SIMPLE SUCCULENTS!! JOIN THE FUN!

If you haven't already jumped on the succulent bandwagon, now is the time!  It's so much fun to collect, grow, split, plant and enjoy!

We've been on a mission to clean up and clean out certain areas of our house.  We started with a couple of closets and eventually ended up in the garage.  There were boxes stored away that hadn't been opened since we moved to our home in 2001.  Yikes!

It was, of course, a walk down memory lane... letters, books, toys - not uncommon for a couple of now empty-nesters.  Funny how things work out - those collectible Barbies didn't finance a college education for our daughter... tough selling them on ebay too!  All the books that came from my daughter's playroom were packed in the back of her car to be transported to the garage of the home she and her husband recently purchased.  (I admit, we did keep a few - those Thomas the Tank Engine and Carl books were too tough to get rid of!)

In one cabinet my husband found this metal container that he never used.   I thought it would look so much better with plants in it!!

I've been collecting succulents for awhile now.  We recently drove up the coast to San Francisco, and on the way there we stopped in a plant store in Cambria where I purchased a few little succulents.  Every time I go to any store with a Garden Center I look to see if there is anything unusual.  I bring it home, keep it healthy for a few weeks, then split it and let it grow in a big pot for awhile.  I'll share with my brother, who has an amazing green thumb, and together we've collected quite a few.

As you can see, these pots are filled with all sorts of different varieties - no rhyme or reason.  When I need to fill a container, it's like going shopping!!  For free!

In this case, I filled bottom of each section with some stones that I purchased for some other project. You can use rocks, pebbles, etc. in the bottom, but you need some sort of drainage.

I then filled the spaces with a combination of dirt from the garden and potting soil and then just started placing the little plants in random spots - adding and moving them until it looks balanced and interesting.  

Some of my favorites are the large flat leafed one and the two little agave "seedlings" that I pulled from a larger one my brother gave me.  I think they'll be beautiful when they get bigger and fill in the spaces.

I highly recommend this "hobby" - not only is it relaxing, but you'll have some beautiful and interesting displays to put on a window sill or in a garden.