more succulents

So I found myself at the river market this past weekend and I of course stopped by the booth where a man sells succulents for dirt cheap.  I recently purchased an antique colander and needed to do something with it, so I decided it would serve well as container for more succulents - drain holes included.  So today I got around to putting it all together.  {I did a smaller and similar use of an old container on a previous post here}

My antique zinc colander

I wasn't sure what I would use to line the colander since the dirt would obviously come out through the holes, but I finally decided to try to find the hanging pot liners {found out they are called coco or coconut liners}.

I had to cut back the coco liner quite a bit because the smallest one I could find was for a 16" hanging pot and my colander is only about 8 inches.  I also cut a slit halfway through to make it fit better.

I went ahead and added a coffee filter {actually two of them} because I figured with time the dirt may find it's way through the coco liner {especially where I cut it} and the filters may slow it down a bit.

My succulents

The arrangement

Here is the final product {along with the top picture on the page}.  Here you can see it next to my somewhat overgrown last succulent project and sitting nicely above my kitchen sink.  The dirty grout is just a bonus for everyone to enjoy!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter! Here is a pic of the hubs and I after we got home from church!

Enjoying the hammock!

thrifty find + succulents

Recently on Pinterest I have seen a lot of succulents.  They are awesome looking when planted in groups and sometimes come in really unique colors.  I saw some for sale at the Kansas City Rivermarket a few weeks ago for $1-2 each, which I thought was a pretty good price, so I bought a few.  I wasn't sure of what I was going to plant them in though.  They don't really need a traditional pot because they have a shallow root system.  I also wanted to plant them in an interesting container, preferably something antique-ish looking.  So I went on a thrift store hunt to find a container to plant mine plus some for a friend who enjoys them as well.  After several stores I finally came across these containers:

They were oval brass containers that had a bit of a worn down look, which is exactly what I wanted, and of course they were so reasonably priced at a couple dollars a piece!  I had read a tutorial for planting succulents before and so I follow the same steps it described.  First I added a layer of rock to the bottom of both containers.  Next, I took a coffee filter {which fit perfectly in the containers} to hold the soil above the rock so that it could drain well.  Too much water is bad for the succulents since they are cactus-like or in the same family or something like that...

So I added the plants and was happy with the way they turned out... One for me and one for my friend for her birthday!  Supposedly they are easy to care for too!

I also want to try putting them in flour sifter like this picture.  It would be so cute in a kitchen.

From fiskars.com

Have a good weekend!