How to Make a Succulent Wreath With Real, Living Plants
Grow a whole new tradition this year some gorgeous door decor.
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Making your own succulent wreath is surprisingly easy. You can pick your favorite shapes and textures from more than 60 plant families. For this wreath, florist Mark Kintzel chose varieties of the genus Echeveria, which resembles a flower with its geometric leaves; Sedum, a low-growing, rounded green plant; Pachyphytum, whose plump, fleshy leaves have a powdery white coating; Portulacaria, compact, green, and shrub-like; and Gasteria, a spiky tongue-like plant closely related to aloe.
To craft your own wreath, you’ll need a 15- or 16-inch sphagnum moss living wreath frame ($15, amazon.com); 30 to 35 succulents ($40 for 20, amazon.com); Spanish moss ($4, amazon.com), floral pins ($5, amazon.com), and floral stem wire ($4, amazon.com); plus a screwdriver, scissors, and craft paper or newspaper to cover your work surface.
Prep your materials.
Cover your work surface with craft paper. Submerge the wreath frame in water for 30 minutes, then remove and let drain for 10 minutes. Attach florist wire to the back of the wreath frame if you plan to hang it.
Take the succulents out of their containers and wipe the soil from each root system. Plan your design by arranging the succulents in a circle the same size as your wreath.
Plant your wreath.
Using a screwdriver, poke a hole in the wreath, slightly spreading the netting and the sphagnum moss so the root system will fit inside. Make a fairly deep insertion, but don’t poke straight through.
To enlarge the opening, snip the mesh around the hole with scissors. Insert the succulent root into the hole and squeeze the sphagnum moss of the wreath around its base.
Secure the succulents.
To anchor the plants, insert a floral pin around a leaf or stem of each succulent. This will keep them in place, especially if you plan to hang the wreath before they are fully rooted in the frame, which takes six to eight weeks.
Fill in the gaps.
Continue around the entire frame until all plants are placed and then tuck Spanish moss around the succulents to fill in the wreath, hiding any exposed part of the frame.
Keep your plants hydrated.
Soak the entire wreath in a basin of water for about 15 minutes once a week, or whenever you feel it getting dry. Succulents will also benefit from a weekly misting.
Hang your living wreath in a sunny indoor spot or display it on a sun-splashed tabletop. After the holidays, you can re-pot the succulents into new arrangements and place them around your home.
Gina Tomaine is a Philadelphia-based writer and editor. Her work has appeared in Yoga Journal, Philadelphia magazine, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Boston Globe, Women's Health, Good Housekeeping, and Runner's World, among others. She's a RYT-200 yogi, neophyte tarot enthusiast, and unapologetic Scorpio. She enjoys the occasional piña colada. Follow her on Twitter/Insta @gtomaine.
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