Merlin!

Some of the students answers were like straight out of a text book. Bentley might want to be careful or she could find herself out of a job. More than half the students already KNEW so much.

Michael raised his hand limply in the air. "Couldn't they also be used for privacy? I mean people grow hedges to keep out prying eyes. Topiaries are like the fancy kind." Sounded pretty good to him.

As for the indoor versus outdoor thing well that seemed pretty obvious. "Some plants grow better inside than they do outside." Duh. Although he had to disagree with the HUfflepuff over there. "Wouldn't outdoor topiaries require more care than indoor ones? I mean they have the weather to contend with not to mention bugs and birds. They're also bigger in size so they will need pruning more often." That was his opinion anyway.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hera

"Another thing we need to consider with topiary, is it's purpose... it's function... why do we bother to create topiary?" she asked, before adding another question into the mix, "we mentioned herbs earlier, and how they're also used for indoor arrangements, so we can characterise topiary into one of two categories, or three if you want to be technical... indoor versus outdoor... so why might we need to distinguish between the two?"

OOC: Lesson will continue in approx 24 hours

Sigh. Well, at least Marigold got a better reaction with some actual helpful critique. But she knew better now yep. Bushes were apparently not a specific species of... bush. Or plant, for that matter. But they were a general field of some sort, right?

So many different categories! Marigold didn't know that topiaries were used for more than one thing... except...

Hey! She had an answer!

"Well, there is the obvious outside decoration use, like for the animals. And I guess that topiary could be used for decoration on the inside as well, right? I don't really know... But would a hedge be considered a topiary thing?"

Mayyyybeeee?

Oh. And, "There needs to be two categories because the uses are different, right?"

Ehhhhh.

"But.. but.. Professor that plant frog has my real frog." Bart quickly grabbed his frog and shoved it in his robe pocket again. Now he wouldn't get up again scouts honor!

Sitting back down he listened to the rest of the class talk about indoor vs. outdoor and he shot up his hand. "Well first you couldn't have that awesome elephant inside a house it would be too big. So size would have to be taken into consideration." Even though he would love to have an elephant in the house. Maybe they could charm the ceiling to fit it. That would be super cool!

He sat back listening to the others answer some were way to winding, gosh did that older boy have a lot of hot hair or what? Why so much information from some of these people. That just seemed like so much work had to be puffers or claws with their noses in books.

A bit more detail? Gwen didn't know anything about plants. How was she supposed to know detail? All of these names that her classmates were tossing around where completely foreign to her. They might as well have been speaking Greek. She was rubbish at this class and it was only the first day. "Outdoor plants probably need more sunlight," Gwen tried. That was the only reason she could imagine why plants would need to be one or the other. She ducked her head. This was terrible. Why was she even here where all of this green stuff could just reach out and grab her?

*With his hand shooting up again Romulus blurted out his answer to the latest question.*
"With any kind of plant it will need some amount of care. But it really depends on what type of plant you pick when it comes to the amount of care. Also when I was visiting my grandparents in Sweden this past summer holiday where we saw some topiary that were cut to look like Swedish short snouts and they would protect the property at night. If you charm them just right they could be used as a form of protection."

Lucas knew (and only because it was the only activity his mother spoke to him about without yelling) that topiaries were something old ladies did when they wanted manicured gardens. And he wasn't entirely sure what manicured meant but it was important.

"People like to shape them. Like.. into lollipops." And he'd thought that was really cool until he found out they weren't actually edible. "Or uh.. hedges?" he said the latter quietly, rubbing his elbow nervously. "Rigggght?"

Ian was finally broken from his hypnotic state by the teacher speaking about the ideal plants for topiaries. Mostly, Ian considered them decorative, but it seems like there must be other reasons for them. Especially in the magical world.

Ian raised his hand to respond to this one. I would think that there are probably a couple good reasons for them. For non-magical topiary, they would be decorative, but there's also a defensive purpose for giant animals to be standing guard in someone's gardens. Animals might not see the difference. And for magical ones, they would be more intimidating with the movement capability. Ian thought to himself Especially that stupid snake one

There was a lot of discussion going on. A whoooole lot of discussion. Sophie blinked as she tried to follow along. Herbs...indoor...outdoor...purpose. Got it!

She raised her hand. "Well, I think people create topiary just as a form of art," she said. "I think it's probably just like painting a picture or drawing something with a quill. People are creating art out of plants."

And as for the indoor versus outdoor thing...

"You have to think about where you're putting it, because you wouldn't want a fifteen feet tall snake to be in your house, but you might want something like that out in your yard," she suggested. "Oh, Professor!" she suddenly said, as an idea came to her. "What if wizards charmed them somehow...like how you can charm the suits of armor?"

Robin considered the question, it wasn't the kind of question she easily knew the answer to, topiary didn't have any medical uses (that she knew of, unless magic had changed that too) and that was what she was used to learning about from halmeoni on summer trips- her grandma was big in herbal tea and had passed that on to Robin, so she was kind of stuck. Hoping not to state the obvious, she brought up her best guess.
"Well the first thing that came to my mind was that the purpose is for art and appearances, and that indoor topiary would probably be smaller and outdoor ones bigger but that's not really true since small topiary can be outside and big ones in big rooms..."
Like the massive great hall, they could easily fit the elephant topiary in there, or even in some of the hallways.
"But maybe it depends on the plant too, like how they grow. Indoor topiary would need pots to be put in, but depending on the building, they might not have enough room for their roots. Outdoors and in the ground they would have plenty of room to expand their roots which would in turn stabilize them making them better at sustaining their healthy leaves and stems, also making them able to maintain their forms. Indoors they might not have enough room to do that"

"Isn't it mainly for decoration? Or small topiary for children to play on," If they can hold on that is. Which shouldn't really be too hard. Just let them hold onto a branch firmly and they were all good. Besides, topiary made front and backyards look nice. Depending on what the design was too. Animals were usually it. "Indoor topiary would obviously be a lot smaller and more work to take care of. You'll need to keep then near sunlight and water them plenty," Hmm what else? "If not taken care of properly, they'll dry out a lot faster than ones outside,"

Outdoor plants were a lot less work to take care of. Nature did that job for everyone. "Outdoor topiary can be large in size. Plus, they get a large amount of sunlight and water from when it rains," Yay for nature doing the hard work. "But they'll need trimming for when the shrubs start growing more,"

Bri listened as the professor started to talk. The brunette frowned slightly, she didn't know too much about plants but she gave it her best shot. She raised her hand before trying to answer the questions.

"I imagine the main purpose is that they are a form of art, but I bet the magical ones would make great security against intruders." Bri grew excited as she imagine giant plant animals guarding her home. As for the second question.
" Hmm...Well the indoor ones would need more work, since they would always have all the natural resources that they would have outside, like the sun, rain and stuff that is natural in the soil. They also won't be able to grow as bigger as the others..." Bri trailed off, having nothing else to say.

So there Huxley sat and listened... and listened some more. She was gazing at the topiaries, but most specially those in the form of the serpent and the owl. Very pretty to look at she must say so herself, and figured there was a lot of work that went into it.

And then a thought. She raised her hand and when called for posed this question "Professor, do you think creating topiaries are actually unethical? After all, the methods by which a topiarist would apply onto a plant to achieve the desired shape either goes against or intervenes with its natural growth and form and sometimes even its function."

Sarah did not know what the elite was.. she knew it was something her aunt wanted though. Sarah knew about the flutterby bush.. but she also had a questio on it, "how do you form the work of art, if the flutterby bush shakes?" she asked upon raising her hand. "people create topiary for the art, the prestige and that. Just like people have landscaped gardens and that! Then there is also mazes... pretty cool ones. Indoor requir artificial watering while outdoor doesn't. You also can get artificial condtions indoor and outdoor, not to mention a greenhouse." Sarah said

Cutty had made the mistake of thinking that they were going to get in to more tangible territory with this question because they were about to talk about function and what purpose something served, but then he heard the Professor say Why? And Why was a different question altogether. His hand drew further down from it's about to launch position. The latter part sounded easier to consider, but he was too busy wondering what the third category was.

Eyebrows raised, Seren shook her head at the boy, a faint smile on her lips. "I suggest you hold onto that frog, or keep it in your dorms next time..." because when they went hoppity hop, it could get distracting and disruptive. Neither of which were acceptable.


The conversation that developed, was a rigorous one, and it fascinated her to hear the students' perspectives and understandings of why topiary were created. She was thrilled, so very proud. Most all the students in one way or another acknowledged the care requirements for topiary plants, those indoor versus outdoor.. and the amount of sunlight they received as well as watering and trimming requirements. Astrid, Christmas, Beverly, Caelen, Caleb, Adi, Raven and Gwenhwyfar supplied some of the better responses in terms of environmental conditions, though Ella's perspective on the ecodiversity side of things supported the idea as well. "Yes, very good... climatic conditions, sunshine, rain and severity of climates is important to consider," she noted happily. Though, in terms of discussion on actual care requirements, Theo, Edvard, Kace, Sander, Michael, Jun and Bri supplied the stronger responses. Some more so than others, but the idea was there. "More often than not, it's the indoor variety that require the most attention," she noted in response to Michael's train of thought. "Outdoor varieties tend to be hardier, and are less restricted in terms of space, whereas indoor varieties lack exposure to adequate sunlight and naturally occurring minerals and nutrients , therefore requiring more human intervention and care." Of course, this was not always the case, but generally speaking.

Getting up from where she sat, Seren wandered around a little before settling in another spot, making herself more accessible to more students. She wanted to hear what they all had to say on the matter.

Anastasia certainly added an interesting perspective to conversation. "Atmosphere! Yes absolutely," she nodded, grinning, "the perfect example of that is the atmosphere at the beginning of the lesson, see how we all reacted, how it improved our moods," she wiggled her eyebrows at the students, seeeee, it was all relative, they'd experienced it first hand. And of course the Slytherin also mentioned creating sections in gardens, "another excellent point, whether you want to divide a space or utilise it, topiary is a fantastic way to do so."

The availability of space was also a poplar factor which was well supported in conversation. Anastasia, Lex, Raven, Hope, Lux, Lily, Bart and Robin all offering their perspective and understanding on the matter. She gave them all nods and thumbs up. Hit the nail on the head with that one. Size does matter!

Seren listened attentively as Hufflepuff Sophie asked a very good question, were the others listening? Were they hearing this too? They ought to...

"Excellent question," Seren nodded, even if the example was a little silly.. just a little.. "remembering that outdoor topiary are usually planted directly in the ground, whereas indoor topiary are usually potted, it's important to note that even enchanted topiary still need to have access to soil so their roots may be re-engaged. If they were moved indoors without the proper care, yes they would die."

Any more questions at this point? Not yet...

Naturally the most common perception of topiary use was for decoration, and a number of students supported this view. "Decoration, yes... could someone perhaps elaborate on that?" she asked, because there was a purpose for its use for decorative purposes, minus the fact that is simple looked good. The genius response she wanted didn't come from Lucus, but he wasn't wrong. Yes, some people liked to shape them. Simple. Therapeutic? Beverly wasn't wrong either, just not entirely right... perhaps she needed to rephrase that. Still, she and Lucus received smiles and a nod for their efforts. Kace and Sarah then enlightened them. "Yesss!" she said clapping her hands together, "It's a sign of affluence and prestige, the shape your garden is in, communicates to others the size of your bank vault or the extent of your skills." And it seemed as though Sarah had a question tooo. Excellent.

"Magic, my dear," Seren replied, waving a hand in the air dramatically. "Because of it's bigger foliage, it's often used for simpler shapes, and a simple freezing charm helps settle it while you work away." She added a wink for good measure. If there was a will, then there was a way.

But back to conversation.

"Yes, playing on..." she replied, eyeing Jun skeptically, he wasn't wrong. "Excellent, yes, art and expression," she nodded, giving the thumbs up to Sander, Penelope, Robin, Sarah, Bri and Slytherin Sophie. Sophie also hinted at another use of topiary... touching on charms... but didn't elaborate on the point, more asking than exploring. Trust the Gryffindor Prefect to help her out. "Defence!" she exclaimed in agreement, "absolutely.. it can be as subtle or as obvious as you want and they can be exceptionally useful." Just keep them away from fire, fire tended to be bad for plants - most plants. Bromulus, Ian and Bri also supported the idea.

Michael's idea also complemented the theme, "Privacy.. definitely one of it's more common uses," she agreed. Mo also raised an interesting point, one that was a little more philosophical. Pursing her lips, Seren nodded, impressed with the Captain's response. "Yes, human nature, and by extension culture has an interesting way of manifesting in the physical form.. the art of topiary being one of them. The need to shape and mold and create - to exert control over nature." And who said Quidditch jocks couldn't be academic too? Huh? Seren beamed, nodding as Alice too raised a fine point. Preserved Boxwood! "Yesss.. interestingly enough, preserved or created topiaries are also quite popular more-so for indoors than outdoors.. and this is generally as a result of the care indoor plants require."

Then they were back to some of the lighter more generic ideas again, "Interesting, fun, a hobby," she reiterated, nodding at Delilah, Rhodes, Raven and Hope.

With a side glance at Cutty, who had opted not to speak, Seren swept her gaze over the class, confident they were ready to move on, to take the next step, and just then, Huxley seemed to ask a question which led right into it.

She was touched by this, touched. The question came from a place of love, of caring... it warmed her heart. "Unethical... yes, and no," she replied pausing to let that sink in. "In theory, it's unethical, and depending on the plant variety it may certainly be inappropriate. For example, you wouldn't want to hack away at a fanged geranium, a venemous tentacular or even a devils snare.. it would cause them pain and effect their ability to live and grow." And that, would be exceptionally heart breaking, exceptionally... "However, for the most part, particularly your more mundane varieties, their health and growth are not impeded by the art, and while it may seem unethical in principle, there isn't anything wrong with the practice." Call it excessive pruning, it was fine.

....
....


But on with the lesson!

"So now, what methods do we use to create topiary? And what factors do we need to consider?" The second part of the question was perhaps a bit trickier, which would require some out of the box thinking... she was optimistic though.

Getting up to move around again, waiting for the question to sink in and for them to start discussing, Seren couldn't help but notice that the new Ravenclaw girl was disrespecting her in her classss!!!! That was most certainly a letter she was writing, and not notes! How long had she not been listening huh? This was rude, and could not be explained away. Blatantly rude.

"Minus five points for being disrespectful and writing letters in my class, Caelen." Yes, she knew her name. It was on her letter. Talk about busted. "I suggest you focus on class work during class time, letters can wait until your free time, in future."

OOC: The lesson will continue in approx 24 hours

Christmas thought about the question the professor asked and raised her hand and said "Could be decorating the topiary in a fashion that we wanted and the factors that we need to think about is the amount of shubbary we take off and how much sunlight and rain we want them to get" Christmas thought that she was going along the right lines but she was sure that the professor would say whether she was right or not and she shook her head when ravenclaw lost points for the first year writing letters in class

Ian seemed to have done well when answering. His ideas of decoration and defense were correct. He hopes that perhaps he will learn more during this class.

Ian raised his hands again and answered, Some factors for the non-magical would be will the foliage support the shape you're seeking. Design factors and ascetics. Of course maintenance as well. I would think for enchanted foliage, you'd need to consider what to do with the trimmings because wouldn't they be mobile as well. Ian wondered one other thing, but this should be a question. Professor. For enchanted topiary, it is almost as if the plant has a life force. Would the enchanted plants be able to feel pain? For that matter, do we discount whether plants feel pain at all, even if they aren't enchanted.

So Hannah had been quiet the entire lesson so far, but she had been taking notes and that definitely counted for something. The seventh year paid close attention to the next question and jumped right in so the professor didn't think that she had mastered sleeping with her eyes open or something.

"Professor, I think first we will have to determine what kind of topiary we are making and use the right kind of pot and soil for it to flourish." Maybe that much was obvious, but doing it wrong would have you messed up before you even started.

Adi grinned to himself as he watched Bart and the Professor. He wasn't grinning because Bard was being chided but because he himself also had his toad with him. Yep. Gus was snug in his pocket. Thank goodness he was behaving. Adi hoped the toad would continue that. Anyway, back to the lesson!

Hand in the air again, Adi said, '' Cutting by using shears and scissors are what's used the most to make them, Professor.'' And as for factors..."Weather can be a factor.'' It won't do good to make a topiary near winter time, would it?

She'd gotten a thumbs up for a few of her points. Awesome. Obviously she was on the right track and her ramble hadn't been such a bad thing. Like it would have been if none of it was relevant, or correct information wise.

Raising her hand eagerly once again Ana began with the first question asked, "At home my mum used three different techniques for creating Topiary. Stuffing, freeform and frame supported topiary." she listed the techniques that she knew. There were probably more but those were the ones that she was familiar with so that's what she was going with.

"I suppose the method that you use would probably depend on the type of plant that you're using to create the topiary, as well as the age of the plant. So for shrubs, or bushy plants it might make more sense to use the free form technique as the way the plants grow simply wouldn't be suitable for the weaving necessary with the other two methods? With the framing my mum used Ivy. She said it was a good plant to use for that method as the stems were easy to wrap around the frame. Herbs would be good for this method as well. Also, that method's good for creating two dimensional topiary, whereas stuffing and free form create more three dimensional shapes. I believe that for stuffing sphagnum is most commonly used along with baby plants, and so the soil is hidden. Oh, and you also are going to need to water a stuffed topiary more at first. The moss needs to be kept wet, at least until enough time has passed that the plants you've used can reach the soil. So this probably wouldn't be a great method to use if you aren't attentive when it comes to regularly watering your plants, or if you don't have the time to make sure it's misted regularly," Ana was sure that there was probably another reason as well. Oh, right size.

"Along with considering how mature, or large the plants are when you start the topiary you also want to consider how big you want them to get. A free form topiary is likely to be able to grow larger than a topiary formed by the other methods I mentioned as you're essentially just pruning it a whole lot, whereas with the other methods you're teaching them to grow around a frame, and their likely to be easier to prune as needed if you have any stray lengths that aren't growing in the way that they're meant to,"
Ana finished off, happier with her answer this time, although not completely so. She had a feeling that she was missing something, or that she wasn't thinking outside the box enough. Still it was all she could think of so she'd have to content herself with it.

This was going too fast for Kevin. He had not answered any of the questions and was sometimes even spacing out when he listened. Resulting in him having to shake his head a couple of times as he tried to focus. Well....at least he knew they were talking about the topiary figures...they were right?!

Feeling completely lost, the young Gryffindor grabbed his note book instead and tried to write some things down what the Professor was saying. Yes, he wasn't doodling or anything. He was writing actual notes... "A cutting spell!" he said as he raised his hand. "To make the shapes we can use a cutting spell or something?" mweh he didn't know what else to say. And the factors or whatever she was talking about made him zone out again.

Sophie nodded as professor Bentley answered her question. "Thank you, professor." Interesting! The Hufflepuff wondered for a little while if the plant would be okay if there was soil inside and couldn't help but picture a massive elephant topiary trying to climb a pot inside a house. The thought amused her and made her smile. But oooon with the lesson.

Methods to create a topiary? "Magic?" Go Sophie, stating the obvious. "Trimming spells and whatnot." And that reminded her of that one particular Charm she always had trouble with. The one Charm it took her over a day to learn. Her expression became relatively serious as she tried to remember the incantation again. Flipsnitsnfsjdnfkjs. Oh no... that would be horrible if they were expected to do that spell in class. Sophie felt her shoulder sink a bit as she visualized herself, as a seventh year, having trouble casting such simple Charm. What made it even more ridiculous was the fact she was already able to do some advanced magic.

......Oh, Merlin. That was sad. The girl was lost in her thoughts now and forgot to answer the second question.

Oh. Okay. So he's not entirely wrong on his answer about indoor and outdoor plants. The Hufflepuff nodded as Professor Bentley explained more to the class about the indoor versus outdoor thingy.

Messer raised his hand "Trimming and shaping?" That's a method, right? They couldn't actually make topiary without knowing some good trimming and shaping techniques, right? And for the second part of the question "The plants itself can be one of the factors that we need to consider, Professor." Since some else already mentioned the weather.

Caleb tapped his chin. He wanted to come up with a better answer than the ones his peers were throwing around, and after some consideration, he raised his hand.

"Well, one thing I think you have to think of is the shape. If you want to do something REALLY complicated, you might have to do some muggle trimming in places where 'Diffindo' might have too wide a range and destroy it," he explained. Yes, that was something you had to plan! Mapping out your plan of attack with the shears!

"You'd also need to look up animation charms if you wanna make them...like that," he said, pointing at the animated elephant she had been writing.

Robin grinned and flushed when she had gotten some of the answers correct, the teacher was very kind to give out thumbs up and use her classmates answers to teach them. She felt like she talked more in the first 5 minutes than she had all week! She thought about the question- she didn't know any gardening spells, if there were any, but she answered to the best of her abilities.

"I'm not sure of there are any magical ways to create topiary besides cutting spells like Kevin said, and then non magical people often use shears to shape the foliage. Besides cutting there are also the methods beforehand as well, the planting or potting of the plant and the growth of it are vital and sometimes you have to give it extra support with rods as well until it is strong enough to hold its own shape before you can even think about cutting it into an unfamiliar shape. Then you cut it according to how much weight it can support in different areas, like you wouldn't shape a head in a weak part of the shrub."
She hoped she wasn't speaking too much, after a moment of pause she continued with the second part of the question.
"Some factors i think would need to be considered would probably be mostly about the plant. What weather or temperature does it thrive in, how much water does it need, how deep are it's roots and can they support the shape you are planning umm, and the soil needs some consideration too, like if it's lacking in a certain nutrient that the plant specifically needs then you would supply it with that nutrient with fertilizers and stuff."