Plant a charming little desert landscape. Succulent gardener Jeanne Meadow of Fallbrook, California, delights in composing miniature gardens. This one, accessorized with itty-bitty wrought-iron furnishings, is inspired by her own garden. Jeanne advises to keep scale and proportion in mind and take care not to overdo it with the accessories. “Less is more,” she says. Spray the composition with water lightly once a week during warm months and twice a month in winter. Place in bright shade and provide good air circulation. Protect from strong sunlight and heavy rain.
Materials:
12-inch terra-cotta pot saucer, with or without drainage holes
Cactus mix potting soil
Miniature garden furnishings and figurines, such as an arbor, chair, wheelbarrow, urn, and cat
Finely crushed rock or tiny pebbles
Succulents with small leaves, such as watch-chain crassula, delicate sedums, small stacked crassulas, and Sedum rubrotinctum. Try Crassula tetragona if you want the look of a small tree.
Step 1
Fill the terra-cotta pot saucer with potting mix to 1/2 inch below the rim. Secure the miniature arbor about an inch inside the rim of the saucer.
Step 2
Create a pathway of finely crushed rock or pebbles that curves from the lower right-hand edge of the saucer through the miniature arbor.
Step 3
Pinch the top half-inch of the sedums so you can insert their rosettes or tips into the soil, between pathway and rim, to create a lush and verdant garden of your liking.
Step 4
Add accents. Here, we filled a miniature wheelbarrow with soil and planted it with cuttings. We used the top few inches of Crassula tetragona for a little tree, and we positioned a chair beneath the arbor and topped it with a tiny sleeping cat.
via bhg
