Creating Your Own Succulent Garden

Today we’re stepping away from the kitchen and letting Liz, our Floral Shop manager, take us step by step through the process of creating a beautiful succulent garden. Even though she offers her beautiful creations in the Shop, her hope is that you’ll be inspired to get your hands dirty and enjoy making your own. What’s wonderful about doing it yourself is that if you’re a nature lover, so much of the fun is collecting the “ingredients”…those you need as well as those that are last minute decorative touches. You’ll see below what we mean.

Step 1: Gather your materials. You’ll need the obvious items like a container, your succulent(s), and soil (specifically cactus & succulent soil),  and small stones. Have fun choosing your container. What matches the color or theme of the room you plan on placing your plant in? Or just simply, use what speaks to you.

Tip: Shallow containers are better. They nestle these smaller plants which keep them from becoming shaggy.

Then, depending how ornate you want to get, you can collect shells, sea glass, white sand, twigs, mini pine cones or even more unique stones.

Step 2: Line your planter…(Liz is using a faux bois “fake wood” container that we all just love here at Ring’s)…with small rocks/stones and then add your soil. Remember, use soil that is specifically designated for cacti & succulents. Tip: Pre-moisten your soil. Those little guys need lots of moisture to get started in their new homes!

 

Step 3: Now it’s time to add your plants…making sure to water them first as well. If you’re using more than one plant, have fun varying shapes and sizes.

Tip: Gently loosen the dirt around the root ball & tickle the roots to stimulate growth.

Arrange them to your liking and then add more soil to fill in around your succulents. Gently tamp down on the soil using your finger and add more soil if needed. Then you’ll want to poke holes around the rim. Poking holes allows for the air & water to enter into the soil better.

Step 4: Now have fun decorating! The final look is all up to you. You can even switch out your little adornments by season…shells in the summer and pine cones & twigs in the winter.

See you at the Floral Shop, Liz!