How to Make a Fruit Topiary

Fruit topiaries make lovely centerpieces for your dining room table in the summer. They can add color and life to the room and can be made with several different kinds of fruits, depending on your taste and style.

Things You'll Need

• 5-inch terra-cotta flower pot
• Styrofoam to fit in the flower pot
• 5-inch Styrofoam ball
• Craft glue
• Acrylic paint
• Paintbrush
• 5/8-inch diameter dowel measuring approximately 12 inches
• Miniature artificial fruits
• Stick pins
• Colored raffia

Instructions

1. Decide on what color scheme the fruit topiary will be. This will depend on what kind of fruit you wish to make the topiary with. Miniature fake fruit can be found at any local craft supply store. Make sure that the coloring scheme has the right accent colors. For a citrus theme, use lemons and limes as the fruit and make the color scheme yellows, green and orange.

2. Paint the terra-cotta flower pot and the dowel using your acrylic paint. Add a design to the dowel and the flower pot to make it more creative. If the Styrofoam is white, then paint it green.

3. After all the pieces have dried, insert the dowel into the center of the Styrofoam ball to about 3 to 4 inches deep. Glue a piece of Styrofoam into the terra-cotta flower pot and allow it to dry. Insert the dowel into the center of the Styrofoam in the flower pot and reinforce the structure with glue.

4. Glue the miniature fruits onto the Styrofoam ball, beginning at the top and working your way downwards. Secure the fruit with pins until the fruit is dry to so that the fruit does not move out of place.

5. Apply a generous amount of glue to the Styrofoam in the flower pot. Wind the raffia around the dowel until the whole surface of the Styrofoam is covered. If needed, use pins to secure the raffia in place until the glue is dry. None of the Styrofoam should be seen, both in the flower pot and where the fruit is.

6. Finish off the fruit topiary with a big ribbon bow tied below the fruit. For a more creative look, use different colors of ribbon that are in your color scheme and leave the ends of the ribbon hanging all the way down the topiary. Some leftover fruit can also be glued onto the raffia at the bottom of the topiary. This appears as some fruit has fallen off, but still looks neat and tidy.

Tips & Warnings

• Make sure that you are using pins to help you hold the fruit in place until the glue dries or else the fruit will be moving all over.

• Add your own personality to the fruit topiary by painting the dowel and terra-cotta flower pot with stripes, polka dots or even decorate with painted ladybugs or flowers.