Revisiting a Backyard Metal Frame Topiary - The Block I

As I often do during the deep part of Winter, my brain starts to think about the garden and the projects that I'd like to take on this season.  I've done a couple of years of to-do lists and those have been good ways of forcing me to focus.  In each of those years (2019 and 2020), I included trying a metal-frame topiary to the list.  And in both of those years, I never check the idea off my list.

But, that hasn't stopped me from thinking about how to pull one off.  And, as I was tool'ing around the Web recently, I came across this Etsy store that sells all sorts of topiary frames.  They're all really great.  Go have a look at this Pikachu one.  Or this Mickey Mouse head.  They also sell a full-body Mickey Mouse which looks really great.  It is $300, so maybe a little rich for a first-timer like me. 

But, there also was one that caught my attention.  It is the one featuring Auburn University's A/U logo.  Here's a screenshot of the listing below.  (Again...this (below) is NOT my photo.  You can buy this topiary from the seller here on Etsy.)

Not my image nor my topiary.  Source.  

Now, you guys know I don't care much about Auburn University.  But, seeing the way this seller created the letters in three-dimensional form made me think about something that I could do in our yard.  You know what I'm thinking...the Block I. 

My local Home Depot sells chicken wire up to four feet wide.  That means, we could make a Block I four feet wide.  And, just doing a quick eyeball of the Block I, the overall width:height ratio is 2:3.  That is the top/bottom of the I.  The more thin, interior part of the Block I is more like a 1.1:3 ratio.

If 2:3 is right, that means that with a four-foot side base, we'd have a six-foot-tall Block I.  That's kinda awesome, right?  I'm still thinking of going with an Arborvitae for the plant material and that would work with a six foot tall height.  It might require two plants to achieve the four-foot wide spread, though.  I'm (currently) envisioning something similar to what you see in the photos in this post that show a small, bare trunk to elevate the topiary a little bit above ground.  Showing the trunks of the trees for a short span and providing the plant to have a little bit of circulation underneath.  

As for placement, Arborvitae require 4-6 hours of sun each day, so that limits where I can put it.  I'm thinking that it it going to go in either right in front of our screened porch, or on the south side close to the Oak Leaf hydrangeas from last Summer. 

I'm marking it down.  This will be a 2021 to-do list priority that can be accomplished in two parts:  planting the arborvitaes.  And building, attaching the frame.