Succulent Wreath

[giantsquid]

I decided last Monday at work that I absolutely had to make one of these living succulent wreaths. If it does ok I can have it on the door year round. I managed to find all the supplies in one shopping plaza (Michael's and OSH). It just required a wire wreath frame, floral wire, peat moss, potting soil, rooting hormone and lots and lots of cuttings from succulents.



I cut all the succulents the day before I started to make the wreath so they had some time to callous over. I packet the wreath first with a layer of wet peat moss, then soil then more peat moss and then wrapped the whole thing with floral wire so it stayed attached to the wreath. I poked holes with a screwdriver and stuck the cuttings, dipped in rooting hormone, into the wreath.

It took way more cuttings than I imagined. I filled it in as much as I could with cuttings from my own yard. Then I wandered the neighborhood discretely picking pieces off my neighbors plants. Don't worry, most of them were from communal areas or plants that were huge and overgrown. I did find some really nice plants along the Strand (which is the row of houses right in front of the ocean) in front of a brand new giant multi-million dollar house that they had just put in the landscaping for. I'm sure the owners will never notice a few missing pieces of their plants.

Here is is in progress with the extra cuttings waiting to callous over.



I really like the way it turned out. I had it hung up on the door but some pieces were falling out if the door slammed too hard so I took it down to give it a little more time to root.

[batgirl]

That's amazing! If I lived in a warmer climate I would definitely try this, I love succulents. How do you care for it? It's just excellent!

[march]

I've always wondered if it was actually possible to make a succulent wreath! (although I love martha, I do sometimes question how her project may be applied at home...)

Was it difficult to do, or just time consuming?

It's lovely! Please share more pictures as it grows!

[craftADDchick]

This is such a cool idea! I may have to give this a go when the weather warms back up. Unfortunately, I'll have to get my plants at the garden shop...no succulents growing in the neighborhood! But, it'll have to be a gift for my sister- she has a lot of luck with succulents, whereas I have almost none...

Thanks for sharing!

[Rascal Kosher]

That's so unusual and beautiful.
I love it.

[tristitia]

That's really beautiful and creative!

[giantsquid]

I've always wondered if it was actually possible to make a succulent wreath! (although I love martha, I do sometimes question how her project may be applied at home...)

Was it difficult to do, or just time consuming?

It really wasn't that difficult to make and once you have enough cuttings it really isn't that time consuming either. 

I kind of combined the Martha http://www.marthastewart.com/portal/site/mslo/menuitem.3a0656639de62ad593598e10d373a0a0/?vgnextoid=b91e5f667e842110VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&vgnextfmt=default tutorial and the DIYnetwork http://www.diynetwork.com/diy/fl_other/article/0,,DIY_13819_2277619,00.html tutorial.  I didn't use copper wire though, just cheep floral wire. 

Both tutorials say to soak it in a tub of water to water it but I just sprayed it and it seems fine.  Mine should be ok outside all year long since it's really mild in Southern California but anywhere that it gets below freezing it probably needs to be taken in in the winter.  I guess that kind of ruins the Christmas wreath effect but it would probably look cool sitting on a table with candles in the middle too.

[Keriw24]

That looks great!  I might have to try my hand at that.... although I am not very good at executing crafts.

[lovelyislacey]

I love this. I cant seem to keep my succulents alive The keep going dead on me. I think they are getting too much water out of the air Anyway this is great!

[trix_ska]

  Wow!