Succulents are all the rage right now. Every place I look, from the grocery store to the nursery, I see them. Many of them are not hardy in our area so they are treated like annuals. Surprisingly enough they are not hard to keep alive in your house with reasonable light and very little water.
I hate to throw away plants so I try to keep them alive if I can. Now that the weather is getting better I’m ready to bring some of my previous saves back out. Sometimes I pick up a few more to add to the collection. Ready for a quick planting idea that you can engage your kids with?
Lowes had a very lightweight rectangular planter. Just perfect for dropping some plants in! First I pushed out the plug in the bottom so the water would drain out. They come with a plug so they can be used as a water planter as well.
The succulents only need a small amount of soil to survive. The hardest part of keeping them alive is soil saturation from over watering. The way to use a deep container like this is to use a filler of some sort so the soil level is much less than the entire volume of the planter. I have used several types of filler but this time I’m using old 4-inch pots. Dropping them upside down inside the container will leave airspace beneath them and less room for soil above them.
The soil used here is regular potting soil with extra perlite added to increase the air space in the soil. You can use a cactus mix but you can also mix your own soil from all purpose soil mix and adding different amendments.
Using what I had over wintered with some new plants I created a little mini garden. 
When planting try to plant contrasting leaves next to each other, putting tall things in the center or off center and build the contrasts around them. Firm the soil around the plants and soak the soil to settle it around the plants.
For the finishing touch I grabbed some pieces of driftwood, and shells from the beach. This is the perfect opportunity to have your kids help. My grand kids are always picking up rocks and sticks from their outdoor adventures and these collections can be added to the top of the planter to act as mulch. Ask your kids to add what they’ve collected on top of the soil. Rocks, sticks, beach glass, feathers, seedpods, whatever they come up with is so much fun. I usually have the worse time keeping my puppy from dragging out a couple of pieces to chew.
Do you have succulents? How have you displayed them?
