I am not sure if HTML works here so my URL's and image links may not work.. here goes nothin!

Hi, my name is Brandy and I live in Zone 7. Me and my fiance just got a new house (our first) and it's 5 years old and whomever first owned it defnitley loved their backyard. The second owner however let everything run wild. There are two extremly large butterfly bushes they are all gnarly and overun, and even poisen ivy in the backyard. It's a great layout to work with though and I was trying to think of creative and inexpsnive ways to decorate the home.

My mother and sister both have the fake topiary's in there homes and i realized that i could have live ones. Then once i was researching books I got to reading about prunning and training and realized i could apply what I learn to all of the garden plants!

So I have purchased 3 books from amazon.com:

American Horticultural Society Pruning & Training



Herb Topiaries



Taylor's Weekend Gardening Guide to Topiaries and Espaliers : Plus Other Designs for Shaping Plants

And here are photos of some of the backyard:

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There is some bald spots here but this is all dead now from the cold, I need to plant a tree closer to the house for the small bathroom window to give me some privacy! The window is just off to the left but can't be seen.

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One of the better kept bush's to the right with the pink stuff.

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All those daizy's and pink stuff have died sence so I am not sure what to trim.

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front right side of the house.

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Front yard and a little center plant thingy.

My first goal is to successful train my own lollypop rosemary topiary for my entry way :)