succulent garden

A good percentage of my ideas for our home manifest in my mind for a good while until I finally work up the courage to take the plunge. I had been thinking about making a succulent garden for quite some time, but it wasn't until I saw this quirky footed bowl at work that I decided - this ish is going down!  The following isn't really what I'd call a tutorial. It's more of my own discovery process on how to plant something, make it pretty, and hopefully not completely kill it in the process.

So I laid all of my succulents and cacti out and formulated a plan of attack. I simply wanted the plants in the bowl. Pretty basic, I'll admit. But I actually couldn't leave them like this...

The first cactus I grabbed literally fell apart in my rubber-gloved hands. All of its little nubs just detached when I separated it from its pot. Now I'm no gardener, but I barely touched it. Once I got over the fact that I was definitely set up for the okey doke, I decided to scrap all the little nubby bits and go with the two pieces that seemed to be okay with staying together.

From there I started adding each plant in circular fashion and packing the soil down as I went to ensure that each plant was sturdy enough not to  fall over. Side note: After speaking to a trusted gardening source, I was told that because succulents like to completely dry out before being watered again, it probably would have been in my best interest to put some rocks at the bottom for drainage before packing down the soil. Going forward I'm going to try and be cautious when watering (by spritzing sparingly) and hopefully they'll thrive.

I eventually ended up with this configuration - short succulents and cacti on the outside, and tall aloe in the middle. I used a spoon to gently get the soil where it needed to be without getting poked. I also added a touch of water to clean the plants off, as they got pretty dirty during this process.

Then I added the rocks. I needed a bag-and-a-half to cover everything. I won't lie, the rocks actually make it look finished and pretty special.

So here's what I was left with.  Not bad right? It almost looks like I knew what I was doing!

Hyfsad bowl: $9.99
Cactaceae and Succulents: 5 @ $2.99 ea.
Knaster stones: 2 bags @ 89 cents ea.

A new centerpiece for your dining room table - priceless