Easy DIY Fall Leaves Potted Topiary Tree From a Tomato Cage

Now that it's September, fall decorating is in full swing at my house. I've been brainstorming on how to use 2 urn planters for some sort of fall decoration on the cheap and these tomato cage fall topiary trees were just too easy (and pretty) to not add to my autumn decor!

Fall Leaves Tree Supplies:

  • Tomato cage (or 2)
  • Fake fall leaves garland (enough to cover your tomato cage)
  • Urn planter (or 2)
  • Clear Christmas lights

First I brought in 2 tomato cages from outside. I set the cages on the urn planters and noticed they were super tall and the bottom hoop was a little too large and slid past the lip of the urn. I immediately came up with an easy fix. I knew these tomato cages weren't the highest quality because a couple of the hoops had come off just from me pushing them in the ground. I brought in one that had a missing hoop. For the other cage I simply set it on the floor and stepped on it and pulled on the top and the hoop popped right off :). I then bent the bottom spokes in to rest on the planters because they were so tall that I would have had to spend a small fortune on fake leaves to cover them sufficiently. I also bent the spokes together at the top to help create a tree shape.

After all the bending and breaking I set the tomato cages on the urns to see how they would work. They did indeed resemble topiary trees which was the look I was going for.

I then gathered up some fall fake leaves garland. This was the only part of the project that I didn't have on hand. I have a ton of fake leaves garland, just none to spare for my the sake of my new decoration. So I splurged a little and bought 12 sets at Walmart for $36. Totally more than I wanted to spend but I figured if I didn't use them all I could return them and I really wanted to have full leaf coverage on my trees.

I then started wrapping the garland around the tomato cage.

This is how it looked after wrapping one garland. I tucked the ends in so the leaves would not unravel.

When I was finally done wrapping and tucking both trees I trudged on down to the basement and stole a couple of strands of clear lights from the Christmas lights tote, grabbed my assistant for encouragement and snacks, (all this wrapping was making us hungry) and started winding lights around my leafy trees.

After I was done winding lights I decided to tuck them under the leaves to create a softer look and to hide the wires.

Here's a picture of one of the finished trees.

Since I had most of the supplies I ended up spending less than $20 a tree. I could have spent even less but I didn't want any open space in my trees.

I just love how they turned out! They have created a wonderful, warm autumn atmosphere in my home :). Hope this has inspired you all to get to your fall decorating!! To see more pictures of the finished trees or for a full tutorial check out my blog post :)!


DIY fall project ideas

For more creative autumnal decor projects, discover Hometalk's top fall DIY ideas, light-up fall decor, autumn color DIYs, and fall leaf crafts.

Thrifty Artsy Girl
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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Frequently asked questions
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3 of 10 questions
  • Sandra Guffey Sandra Guffey on Nov 08, 2017

    Can I brush wax leaves since there real?If so can u tell me how?

  • Toni Johnson Toni Johnson on Oct 15, 2018

    Is it better to start the wrapping of the garland from the top or the bottom? Did you weight the pots down with anything?

  • Jean Jean on Oct 23, 2021

    How did you attach the cage to the pot??

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  • Patty Patty on Aug 13, 2023

    Def doing this

  • Db Db on Aug 15, 2023

    Looks great, the brightness of the picture made me think people with faux fireplaces could get the look of a real fire with those leaves and lights !

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