Succulents are all the rage right now and it’s no wonder because they are not only beautiful but also forgiving! Many of the succulent varieties come in many colors and some even look like flowers. This girl loves flowers, but succulents will outlive flowers every time. Let us show you how to put together a succulent box and we’ll also show you some really cool tips and tricks about these super cool plants.
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- Step 1– Choose your container for your succulents. We wanted our succulents to be in a rustic wooden container. Make sure if you’re using a wooden container that it has a plastic liner. Our container does not have a drain hole and that is perfectly fine. Later you will discover the steps you can take to prevent your container from getting funky without a drain hole. If you have a Cricut machine, you can also cut out a vinyl stencil to embellish your box.
- Peel off your stencil off the paper backing using transfer tape and place on your box. Our favorite paint for painting wooden boxes is Dixie Bell chalk paint! This paint is easy to use (with no fumes) and is also very affordable.
- Step 2– Fill your container with rinsed pea gravel about a quarter of the way up your box. It is important to rinse the pea gravel because it will remain pretty dirty when you buy it. You want to make sure everything is nice and clean when you plant your succulents!
- Step 3– Gain an extra level of insurance by adding a dusting of charcoal to the tops of your rocks. This charcoal acts as a filter to a closed environment. If your container has a drain hole you can skip this step.
- Step 4– Add cactus mix to your container leaving some space for your succulents. You can always fill in gaps in the plants with more soil once they’re planted.
- Step 5– Pick about five different succulent plants that vary in height and size to make a nice composition. Play around with where each plant will look best. Take the succulents out of the plastic nursery pots and loosen the soil exposing the root of the plant. Succulent leaves should be handled with care however the roots do not need this gentle care (succulents can actually live without their roots). Add more soil in between the plants.
- Step 6– Add a decorative top coat like the pea gravel we used in our picture (the same material that we put in the bottom of our wooden box). The pea gravel comes in brown, white, and even jade colors!
- Step 7– Water your succulents! We like to use a syringe to water our succulents so that we can have some restraint and make sure that we do not overwater. Succulents are plants that are from arid climates and will only want to be watered once a week.
Tips and Fun Facts!
- Succulents will live even after you’ve removed their roots! Take off the roots, give the plant a quick rinse, and then either wire your succulent for a flower arrangement or hot glue them on sphagnum moss to make a fab wreath. Yes, we said hot glue and believe it or not it will not hurt the succulent and eventually it will root again in the sphagnum moss.
- If a leaf falls off of a succulent, place it right on top of the soil and it may grow into a new plant!
- The more colorful succulents tend to keep their color when they have enough light outside. If you keep a colorful succulent inside it will often turn green. Succulents will grow towards the light so you can also rotate your planter to reduce the plants from bending a certain direction.
- Should you fertilize succulents? You can fertilize succulents in the spring using moo poo tea. Do not fertilize succulents when you do not want them to grow in a wreath.
- The succulent that does the best indoors without light is going to be the green and white zebra succulent (shown below on the right side).
If you’re in the Orlando area, I’d love to have you attend one of my succulent or flower classes with Alice’s Table (or you can host your own event in your home). If you’re not in the Orlando area check out this awesome online class on Bluprint that will elaborate making the succulent flower arrangements, wreaths with hot glue, succulent arrangements and so much more!
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