Decorating with Succulents and Up-cycled Containers

Succulents. They are all the rage right now. For the longest time I have avoided them because in general, I don’t particularly care for desert plants. That said, they’re growing on me! (pun intended!)

Recently I saw a display at a craft store using purple and green succulents. That was the beginning of the end of my newfound fascination for this desert beauty. I since have come to learn a great deal about them and thought I would share not only that, but also a tutorial on how to decorate with them.

OK, first for the trivia facts... House beautiful magazine recently did an article on the "Top 10 Most Interesting things About Succulents". Here are my favorite three:

Succulents come in just about every color of the rainbow and come in green, purple, blue, pink, orange and red.
Most succulents originated in Africa and thrive in dry desert locations. (But I'm guessing you already knew that...)
There is even a Christmas Succulent that blooms at Christmas time and is a bright festive red color.

I also love that they're pest resistant and really hard to kill, because I don’t do well with plants. I kill everything. Really. Finally I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t find some sort of symbolism or analogy to life through these wonderful plants. I love that they survive in even the driest desert conditions because they store water/sap in their leaves. Succulent comes from the Latin word “sucus ” which means juice or sap. Given this you only have to water them once a week! For me, it’s a reminder to save my energy and not constantly drain myself so that I have reserves left over for those “desert” times in life. In our busy, hectic society we often go from having a full gas tank to an empty one on nearly a daily basis, so when hard times come we are left without any reserves. I know I am guilty. Are you? Maybe, if we lived more like a succulent, we could survive the dry and desolate times of life? Maybe, having a succulent in your window sill at home or on your kitchen table can remind you to pace yourself through life and remember to make decisions that feed your energy reserves physically, emotionally and spiritually. Maybe, just maybe, that’s why succulents are so popular? Ok, now on to the main event... decorating with succulents. I won’t necessarily bore you with blow-by-blow written instructions on these bad boys, because you can watch it in my tutorial below, but here is the summary version.

Step by step instructions

Supplies

Vintage Containers
Succulents
Plaster of Paris.
Craft sand
Scissors
Stir Sticks
Gloves

1. Find some old, vintage silver containers at your local thrift store or eBay. In my opinion, the older and more scuffed up they are the better. I really like the patina on silver plated vases that oxidizes overtime.

2. Pick out a variety of succulents. For this tutorial I used artificial succulents. Again it’s a personal choice, but I like to stay in a similar color family like purples or reds. Make sure you get a variety of sizes and textures. The more variety the better. The ones pictured here I got at Hobby Lobby, but you can get them at Amazon as well.

3. Cut your succulent stems to the right size for your container. You’ll want the stem to go almost to the bottom of the container. They are top-heavy and you don’t want them falling over. Groups of three, five or any odd number for that matter will look best.

4. Mix up a batch of Plaster of Paris. It doesn’t go very far so you may need to make more than you think. I tend to make mine a little more watery so that it doesn’t dry as quickly.

5. Once mixed up, pour mixture into container. Wait a minute or so and then sprinkle sand onto the top of the plaster. Don’t worry about putting too much you can always shake off the excess when it’s dry. Now insert the succulents (stem first) into the Plaster of Paris and wait for it to dry. Voila! You’re done.

6. Now post a picture of your project so I can see it and share it with the rest of my readers. I love to get and share inspiration from all of you. Here are some pictures of my finished succulent containers on my dining room table. I adore how they they add a lot more interesting texture to my tablescape! Love love love!