How To Make A Succulent Terrarium
Let’s talk indoor plants. You know I am totally in love with any indoor plant at the moment. It’s become a bit of an obsession that is quite possibly getting a little out of control. I am going to be one of those old ladies that have pot plants covering every corner of the house if I am not careful. I use to think back in the day that house plants were a little old fashioned and tacky. My memories of house plants bring images of ghastly decoupage pots or ones with floral art painted all over them and they sat upon doilies, lots and lots of doilies or macramé mats with beads. I shudder. Truth be told that will all probably come back into fashion again sometime very soon but in the meantime let’s talk about a modern version of an indoor plant these succulent terrariums.
I made this succulent terrarium to add a bit of living colour to my newly renovated bathroom. Terrariums are making a huge splash at the moment as part of modern interior décor and styling. You just need to pick up any interior design magazine and flick through a couple of pages before you spy one sitting styled into a room somewhere. I adore them and think they make a great feature to any room. It’s a great way to bring a bit of living colour into a space and by using succulents you are setting yourself up for keeping these plants alive. Succulents need very little water and generally thrive on mild neglect. I can only deal with plants that will suffer a little neglect because I may forget to water them. It only took me less than half an hour to assemble my terrarium and did not cost an arm and a leg to make. Let’s talk about how I went about creating my own terrarium and how you can make one too.
Materials:
- Glass vessel or terrarium
- Potting mix
- A variety of succulent cuttings
- Chopsticks, tweezers or a small teaspoon
Step 1:
Select the appropriate sized vessel for the type and size of plant that you are planning on planting in there. I found this cute glass terrarium at my local Earth Born store however you can find these at Kmart as well and other homeware stores.
Step 2:
Fill the bottom of the vessel with potting mix. My vessel was quite shallow so this would not support a larger plant such as a fern but suited small succulents such as the ones I had chosen. When choosing your selection of succulents to plant think about size, colour, shape and texture and how they will look together as a whole. By doing this it will help create an interesting and appealing planted design.
A little budget saving tip I will let you in on. Try and get some cuttings of succulents like I have here. My father-in-law has a big succulent collection and he gave me a heap of cuttings few years back. They have all now grown into large plants so I was able to pick a few different varieties and use them in my terrarium. So put the word out and ask your friends or family for a few cuttings and you too can create one for next to nothing.
Step 3:
Set out the selection of succulents you have chosen and group them together by size. I would suggest then using your chopstick or small teaspoon and dig a hole at the back of your glass vessel. Select the larger or taller succulents first to plant at the back of the terrarium and work your way forward planting the smaller plants at the front. Use the chop stick or tweezers to help position your plant while using the spoon to bury the roots in place.
Step 4:
Once the plants are all in place add in a few feature stones or shells if you want and water the plants in. These succulents only need to be watered about every 7-10 days depending on the weather and the position that the terrarium is placed in.
You can see what I mean about trying to choose a variety of textures and colours when buying your plants. It creates a interesting and and appealing design when grouped together. The terrarium I bought had to ability to be hung if I wanted which looked cool when I needed to photograph it however it didn't end up being hung but plonked on it's bottom on our bathroom vanity. It was sitting on the edge of our bath tub but that didn't stay there for long... why?... because kids! Talking of hanging plants I will be sharing how we created our hanging plant feature from our
next week so keep your eyes peeled for that.
If you do end up creating your own terrarium be sure to tag me on
or
with your creation. The terrarium is about two months old since I photographed it for this post and it is going great guns. The larger succulents I planted at the back have taken off like nobodies business and I may have to look at replacing it with a slower growing variety. Keep in mind that your terrarium is a every growing and changing space and you may have to look at replanting, trimming or changing the space every 3-6 months depending on the plant varieties you choose. Happy planting everyone!
