VanessaRichins

I am just curious - since you are insistent, do you have any links that show where a dog was shown to have definitively died or been severely hurt by poinsettias? Not some anecdote or unproven story....

As you may know, Snopes is a website that is devoted to researching urban myths. It's considered by many to be THE site for that, in fact. Here's their page which backs up this article.

http://www.snopes.com/holidays/christmas/poinsettia.asp

I'd be far more worried about something like a Diffenbachia or such than poinsettia.

I like topiary that is properly done. The key, here, is PROPERLY. There are some plants, like boxwood, that naturally lend themselves to being shaped. Many others, however, end up looking like the sad examples in your photographs. I'd love to make a proper knot garden myself, someday.