Thuja The "living" T-Rex Arrives

Thuja ( T-Rex )

Introducing Thuja! The latest Dinosaur in my yard. Standing nearly 6' tall it is now the second tallest in my collection. He is also completely made out of plant! So how does one get a plant-shaped dino? It was actually not a simple process but a very planned out that was nearly a year long project in the making. Last year back in the summer through the Ted Lare Garden Center, I requested from a company in Oregon to see if they could custom grow a 5' Dinosaur made out of Arborvitae. They responded telling me they never made one before but they agreed to take on the challenge! They initially informed me it would take a few years to produce because they usually want things to grow and flush out a few times to shaping reasons a process that takes multiple growing seasons. After conversations and requests from me, they allowed it go ahead and be sent this year and this week it finally arrived after 8 month of waiting.

Thjuas spot in the front lawn

Thuja goes for a ride

The name Thuja comes from the first part of the scientific name from the plant in which it is made ( Arborvitae ), and also because sounds super epic! I was not there for the process of formation which would have been super-cool to see, but from looking it is made up of two Arborvitae shrubs that were put into a Dinosaur shaped wire cage then wrapped with netting. It was delivered to my house by a couple of my co workers in one of their trucks and then shortly after began the difficult task of planting/setting- a process that took all many hours, a cart, careful measurement and at least one helpful neighbor to help me get it near the edge of the hole. Thuja was so heavy I needed to start with tipping on the side and spilling most of dirt out of the giant  wood box and lightening the weight enough to cart to the planting location. The planting hole was measured three times to make sure it was the proper depth because there was only one shot- taking it back out and adjusting later wasn't going to be an option, after this it was dropped in and luckily it was right on first time! It was then backfilled, mulched and watered in really well. The bulk of the work is now done but there will be some continued yearly. This form of plant art is called a topiary that will require yearly trimming/haircuts to maintain the shape, but because it is a young freshly made topiary, he needs some time to grow and fill some which is why you can still see some of the metal frame. You can actually see that the topiary had a very swamp-man look in the truck photo as apposed to the photo after planting, this is because I spent a couple hours carefully teasing some of the branches out of the netting to give it a fluffier natural plant look. Not some time to grow and it should be looking great and I can now, it can be said I have a living dinosaur in the yard! Thuja is prominently located right out in the front yard where everyone can see, partly because it is the sunniest place in the yard and also because it was the side lacking Dinosaurs the most- since planting right away  I've had numerous people point out and to slow drive bys to get a glimpse.

Work-To-come; Thjua while looking awesome as-is of course, there is still some things that will be added, I've hired a local artist to custom make some eyes, teeth and claws to give a more fierce look, plus a Dinos gotta have teeth to eat right? I'll post updated photos once those have been added.