The advantages of indoor plants are endless. They increase mood, air quality, and even focus and concentration. Succulents are among the simplest and most adaptable houseplants to include into your decor, and making your own indoor succulent garden is a wonderful way to do it.
You may make your own arrangement of lush and beautiful succulents in just a few easy steps.
- Select a Container The versatility of indoor succulent gardens is one of their most beautiful features. Succulents may be grown in a variety of sizes and shapes, thus almost any container can be used as a succulent planter. Succulents don’t require a deep container to support their roots because of their slow growth, therefore even the most unusual container can be used as a planter. Wide, shallow bowls or pots are popular, but you may also construct your own garden out of a wine glass, a wooden trough, a mug, a shadow box, an old bucket, a candle holder, or even half of a huge shell.
- Ensure drainage It’s crucial that your container has adequate drainage because succulents don’t want their roots to be damp. If at all possible, the container’s bottom should be pierced with a hole, but you can also ensure proper drainage by placing 1-2 inches of gravel in the pot’s base. To prevent soil from spilling out of a hole, cover it with a small piece of screening or a scrap of newspaper.
- Fill in the Base With a succulent-friendly soil, like a cactus and succulent potting mix with plenty of drainage, fill in the base of your pot or planting container. Sand and vermiculite or other similar minerals can be added to standard potting soil to enhance drainage and make it suitable for a succulent garden.
- Decide on Your Plants To give the layout considerable visual interest, choose plants with a variety of forms, colors, and textures for your succulent garden. However, make sure that all of the plants require a similar amount of care so that they may coexist in harmony. Because they grow slowly, plants don’t mind being packed closely together, so take your time positioning them around the pot. A trailing plant might look lovely next to the edge of the pot, or you might choose to place smaller plants all around a larger specimen.
- Complete the Soil After placing the plants in their respective locations in your garden pot, add more dirt and lightly compact it around each plant. However, avoid planting the plants too deeply or burying them, since this could lead to root rot. A top dressing layer of gravel, sand, glass marbles, sea glass, or crushed shells can be a lovely method to tie the garden together. Top off the planter with a decorative material if desired.
- Attach extras Accessorizing succulent gardens can be enjoyable, and you could wish to use miniature props to transform your indoor garden into a fairy world. Other ideas include inserting a larger “boulder” or huge seashell into the arrangement or adding moss as a final touch around the plants.
- Sprout the Garden Following planting, sprinkle the garden gently with a spray bottle to water it, being careful not to overwater the plants. Overwatering succulents can cause them to decay, therefore it is preferable to let them dry out a bit rather than keep them damp. When they receive fresh water, they will recover if they are dry and will start to shrivel or wrinkle.
- Lie back and enjoy! Even inside, full sun or a location where they will receive many hours of good sunshine each day are optimal for succulent gardens. However, stay away from placing the garden close to a heating or cooling vent that could cause temperature extremes. On a kitchen table, the corner of a desk, or a mantelpiece, a succulent garden can look beautiful. You may design a succulent garden to be the ideal match everywhere you want to add a touch of greenery to your home’s decor!
Step 1: Insert foam, and fill in empty spaces with moss.
You’ll see that I didn’t use all of the desert foam in the container. Instead, I filled in the gaps with moss and angled the stems of my succulent plants into the foam.
This green Spanish moss was picked because it doesn’t compete with the vibrant artificial succulents.
Step 3: Insert faux succulent stems into foam bricks.
I used wire cutters to trim the stems of the succulents so that they were flush with the foam foundation. Try alternating hues (reds, greens, and blues) and styles for greater aesthetic appeal (cascading versus upright).
Based on the succulents and planter you select, the finished item will resemble this…
Here is how the succulent arrangement currently appears in my living room:
How are succulent baskets made?
Materials:
- pot, basket, or container
- cuttings from succulents or nursery plants
- Container soil
- lining with heavy plastic (optional)
- arid moss (optional)
- Ribbon (optional)
Method:
Line a basket with thick mil plastic because extended contact to moisture could cause it to degrade (i.e. a trash bag; see how to do it). Make a few drainage holes or suggest that the receiver water the plant sparingly just enough to wet the soil. For a luxuriant appearance, add cuttings after filling the container with potting soil. If you’re using nursery succulents, plant them as you would in any container or just tuck them into the basket while they’re still in their pots. To hide pot rims and gaps, cover them with dry moss. A bow or ribbon completes the look and indicates that the object is a gift.
How are rocks adhered to one another to make imitation plants?
Important!! Decide how much gravel you’ll need and put it in a colander before you start cleaning it. After that, rinse it really carefully to remove all the debris. The gravel should then be allowed to dry after allowing all the water drain out.
I used a yard hose to clean mine, then I set the stone colander outside to dry. Then, to aid in their drying, I ran my hands through the stones, moving them about roughly every ten minutes.
Gather containers for planting
In my situation, I had to paint the potting containers’ exteriors. Depending on the kind of container or containers you’re using, this is optional. My herb and flower combo container plants allowed me to reuse the 1 pint plastic containers that were provided with our herbs.
Line container with paper towel
One paper towel folded into four pieces should go in the bottom of each planter. The adhesive drips will be caught by this. (I should have done this; I didn’t, but I subsequently realized it would have helped catch the glue drips.)
Add floral foam
Cut the floral foam brick into 1-inch slices, and then round off the foam slice’s edges with a knife so that it will fit into the planting container’s bottom.
Cut stems to size
Use the wire-cutting pliers to shorten the stems of each of the imitation succulents as necessary. Yours might already be brief enough. You can estimate how much to cut off if you hold the plant upright next to the planter. Don’t cut too much off. When you actually plant it into the gravel, you can always trim it a little bit more if necessary.
I just recently learnt about gravel glue and how it can be applied outdoors to gravel roads, rock beds, and stone walkways to keep the stones in place as well as for creative projects. For big outdoor spaces, there are many pre-made pebble binders available. They even offer similar mulch holding items that I would love to try. However, given their cost, I’m trying to fit them into the budget for the following year.
For this project, I created a homemade gravel glue that is both small-batch and incredibly inexpensive to produce. All you need is water and ordinary glue. You can use clear craft glue or regular white glue.
The typical blending percentages are either:
- 1 part water to 1 part glue
- 3 parts water to 1 part glue
- 4 parts water to 1 part adhesive
Apply a single thick coat or a number of smaller ones. You can decide. I applied one thinner coat, then poured glue straight from the bottle over the top of the stone, and it worked fairly well.
Make the gravel glue
This tutorial can be downloaded from my resource collection, as I already indicated. The password is available at the bottom of this post.
- 6 to 8 cups of pea gravel should be poured into a colander. Wash the gravel well. As stated before, set it aside and let it drain and dry.
- In a clean bucket or container, combine a 14 oz bottle of glue with around 16 oz of water. Good stirring
- Once the gravel has been thoroughly coated with the glue mixture, add it and stir.
Place stems into gravel
One or more of the imitation succulents should have the stem portion inserted into the gravel. Until it is fully inserted, firmly pressing it into the floral foam. Reminder: if the stem hasn’t been sufficiently pruned, remove the plant and do so. Reposition into the gravel after that.
Top off with gravel
With one hand holding the plant leaves out of the way, add more of the gravel mixture until you’re satisfied with how full it looks. Allow the glue to almost entirely dry, which takes an hour or so with craft glue in most circumstances.
Regarding glue drips: Even if you use the paper towel, some glue mixture may leak out from the bottom during the drying process if the planting container includes drain holes. While I was putting things together, I used a cookie sheet and aluminum foil to capture some of the drainage. I then set the pots on the concrete so they could finish drying and draining. In order to prevent the containers from sticking to the ground, I also shifted them roughly every 15 minutes. (I used more water than I mention here to thin down my glue mixture when I created these. I also skipped using paper towels to line my plants.)
Add more glue
By immediately squeezing glue from the bottle onto the top of the stone in the planter, you can add more adhesive to the gravel to finish it off. The second bottle of glue is intended for this purpose. The gravel will have more hold after completing this stage. As previously said, let the adhesive drain and dry.
Gravel glue won’t hold the gravel firmly because it is water soluble. However, it will keep it there for a very long period. The adhesive can be removed off the stone by soaking it in hot water if you ever wish to disassemble the planter and reuse the gravel. I believe it should work, however it would take some time and the stones would probably need to be cleansed often.
Additionally, most white glue dries clear; check the label to confirm this. However, if you are worried about that, you might want to try using transparent craft glue, which begins off clear and should also dry clear. Just make sure the label makes that clear.
How is a fake planter made?
- Step 1: Arrange flowers and foliage.
- Step 2: Adhere the floral foam (for dried and artificial flowers) to the planter’s base.
- Utilizing Thriller, Filler, and Spiller flowers, arrange stems in the third step.
- Step 4: Add decorative stones or moss to the flower foam to complete the design.
Size
Choose a pot that is just big enough for the plant to grow in, but not too big. The circumference of the appropriate pot is 5–10% greater than the size of the plant. Choose pots with a maximum excess space around the sides of an inch or two. The delicate roots will spread if the pot is too big before the plant has a chance to develop. There won’t be any room for the roots to spread in a pot that is too tiny.
Style
The ideal pot should not only complement your style and decor but also the physical properties of the plant. Tall pots look excellent with upright-growing succulents, like aloe. Low-growing cultivars, like Echeveria, look fantastic in little pots. Not to mention spillers with trailing growth tendencies like String of Pearls. Spillers in shallow pots or hanging plants look fantastic and grow well.
Material
There are many different types of materials for pots. The most prevalent materials are wood, terracotta, metal, ceramic, and resin. Terracotta or ceramic pots work best for succulent plants. Both of these materials allow for proper air and water circulation because they are both breathable. Just keep in mind that both ceramic and terracotta are weighty, especially after adding soil and plants.
Pick resin or plastic pots for larger plants, especially ones you plan to move around. Your back will thank you for using those lighter pots as you move or reposition plants.
Drainage
Before you plant and cultivate succulents, the most important thing to understand is that they don’t like a lot of water. Even before you develop a watering schedule, this is relevant. Without adequate drainage, water that accumulates at the bottom of a container without anywhere to go may cause root rot in your succulent.
The ideal pots for succulents, regardless of design, are planters with drainage holes in the bottom. Since many succulent planters lack drainage holes, you can use any of them as long as you keep in mind to water succulents sparingly and keep an eye on them frequently.
Can I combine several succulents?
Recently, I’ve received several inquiries from folks wondering how much room should exist between the succulents in their arrangement. The reply is, “It depends.” Succulents are perfectly capable of being planted quite near to one another.
Succulents grow more slowly when planted closely together, helping the arrangement to better maintain its original layout. When they are close together, watering them can be more difficult. But this is a really fantastic approach to plant your succulents, particularly if you’re creating the arrangement as a present or for an event.
A nice illustration of succulents that are firmly packed together is this clam shell planter at Waterwise Botanicals.
Succulents are generally slow growers, but if you give them a bit extra room to spread out, they’ll grow a little faster and eventually fill the space. If you want your plants to grow larger or reproduce more readily on their own, this is a fantastic alternative. I suggest using this slightly dispersed strategy if you are just getting started with succulents.
It is simpler to water the succulents correctly when there is room between the plants. The soil will dry up more quickly due to the improved air flow. We are aware that succulents thrive in rapidly draining soil!
Remember that you don’t want the succulents to be too close together or in a pot that is much bigger than they are.
Succulents will prioritize generating roots over growing larger if they are given too much room. A good distance between plants, in my opinion, is between 1/2 and 1.