are Eugenia plants, sculpted into topiaries. According to this article, they need plenty of sunlight, moderate water, and occasional fertilizing. (And a bit of luck, I might add.)

I may decide to put them on the living room mantel. I do think topiaries look nice in pairs. There is not as much light on the mantel though. Hmmm . . .

Bekah gave them their first haircut yesterday. So far, so good!

Do you have any topiary tips for me? 

Also around the house,

Ron is off this week and this is happening . . .

We are painting the north and east wall of cabinets. Yesterday we removed everything from the kitchen that was not nailed down, sanded (ugh), and removed doors and hardware. Today, the first coat of paint!