Succulents: Embracing the Desert

Though I was born in Colorado, my 'growing-up' years were spent in Virginia. Lush, beautiful, green Virginia. And I went to William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia.

So when I think of a garden, I think of this:

This picture is actually of the John Blair Garden in Colonial Williamsburg, a place where I spent hours and hours during college. I miss it a lot.

Especially since last weekend was Homecoming Weekend. I miss you, girls.

Anyway, since living in Colorado I have had to embrace a new kind of beauty. The desert kind of beauty, which is browner. Much, much browner. But beautiful nonetheless. And it's not all brown. There is one genre of plant that I have come to love a great deal: succulents.

They look like this:

They are unique in that they store most of the moisture in their stems and leaves in order to survive in more arid climates. And Colorado is definitely more arid than Virginia. :)

So I was on Pinterest last year, and I saw the most glorious project ever: a succulent wreath tutorial here. I was in shock and awe, and I decided immediately that I needed to do this project.

Apparently, you can cut a bit of the succulent plant off (which is then called a "cutting" or a "clipping") and this piece of the plant can then be placed in soil and can develop roots and become another fully stable and healthy plant. Incredible! I'd never heard of that before.

So I began the process of snagging a few succulent plants from Ikea, and over the next year, my succulents began to grow big enough that I could start taking a few clippings without killing the whole plant.

This was my experience with making a wreath:

1. Finding clippings was harder than I thought, especially clippings that are colorful and vibrant and diverse. It was also more expensive than I thought. I didn't have immediate access to a garden full of free succulents that I can get clippings from. So it took me longer to accumulate a variety of succulents to move forward. In fact, it took me about a year. And probably $50-75, if I'm really honest.
2. Each component/ingredient listed on the blog posting I found to be necessary to successfully complete the project. Perhaps others are more 'craft-savvy' than I am, but I honestly wanted to succeed, so I don't know how I would have done it without each key component.
1. Metal wreath frame - I needed both "sides" to contain the moss.
2. Sphagnum moss - I needed two bags. Three bags might have been fine if I wanted a very full frame.
3. Floral wire - It was very helpful for wrapping the moss around the frame. Mine was bright green, but it does "hide" under the moss, so it's not noticeable.
4. Floral pins - This helped hold the clippings to the moss. An absolute necessity for me. One bag was sufficient.
5. Rooting hormone - I had a year's worth of time to "test" this out on a bunch of clippings. I do believe it does make a difference. I think it cost $5-7 at a nearby nursery, but a little goes a long way.
6. Clippings - As I said earlier, you need a LOT of clippings to make a well-rounded, eye-catching wreath. I thought I had a lot of clippings, and when it was all said and done, my wreath didn't look at all as cool as the picture. Ha! So you do need a lot of diverse clippings to make a fun wreath.
3. Never trust bloggers when they say a project costs $10 and it took them an hour to do while their kiddo was down for a nap. As much as I'd like to say that, it was not true for me. It was more expensive, and it took a couple of hours - at least to do it WELL. The moss doesn't like to stay in the wreath. It was messy and unruly. I did eventually tame it, but it took longer, and somehow it still didn't look like the tutorial. Ha!
4. The tutorial was nonetheless helpful. I won't throw the baby out with the bathwater. The tutorial was helpful. It's a great place to start. Check out the links. Do your research. Go to Hobby Lobby and to your local nursery. And - if you want some cool clippings - I've seen some great ones on Etsy. 

This is how mine looked when it was done. Give it 6 months to a year. Hopefully it will be fuller and more vibrant. I may even add another clipping or two if I see a fun one. I've heard the lifespan of a succulent wreath is ~5 years. We'll see how it looks in a year or two!

And with the extra succulents I had, I filled in this pot below. Both the wreath and the pot will remain inside during the cold winter months while they take root. I'll be doing some research to see how succulents handle the cold, especially as a potted plant. My guess is that they're hardy plants, but not so hardy they could handle sub-freezing temperatures.

Jump on board the succulent plant bandwagon. They're so much fun!