Artificial Topiary Tree
One year, my grandmother came up with this project. She decided that she wanted a hedge maze in her back yard. So she cleared enough space for a fairly big one. But being the free spirit that she was, she didn't make this maze out of hedges, which is implied in the title and everything. Instead, it was an artificial topiary tree maze. She used pines, to be exact. They were seven and a half feet tall and looked real enough when you were lost inside of them. This project took her several months to complete. My dad helped her with it on weekends, whether he liked it or not. It's not like he was going to let his aging mother lug around these gigantic things, no matter how energetic she was.
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US $179.95
I don't know what possessed her to make a maze in the first place, let alone make one out of the artificial topiary tree. It was an interesting idea, to say the least. She was always an eccentric woman though. And she followed her whims most times. I guess you would call her a "doer." We knew something was up the moment we arrived there one Sunday and found rows of pines stacked at the side of her house. I remember my dad letting out a deep sigh as he slowed the car to a stop in front of them. He was used to seeing unusual things from her, growing up, but I think he lost his desensitization after a few years of being settled down with his own family. I remember that the first thing he asked her that day was why anyone would need that many artificial topiary tree. I don't think I've ever seen such a look on his face as when she told him.
Over the next several months, I watched him help her with her artificial topiary tree project. He would do most of the heavy lifting. He insisted on that. Although my grandmother snuck in what she could when we weren't around, despite how my father told her not to. My brother and I wanted to help too, but we were too small at the time and neither of them would let us anywhere near.
When this artificial topiary tree forest maze was finally finished, I think even my father was pleased with how it turned out. In keeping with tradition, there was a bench place in the middle of it, as well as a water fountain and some statues. It was really very peaceful in there. My brother and I spent countless hours running around it, sometimes lost, sometimes not. It was especially pretty when it snowed. That's only natural though. When you build an artificial topiary tree maze out of pine, it's bound to take on an extra beauty in the snow. That's when I loved playing there the most. When the maze was covered in a blanket of white, and I could hit my brother with snowballs as soon as he turned a corner.