Looking So Succulent

I’ve wanted a succulent terrarium for a LOOONG TIME! After seeing a few tutorials on Pintrest, I decided that I could make one myself instead of buying one. I had seen individual succulent plants at several different stores, but I had never taken the plunge and purchased any. That is until a few weeks ago… I had stopped in Lowe’s to pick up a few items for a project and decided to look in the garden section. That’s when I found a bunch of succulents on clearance for just $1.00!!! (They are normally $1.95 -$2.95.) Awesome! So I cheerfully picked out five that I liked.

 
I looked up what other items I would need for the terrariums:

Succulents – Check!
Soil – Have some at home. Double Check!
Rocks – Need those…
Moss – Need that too…
Charcoal – Didn’t need any since I wouldn’t be enclosing the terrariums. 
Glass Bowls/Containers – Well…

I already had a large glass bowl at home, but I also wanted to make a small terrarium to have at work. So after finishing at Lowes, I stopped by the dollar store (I knew they would have what I needed at a better price) and picked up the rocks, moss, and a small fish bowl. The plants were very dry when I got them (probably why they were on clearance), so I filled a few containers with about ½ an inch of water and set the succulents inside and left them for a few days to let them adsorb it. Then I got down to business!
 

 
I started with a bottom layer of rocks in both dishes. Since the succulents need moist-but-not-soaked soil, the rocks allow somewhere for excess water to collect. I covered the bottom of the dish and up the sides a little with the rocks so they would be visible from the outside. 

The first time I tried this in the larger bowl I ended up making the rock layer too deep and had remove everything and start over, so make sure not to make the rock layer too thick if you have a shallow dish like this one.
 

 
Note: If you were going to enclose the terrarium or if it has a small opening you would need to place a layer of active charcoal after the rocks.
 
The next layer was the moss. This keeps the soil from going down into the rocks.
 

 
Then I added the soil. You want about 1-2 inches of soil depending on how deep your plants’ roots are.
 
Next I took the plants, played around with the placement until I liked it, dug out some holes, and popped them in the soil. I had to add extra soil around the plants where it was needed to keep them upright.
 

 
I had kept out a few of the rocks that I liked the look of to decorate around the plants. I even found a really cute one that looks like a heart! I’ve seen some elaborate terrariums online, but I kept mine simple and I love they turned out!

As far as how much everything cost:
 
5 succulents for $1.00 each – $5.00
Two bags of rocks $1.00 each (I only ended up using one) – $1.00
Bag of moss – $1.00
Larger dish – Already had (I think I got it from Goodwill for – $3.00)
Small fish bowl – $1.00
Soil – Already had (but it would have cost about $5.00 with plenty left over)
 
Total cost – For me: $8.00, but if I didn’t already have some of the stuff it still would have only been $16.00!!

 

Not too bad for two succulent terrariums! Now hopefully I can keep them alive…

Let’s Brighten Things Up

The past few weeks have been pretty wet and dreary here in Virginia, so while on a grocery run I decided to purchase some flowers to brighten things up.
 

Don’t you love how flowers can brighten up a room? Ricky usually gets flowers for me from our local grocery store, Martin’s. They are less expensive then from a regular floral shop and the flowers usually last a good 3 or 4 weeks. These particular flowers were just calling my name, so I decided to grab a few for myself this time! 

To help keep flowers looking lovely, when I first get them home I fill a vase with cold water and add the flower “food” that’s usually included. Then I trim about a 1/2″ off the end of the flower stems while holding the cutting point under running water. I cut them at an angle and remove all of the leaves that will be below the rim of the vase. After that, I try to change out the water and re-trim the stems about 1/2″ every week.
 
Do you love to keep fresh flowers in your house? Do you prefer potted plants that don’t die as quickly? Or maybe you prefer silk that don’t die at all? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

-Amy