Making a Live Succulent Wreath

It’s easy to make a live succulent wreath!

 I’m a little bit obsessed with succulents. Those lovely low maintenance plants that store water in their leaves and/or stems. The secret to having healthy succulents, I’ve read, is to neglect them-what’s not to love about a lovely plant in need of neglect?

I’ve been seeing wreaths made of succulents all over Pinterest and the other day I was in Pike Nursery and they had the most gorgeous selection of healthy succulents in every delicious shade of green you can imagine…I couldn’t resist-

If you want to have a go at one of these pretty wreaths, read over the instructions first because there are things you need to do before you start your project!

***UPDATE~ To save yourself loads of trouble I found out these moss wreath forms are for sale on Amazon for under $15.00!

However, you can make your own and make it a size bigger…Here’s what you’ll need if you want to make your own succulent wreath…

*12″ wire floral wreath frame

*Sphagnum moss

*Succulents- I used one larger Jade plant as a base plant and then 6 other succulents to fill in.  I thought I’d have extra but it takes more than you think!

If you happen to have succulents already growing, using cuttings from your own plants would significantly cut the cost of this project!

*Cactus Potting Mix (sold in bags at the nursery) or if you’re buying your succulents you can use the soil that the succulents come in!

*Rooting Powder

*Floral Pins

*Floral wire

***Do This BEFORE You’re Ready To Start Your Project***

I took the plants out of the dirt and clipped off stems and let the clippings dry for 24-48 hours (or longer). The end of the stems need to have a callus.

***On the day you start your project***

Completely submerge and soak your moss in water for 30-60 minutes before using it.

When the soaking time is up squeeze the water out of the moss.

Squeeze moss together and flatten some onto your work surface. Put the wreath frame on top of the moss and spoon some cactus potting mix into the wreath like the picture below.

I read the best explanation for this step HERE. You’re going to make a burrito with the moss, wrapping it on top of the soil and all the way around. The moss is still moist– so squeeze it together. If it seems like it’s falling apart, just add (and squeeze) a little more moss in that area…this comes together better than you first think, hang on…

Now, grab your floral wire and secure the end around the metal of the wreath frame and wrap it tightly around the moss. The more times you wrap it around, the more stable the moss becomes…

 Follow those same steps to finish wrapping your wreath frame.

*I kept the wire about an inch apart and pretty tight to help hold the moss together.*

When you’re done: trim any crazy strands of moss that may be sticking outside of the wreath shape and squeeze wreath all the way around to kinda pack everything together.

 Your succulents, which have been sitting out for 24-48 hours should be dried out at the end of the stem.  (Make certain a callus has formed over the end of the stem)

First, I placed my succulents on top of the wreath to get an idea of where each stem would go.

Now dip the stem into the rooting powder…and tap it to shake off the excess (this photo was before I tapped! )

With a screw driver, make a hole in your wreath where you want the stem to go-then gently push the stem into the wreath-

Use a floral pin on either side of the stem to hold it in place once you’ve put it into the wreath, being careful not to puncture the stem-

As you fill in your wreath, be careful not to damage the stems of the first ones you put in.

All the instructions I read tell you to leave room for your succulents to grow-in other words: don’t plant them so close together. I did not follow those instructions because I wanted a fuller looking wreath now. Instant gratification … one of my many character flaws.

Most ‘experts’ say to leave your wreath flat for 2-4 weeks while the roots are getting started.

So I used it as a centerpiece along with some candles…

When the roots begin growing you can hang up this little sweetie! Succulents like sunlight, so find a bright spot in the house!

From my online research, they need watering about every 10 – 14 days in the growing season (spring – summer – fall), always letting them dry out between watering.  In winter they only need watering about every other month!

I haven’t watered my wreath yet, but I plan on taking it outside to water, then let it drain before bringing it back in. I’ll add an update to this post when I water!

This spring I may just move her out onto the screen porch for a centerpiece on my pink table! If you use the wreath as a centerpiece, just keep a platter, charger or even a cake plate underneath to keep the moss from shedding on the table!

I so love this project and wouldn’t it be a great Mother’s Day gift???

Sending you loads of love my friends

***What I’ll do differently next time***

I think I’ll use all smallish succulents. The Jade leaves are slightly larger and although the Jade plants are less expensive, I like the look of the smaller, less lanky succulents.