DIY vertical garden

If you enjoy vertical gardening, you’ll love making a living succulent wreath. Compared to other vertical gardens, they can be inexpensive and just as easy to create.

This time of year, it’s nice to have a door wreath for the holidays, but with a live wreath – you can enjoy it all year young. One thing to keep in mind, though, is that succulents don’t like extremely cold temperatures.

If you live in a climate where you get freezing temperatures on a regular basis, it’s a good idea to bring your wreath indoors. However, in warmer areas, they can do well outdoors all year round, especially in more protected entryway locations.

There are lots of pre-made succulent wreaths that you can buy, but when they are so simple and fun to make – why not make one yourself? This way, you can also customize the plants that you use, creating a specific design you like or simply incorporating a wider variety of colors, shapes and textures into your arrangement.

Here is What You Will Need:

• A Wire Wreath Frame
• Sphagnum Moss
• Succulent Plants

Yes, it’s really, that simple. In fact, if you want to make it even easier, you can actually buy frames with the moss already in place. Then, all you need to do is insert your plants.

Wire Wreath Frame

You have a couple of options here. First, you can get a 3-dimensional frame designed for “living” wreaths. You’ll notice that these specially-designed frames not only hold the moss and plants, but they are have “legs” that keep them from hanging directly against your door (or wall). This provides better ventilation for the plants but also is good for your door too.

By the way, you can buy these wire frames in a variety of different size and shapes, like squares, stars and hearts too.

Second, you can choose the flat round frames which typically cost a few dollars less. With these, you will need to get nylon mesh tubing, fill it with moss and attach it to your frame (watch the video below for instructions).

Sphagnum Moss

You can find bags of this moss at home improvement stores like Home Depot for under $5 a bag. Your local vendor may also sell a wreath frame that you like as well.

Succulent Plants

Depending on where you live, these may be available at your local nursery. You can purchase a few and divide them up into smaller sections so that you have more pieces from which to use in your wreath. (Cuttings easily sprout roots in the right growing environment.)

If you are looking for a wider variety of cuttings – or your local nursery does not supply them at the time you want to create your wreath, you can buy them online. Yes, there are very convenient kits specifically for building vertical gardens, custom arrangements and wreaths. These start at about $30 for about 25 starters. You can get larger kits if you need more cuttings.

Fresh cuttings will take about 2-4 weeks to root and should not be watered during this time. They should also be kept out of direct sunlight. After that, they can grow surprisingly quickly to fill out your frame, so don’t worry if your wreath looks sparse at first.

Check on the video below for step-by-step instructions, plus cold-hardy succulents that you can use inexpensive tools to make your project easier and how to make your plantings look “fuller” instantly.

And yes, you can buy an artificial succulent wreath. I’m not really one for artificial plants, however, succulents are so rubbery-looking anyway, the artificial variety can easily pass.

They are also low maintenance and may be an easier option for those who live in snow – although that might be a direct giveaway that your wreath is not fully alive…

You don’t have to buy a brand new kit to create a really cool vertical garden along a fence or wall of your home. Some of the best wall planters are actually homemade.

In fact, there may be many items that you may already have that can be recycled into one-of-a-kind vertical garden planters – for cheap. You just need to think outside the box – sometimes using items that you might never consider using to house a plant.

We’ve compiled a short list below of creative ways you can build an interesting wall garden with inexpensive materials. In most cases, you don’t need to be a master gardener or carpenter. It’s all about being open to new ideas!

Things to Keep in Mind:

1. Consider the weight of the planting structure or container it you plan on attaching it to a fence. Some planters are designed to lean against a wall or can be set in the ground, and therefore don’t depend on the strength of a fence.

2. Don’t forget that you can make old and worn-out items look new again with a coat of bright paint. On the other hand, many vintage items have their own charm just the way they are and embracing their aged character can add a lot of style to your yard or home.

3. When using multiple containers, create arrangements in odd numbers rather than even. Containers do not need to be the same color, shape size or material, but they should contain one common feature that connects them together and therefore makes the arrangement look more aesthetically pleasing.