How to make your own Evil Weed

 1. A silk foliage plant. Dieffenbachia is used in the show (I think), but you can use similar looking plants. I have used Pothos, since the leaves were similar but smaller, and I couldn't find a decent Dieffenbachia. I chose to make the High T-Plant similar to that first appearing in "Revenge". If you want to make the Enchanted T-Weed (from "Strikes"), then you will need a Zebra plant. A full grown T-Plant should be around 70cm including the pot. Decent silk plants are hard to come by, and the best ones (such as those in the pictures) are sold in America. These are expensive (around $50 each) and will probably incur huge postage and customs fees. Better to shop at home - I found my plant on ebay for £8.

If, for some odd reason, you want to make the original T-Plant from "Wonders", just get a dead plant (such as an Azalea), paint some paper browny green, cut out a load of T-Shapes and stick them to the ends of the twigs, having the cross of the T outermost.

Left to right above: Dieffenbachia and Pothos for the High T-Plant, and Zebra plant for Enchanted T- Weed

2. Paint and brush. I have used Marabu "do-it" colour spray in Pine Green for the base colour. Make sure that you use a spray with a gloss or satin finish rather than matt, so that your plant looks healty and more realistic. For the "T" markings on the leaves, I have used Anita's All Purpose Acrylic Craft Paint in Golden Yellow, Hunting Green, and Metallic Antique Gold. These paints are only needed if you are making the High T-Plant. If you are making the Enchanted T-Weed, you will need a glossy, bright red paint only for the "T" markings. The brush should be a stiff hog bristle brush that will give a nice texture to the paint in the markings. I have used a Pro Arte series C Studio Hog brush.

3. A jardiniere plus optional stand. If you are going to do this properly, you will want your precious Evil Weed to have a decent home to live in. Jardinieres are fairly hard to find these days, but you may be able to pick one up on Ebay if you are lucky (some sell for hundreds of pounds, and even I am not mad enough to spend that much for the benefit of a silk plant!). Tallulah tended to keep hers in a porcelain jardiniere with a stand. Her first T-Plant, however, was kept on the table in a plain pot (but I don't think that plant was really worth displaying!). Her Plant in "Turn on to T-Bag" was kept in a gold jardiniere on a table, also. The same jardiniere, incidentally, turned up in "Revenge", but it was on a stand. Tabatha always kept hers in a porcelain jardiniere with matching stand.

I was lucky, and managed to find a stand at my local branch of "Ambassadors". This is a really strange shop which is a sort of gift shop, but they sell really odd over-the-top luxury things that you would never normally have a use for unless you lived in a gigantic mansion. It is in fact very useful to me as a T-Bag fan, since I could (if I wanted to) create an entire T-Room from the goods sold there.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, my jardiniere stand was reasonably cheap (around £20) and doubles up nicely as a wine rack and wine glass rack, so it was money well spent in my opinion! I am still looking for a nice jardiniere pot. I'm sure I can get a planter cheap from Focus.