DIY Driftwood Planter Filled with Succulents
With this step by step tutorial you'll easily be able to create a stunning piece of driftwood decor filled with succulents for your home. You only need a few supplies!
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A few months ago my Grandma was on a hike with some of our family. She found this beautiful piece of wood and thought it would look great filled with succulents! My uncle carried it back to their home and my grandma gave me a call. Of course I also thought it would look fabulous filled with succulents!
I knew I wanted this to be an outdoor piece so that it stayed looking great all year long. So, I made sure to use only cold hardy succulents that would tolerate our cold winters.
I don't know that this is technically driftwood since it was found in the desert, but it definitely has the same look. But, if you're looking to make your own succulent filled driftwood planter, here's what you'll need:
Driftwood pieces come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Find a piece that fits in the space you plan to display it, or find one that matches your style and figure out where it'll go later :). The piece my Grandma found had a large opening down the center that made it perfect for planting. Look for something with holes you can put succulents in, or just glue the succulents on top.
Use Floral Glue to Attach Moss
While succulents can grow without any soil, I want this piece to last for as long as possible so I decided to use sphagnum moss as a sort of soil to keep the succulents in place. In order to prevent everything from falling out, I made a line of floral glue in the back of the planter and attached the sphagnum moss to it.
You may remember from my succulent earrings post that I highly recommend the Oasis floral glue. This is a project that would do just fine with hot glue, but I find that the floral glue is becoming my favorite glue since it dries quickly and has a tighter hold that hot glue. After adding glue to the inside, I covered the entire length of the driftwood opening with moss.
Fill in with Succulents
Once you have the moss in, start adding succulents! I don't plan to hang this up right away (although I do plan to hang it) so I didn't glue in most of the succulents. There were a few that I couldn't quite keep in place so I used the floral glue to attach those. I packed the succulents in really tight. While I do want the planter to grow and overflow eventually, I'd like for the succulents to establish a really good root system and maintain this look for a little while. Planting them close together will help accomplish this.
Water Later
After you have the succulents situated just right you're done! You won't want to water the planter right away. Give the roots a day or two to heal. After that you'll want to really soak the planter to help encourage the succulents to establish their roots. You may have to pour water over over the planter several times for the sphagnum moss to start absorbing it. Since there isn't a lot of moss or depth to a planter like this it will need to be watered a little more frequently than most of your arrangements.
This driftwood planter is my favorite project that I have done to date. I love that it will survive here year round and I'm really happy with the variety of cold hardy succulents I was able to find. The little bits of yellow throughout give it some visual interest and break up the reds and greens. I'm so excited to see how it changes as it grows and fills in even more! Thanks again to my grandma for finding this beautiful piece for me to plant succulents in!
