Young House Love

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How To Plant Succulents

I’m on a greenery kick (both outdoors and apparently indoors as well), so this is the story of four cheap-o succulents that I impulse-bought from Home Depot and then decided to plant in kind of a weird way.

Succulents1

The two small ones were $2.98 and the two middle ones were $3.98 a pop. Oh and I used to have a red cactus for years throughout middle school and high school. Seriously, I couldn’t kill that thing if I tried. So that’s why he’s in the mix for nostalgia’s sake.

Succulents2

Then I hunted around or some planters or baskets or old boxes to plant them in (Anthrophologie had some great succulents planted in old wooden boxes with pebbles around them and they looked super cool). Then my entire idea sort of shifted when I came up empty on boxes (and didn’t happen to have any cool white pebbles around either) but laid eyes on these old vases just sitting around in my cabinet.

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How weird would it be if I planted them in something see-through? Probably pretty weird, but I’m ok with weird. Heck, I embrace weird. I paused to worry for a second that they wouldn’t have any drainage in these glass containers, but I realized that the ceramic pot that my wouldn’t-die red cactus from high school didn’t have any drainage holes (nor do any of the white Ikea plant pots that we have around the house) so I went for it. But they clearly needed more dirt.

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So I went outside with a spoon (yes, a spoon) and used it to scoop some more dirt into my transparent little vessels. The verdict: I think they look pretty cool!

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I mean, people mulch their gardens for a cleaner look, right? I think the dark brown tone of the dirt looks so pretty against the green of the plants. Plus a lot of our surfaces are white (and nearly all of my plant pots are white) so maybe my eyes just appreciate the contrast (my eyes are such rebels).

Succulents6

As of now two of them are hanging out in the hall bathroom (on the white counter, which definitely makes them pop) and one of them is on the white fireplace mantel in the kitchen (my little red cactus, since he’s quickly becoming my favorite for sentimental reasons). I’ll have to snap a picture of them in their new homes for ya soon. Although plants and pillows tend to migrate a lot around here, so they might pop up somewhere else next week anyway.

Have you ever planted something in sort of an unorthodox way? Or owned a red cactus in high school that straight up refused to bite the big one, even when you forgot to water it for months?

Comments

  2. Marianne says

    Looks great! I love succulents of all kinds though with the extremely low light levels in our home my plant collection has suffered tremendously. I don’t normally put my plants in clear vessels but yours look great! Maybe I’ll give that a try!!

    Reply

  3. Leigh Ann says

    I totally love the succulent trend right now! My boyfriend (of 11 years) has been buying me cacti since high school & it’s so funny that that’s now the trend. He always bought me a cactus instead of a bouquet, because the flowers die & the cactus is long-lasting. It’s always such a romantic gesture.

    Next one I get is totally going in a glass vase!

    Reply

  4. gia says

    I kind of want to steal this idea and use all the clear vases I have lying around my basement. I love the contrast!

    Reply

  5. Jennifer says

    There is special soil for succulents, so if they don’t do well you might look into that. Also, in humid climates, you don’t need to water those, they will pull all the moisture they need from the humidity in the air. I live in the midwest and had one like your red one, and I never watered it in the 5 years I had it.

    Reply

  9. Martha says

    Yes, I did own one of those red cacti that refused to die. My parents might still have it, I think I actually gave it a name (it was mine in middle school, I called it “Coral”) :) Love the succulents!

    Reply

  10. Allyn says

    Love it! We love succulents. We actually stole a few from a friend’s wedding (they were just going to get rid of them) and they sat on our dining room table for weeks and weeks, no soil, no water. Still started growing tiny roots, which made me feel guilty, so we planted them.
    Almost a year later and they’re still chugging along.
    When I went to Denver to visit my sister, I thought it was awesome that there were succulents all over peoples yards. SO cool, and so very very not Southern.

    Reply

  11. Andrea says

    I had an ivy planted in a decorative teapot for a couple years, until it outgrew it and I transplanted it to a real pot. Now I’m going to re-visit the teapot and put something lovely in it!

    Reply

  12. Janae says

    I’ve been seeing a lot of adorable succulent displays, but I haven’t purchased any in fear my cat would try to eat yet ANOTHER indoor plant. However I have seen some really neat ways to display them vertically, hung from a wall! Would love to give it a try… I probably will when I get the chance!

    Reply

    • Jane says

      My cat eats any plan I have…except the succulents! Give it a try. I think there might be a juicy bitter taste in the leaves that they dont like.

    • Chelsea says

      My cat does the same thing! It has been so long since I have been able to have any flowers or plants in my house… and then I buy him cat grass and he wont touch the stuff. His name is Little F, just guess what the F stands for.

  13. Sarah F says

    I just added some succulents to the three cacti I had living in my kitchen windowsill. They’re planted in an oblong milk glass looking Ikea dish. Very clean looking. I love the little buggers.
    But I have tons of houseplants. :D I’m addicted.
    Love that red cactus!

    Reply

  14. carie says

    Ok, I’m taking bets on how long these guys are gonna live… just kidding you guys but seriously, they look super cute so good luck!

    Reply

  16. Rosemary says

    My sister and I each had a cactus in middle/high school. I went back to my parents’ house during college (after YEARS of cactus neglect) and found it thriving in a cabinet under a bathroom sink! I watered it, put it in the sun, and gave it some love… it died within two weeks.

    Reply

  17. Roxy says

    I love the architectural look of succulents. If your container doesn’t have a drainage hole, you can put pebbles in the bottom of the container, then the soil and plant. The pebbles provide drainage by holding the excess water away from the root ball.

    Your succulents will be quite happy without pebbles as long as you don’t over water ;-)

    Reply

    • Laura says

      Your succulents will probably do ok in regular old potting soil as long as they aren’t watered much. However, it is recommendable to add rocks, then sand (in that order) to the bottom of a succulent container, since the roots need well oxygenated, loose soil to thrive. Potting soil is easily compacted, so you just have to be careful.

    • donita says

      This was going to be my tip!!! ;-) My hubby has a green thumb, he taught me the pebbles in the bottom trick. This tip work’s great.

    • Heidi P. says

      :) I was going to say the same thing about the pebbles in the bottom. I do that for my Ikea pots. And you’d be able to cover them up with dirt for a seemless dirt look ;).

      Anywho, love them in the vases. I never thought of doing that! I have lots of clear vases like those and lots of plants… hmmmm… :)

  20. Angie says

    I haven’t had a red cactus refuse to die, but I’ve been trying to kill a rosemary plant in my backyard for 8 years now. It’s a running joke with my husband. The rules say we can’t use plant/weed killer of any kind and we can’t dig it up. Anything else is fair game. I thought I would win the Kill Our Rosemary Plant Game with a big trash can turned upside down over it (after pruning it back to almost nothing.) but no, it came right back. It’s survived several hurricanes unscathed including Katrina!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      That’s kind of a hilarious game. Poor bush, you guys have it out for him. But I love that there are rules about no plant weed killer. Haha.

      xo,
      s

  21. Meg says

    looks great! i’ve plannted succulents in bath&body candle containers (once the wax was cleaned out). they make great little glass planters. and yes, i do have a cactus that refuses to die + he has been through a lot!! had him since college. you can read all about him (and his little succu friends too) over here. he always gives me a laugh, but then again i’m biased. :) http://mrcandmeblog.wordpress.com/the-ccc/

    Reply

  23. Melissa says

    I have my succulents in clear vases with pea gravel around the outside and on the top of soil. I had some left over from a backyard project and I love they way they look! I wish I had more light in my place but I am planning a move soon so I hope I have an opportunity for more light and more succulents!

    Reply

  25. Casey says

    These remind me of terrariums you see popping up all over home decor this season- very trendy and cool. Keep us updated on how they thrive (I kill everything. hahaha)

    Reply

  26. Ali Miller says

    Wow, this is a funny post to me because I did the same thing about two months ago. (I bought three succulents from Home Depot and planted them in clear glass containers, because I saw them planted like that in Anthropology and loved it ….I didn’t see the ones in boxes at our store.)

    Good news and bad news:

    Good: I also thought it looked super cool.
    Bad news: Mine didn’t seem to grow too well like that, and I’m a plant fanatic. If I had to count them, we probably have 30 or so house plants, including cacti and even pineapples (There’s a fun project). One kicked the bucket within two weeks, one is most certainly gone now, and one is still doing great.

    Bonus good news!!!: The one that is doing great is the same one you have in the top picture, second from the left. It bends toward the sun drastically so you have to turn it twice a week or so to make it grow straight, but mine is doing great. Keep us posted on your red cactus. I’ll have to try one of those.

    Reply

  27. sarah says

    definitely have put plants in glass vases before. love seeing the dirt. we also have bamboo growing in water and rocks in a really tall vase.

    Reply

  29. Nichole C. says

    Those look great! I think seeing the potting soil also (perhaps) ties in your new kitchen flooring a bit, too? Regardless, super simple but high in impact! Love it!

    Reply

    • Joy says

      I was thinking the same thing! As I was reading, I was thinking… these are going in the kitchen to tie in the new floors! I’m surprised you didn’t put them all in there for a grouping of 3, which looks so nice. I bought some succulants at Ikea last week. I love them and they seem to be doing well… so far so good. Great idea with the clear vases. I love the way it looks.

  30. Lourdes Edralin says

    We are on the same wavelength! This weekend, I hunted down some colorful bowls at the dollar store and bought a bag of cactus/succulent potting mix. (Oh, it’s still in my trunk!) A friend has about 40 varieties of succulents in her garden. I’m gonna propagate the little succas!

    Reply

  31. Stacy says

    Totally killed a cactus this month. No idea how. Did an autopsy on the poor thing (which went all squishy and developed some kind of mold) and I believe I over watered it. So I killed the cactus with kindness (and probably a little lack of sunlight were he was hanging out). Sigh. My blacker than black thumb prevails again.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Oh yes, that does sound like you killed him with kindness (aka: too much water). But maybe the next one will live forever? I think I gave my red cactus a splash of water once a week when I remembered and he was so happy.

      xo,
      s

  34. Phoebe says

    If it makes you feel any better, I just read the post title and first sentence and most definitely laughed out loud in my cube (enough so other coworkers could hear me, haha) :o)

    Reply

  35. Mary says

    My daughter needed Succas for a science project last week. Shopping tip: they were out at Lowes and Home Depot in our area—Walmart had a huge selection.

    Reply

  36. Caitlin @ Desert Domicile says

    I made a terrarium last summer in a big glass vessel where you could see all of the layers of rocks, dirt, charcoal, etc. It looked really good for the first month or so until I forgot to water it and the birds ate it haha

    Reply

  37. Virginia says

    Cute!

    When I want to buy flowers for the house/a centerpiece but don’t want to splurge on fancy cut flowers, I often buy little potted ones (like a four-pack of ranunculus or painted daisies or something that come in those little blister packs at garden centers) and “plant” them in wide-mouth Ball jars (the 12 oz size, which we also use for drinking glasses and leftovers and everything else in life).

    Sometimes I’ll stick a few pebbles on the bottom to give them some help with drainage, or not. Then I pack extra potting soil (or garden dirt works too!) in as needed to fill them up.

    I think the dirt looks adorable — very spring-like! (Though I’ve also done it at Christmas, planting little baby evergreens…) And it means you can score way fancier flowers for a centerpiece (because they’re so much cheaper to buy as little baby plants than already cut at a florist)… AND get even more for your money by planting them in the garden after the party (or whenever you’re done enjoying them inside — sometimes I wait until the first bloom finishes, then plant them outside and see if that gives ’em new life).

    Reply

  38. Victoria says

    I hate to be a downer (because they really do look cute), but if you pot plants (including succulents) with regular outside dirt, instead of potting soil, you tend to run into problems.

    First, it compacts (which is why potting soil has that funny white filler stuff in it so that air can circulate around the roots), second, outside dirt brings in outside germs and fungus, which, considering the limited air circulation indoors, will tend to kill the plant. I’ve done the same thing before and they just end up dying! I don’t want to see you facing the same heartache!

    It’s probably better to repot using proper potting soil so that those lovelies stay pretty. You may also want to consider a layer of pebbles along the bottom of the container so that the succulents get proper drainage. While intended for terrariums, this Fern and Mossery page has great instructions: http://www.thefernandmossery.com/2009/04/how-to-make-terrarium-adding-soil.html

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      All the planters in our house from Ikea don’t (and the pot my little red cactus from high school was in didn’t have them either) but we have heard that putting pebbles on the bottom of the container can help with drainage! Hope it helps!

      xo,
      s

  41. Kristin says

    I just planted a basil plant in a clear glass container last week and I think it looks great! I placed it next to a clear glass container of river rocks and I am totally digging the “nature” look it gives my table.

    Reply

  42. lizkayl says

    Just a note: Everyone’s already chimed in with pebbles for the drainage. Another note is I’ve always heard you’re supposed to ‘break up’ the root ball, basically shake it a bit so it’s not stuck in the container shape, making sure it’s not root-bound or something like that.

    Very cute!

    My only potted plant started as a basil-mint crossbreed a coworker brought a bunch of branches to work. I took it home, intending to cook with it and stuck it in a water bottle to keep it from wilting too badly. 6 months later, and having only cooked with it once, it had a huge root system and we gave in and potted it. It was HUGE.

    Then, 2 weeks ago, when the weather was nice, my husband took the pot outside. 10 minutes later, the cat had knocked it over and the whole stem broke off.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Oh yes, when I added more dirt I did that! Just didn’t break up the root ball when I plopped them into the vase because I figured I’d need more dirt so I’d have to pull them out again. Haha.

      xo,
      s

  45. Jill says

    Using soil from outside reminds me of the one time I tried that. I was so proud to bring home my little plant to my college apartment with soil from Dad’s cornfield. Pretty soon, we started finding grasshoppers ALL OVER. Tiny little baby grasshoppers! There must have been a load of eggs in the soil or something! Funny now, not so much then!

    Reply

  46. Natalie says

    Those look pretty awesome! Anything you can do to get drainage by using pebbles or rocks would be really good (like some other people said). When I was doing my succulent research I found that drainage is crucial because the roots will rot if excess water stays in the pot or container and can’t drain. The easiest way to kill a succulent is to overwater…. I’m trying to bring mine back from the land of the almost-dead after my cat attacked it (which is kind of weird) but it’s finally turning a corner because I don’t water it a lot and keep it in full sun as much as possible. It’s doing pretty well now.

    Reply

  47. Jane says

    This is very weird. I just got in the mail (like 10 minutes ago) 2 CB2 wall hung clear glass votive holders ($1.95 each). I had the thought of planting a succulent in them. I actually went online just now to see if there were any reviews on them where people planted an airplant or succulent in them. Lucky for me, your blog was up when I logged into the computer. Now I have no doubt that is what I am going to do! I think I might hang them in my bathroom. :) Thanks!

    Reply

  48. Naomi S says

    Just replanted my succulent from HD that I tried in an old candle holder, but it wasn’t quite the right shape, so I put him in a wooden salad bowl my husband picked up years ago at a garage sale. Already seems happier!

    Reply

  49. Kate C. says

    Love the succulents you chose – I also had a red cactus in middle school and junior high that my grandma gave me. It bit the dust when I knocked it off my dresser and tried to “catch” it – ouch!

    Reply

  50. Adrienne says

    The red one is exactly like the the one I had in high school. It only ever produced that red flower one time, then it fell off, and he became just a green cactus. But he was the only indoor plant that wouldn’t die on me so as he got bigger I replanted him in various containers- basically anything that was the next step up in size. I…ahem..graduated in 1994- and he’s still alive and well. When I went to college my dad kept watering and transplanting him and Mr. Cactus (his name comes from um… well, his shape) is now a happy, almost 12″ diameter, 4 1/2′ high specimen.

    Reply

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