🦃 Thanksgiving Succulent Pot in a Pot

November 22, 2020

Thanksgiving Pot in a Pot Succulent DIY Guide

Hey Garden Friends!

Pot in a Pot arrangements are all the jazz and very eye pleasing if you ask me.🤤 It is such a creative way to make something unique and special for your garden or to give away as gift of course! You can really impress the plant lover in your life by creating for them a "Pot in a Pot"!!

For todays guide I'm going to take you on a planting journey and show you step by step my arranging process. My main goal is to inspire/motivate you to get planting too!!👩🏽‍🌾

Purchase Succulents to Create this Project

MATERIALS YOU NEED:

1. Two pots, one two times bigger than the other

2. Succulent soil

3. Succulents

4. Topdress/stones to decorate

5. Faux decor (optional)

6. Screen for your drainage hole (optional)

Step 1: This is the best part of making arrangements🥰 picking out your Succulents!! As I'm choosing my succulents I'm thinking of three words... Filler, Thriller and Spiller. This way I pick out plants that will make my arrangements well rounded and eye-popping.

Let me share a Pro Tip:

Many moons ago I worked in a floral shop and learned this way of arranging flowers.

The thriller, filler, spiller method is quite easy to learn. Thriller plants are those pretty- pretty succulents that will be the focal points of your arrangements. I picked out seven thriller Succulents.

Thriller plants:

Echeveria "Ramillete"
Pachyveria "Little Jewel"
Echeveria Agavoides
Echeveria "Blue Atoll"
Aloe "Blizzard"
Echeveria Pulidonis
Echeveria "Melaco"

Filler plants are plants that will fill in specific areas within the arrangement. For example, small gaps or areas that need some volume.

Filler plants:

Sedum "Hernandezii"
"Golden" Sedum

Spiller plants are meant to spill out around the sides of the arrangement to add to the texturing and layers of the project. These are plants that add a lot of character around the edges.

Spiller plants:

Cremnosedum "Little Gem"
Sedum "Mini Me"
Crassula "Conjesta"

⭐ Picking out plants for your arrangements can be a bit over whelming (it is for me😉) but if you follow this simple rule it will one, take you a lot less time and two, give your creation balance and charm.

Step 2: Fill your main pot (the bigger one) with Succulent soil. I make my own mix.🙋🏽‍♀️

Succulent soil recipe:

Equal parts of:

Organic potting mix
Perlite/pumice

⭐Using Succulent soil is very important, please do not use regular potting mix when planting Succulents. Succulents love to live on the dry side, this means that they prefer porous soil. Soil that drains out quickly. That is why I mix in perlite or pumice to my regular potting mix. Perlite is a volcanic rock that creates pockets in the soil to let water flow through.

Purchasing a pre-mixed bag of Succulent soil at your local garden center is well advised. I like the brand E. B. Stone, they offer a great quality Succulent/cactus soil with all the mediums and nutrients you need to grow healthy Succulents.

Step 3: This step is where the magic begins. For this arrangement I wanted to add an Autumnal feel to it so I gathered some colorful leaves a bunch of pine needles and found myself a stem of faux pinecones at my local Armstrong Garden Center. This time of year they have an abundance of faux decor to choose from.

I can't forget about my Snoopy "Be Giving" mug, so I made a shallow well on the right- center of my pot (making enough space on the left side for my autumnal decor) and tucked my mug in.

I hid the handle of the mug with soil.

Decor:

I started my arrangement on the left side with my autumnal decor. I laid my pinecones first and layered my leaves from biggest to smallest with a pine needle bunch in between.

This is a simple way to add interest to your creation. It will make it one of a kind and it doesn't take much, as you see here I foraged around my neighborhood for the leaves and pine needles and the faux pinecones cost me only $3 dollars!

Planting:

Ahhh, the planting has begun! I usually like to start with my biggest plant but in this case I won't. I'll start with E. "Ramillete" it is a lovely light green rosette style Succulent. I placed it right on the left side of the mug.

I knew I had to cover the end parts of my decor (not a pretty thing to look at) so I planted "Jade Plant" around the stems and it hide them perfectly!

I added two more plants around the Jade with Sedum "Mini Me" a double threat being a filler and spiller all at the same time. I specifically placed it near the edge of the pot to let it "spill" over when it grows nice and bushy in the future. Also the red from the Sedum and the bright green from the Jade will contrast nicely. I always keep in mind the color balance between my plants. Adding the E. "Blue Atoll" brightened that corner up and gave it a soft look.

Now that I have finished my left corner keeping it nice and simple I moved on to the top of my mug. I wanted to make the mug look like it was over spilling with plants so I chose Cremonosedum "Little Gem" for that effect. "Little Gem" is another double threat in the Garden, even though it is still small it will fill in nicely and turn red with maturity.

This is about the time that I start to use my true filler plants: Sedum "Hernandezii" being one of them. I gently pull my Sedum clusters apart making sure that I don't disrupt the root system too much.

As you may realize I'm working with a lot of green so to add a pop of color to my combination, Aloe "Blizzard" was the perfect fit. Isn't it a beautiful Aloe?!! The color really catches my eye being white, not a very common color on a plant and the texture it brings is quite fascinating. Not to mention, it's a cluster!!😆

Now for more filler, this time Crassula "Congesta".

I added a cluster above the Aloe by the edge of the pot, because it will eventually spill over.

I also added a three individual plants on the rim of the mug, I just couldn't help myself, I tend to fill up my arrangements to make them look nice and packed!!

E. "Agavoides" to me, is quite the Garden Gem, it's a blend of beauty and drama. A fairly easy Succulent to care for, being able to endure long dry spells and will turn into a deep red in the cooler months. At the moment only the margins of the leaves are a hint of red.

I placed it right on the opposite corner where I placed my decor to balance out both sides of my container.

Really catches your eye right?!

Last but not least is a bit more of filler and three more thrillers...that's it I promise!😂

The remaining thrillers are Pachyveria "Little Jewel", E. "Pulidonis" and E. "Melaco".

The E. "Agavoides" looks a little lonely in that corner so I surround it with smaller thrillers to not steal her charm.

I cluster together the "Pulidonis", "Melaco", "Hernandezii" and "Golden" Sedumright below her.

Above the "Agavoides" I add a star shaped Succulent "Little Jewel" Another individual "Hernandezii" and "Golden" Sedum.

I'm DONE!! With the planting that is*

Step 4: The finishing touch is the top dress of course. This is totally optional but I highly recommend that you don't skip this step. This is the little extra that will give your arrangement a complete look.

I picked out golden stones to give my arrangement a holiday feel and makes the plants pop out even more! Seriously, who doesn't like a little gold in their life?!!

The first thing I do is press on my soil to flatten and even it out through out the container.

This will help the stones stay nice and flat.

I start on the left corner adding my stones little by little. Tucking them under my plants and in small crevasses where I can still see soil. I work my way around the pot, this is oddly satisfying to me.

I love making it look just perfect and I sometimes get caught up and take forever finding little spaces where I can fit just a little bit more stones!!👌🏽

TAAA-DAAA!!🥳

What do you think!

I hope you enjoyed reading my planting blog and I hope I inspired you to make your very own "Pot in a Pot" following my step by step guide!

Happy Planting*

Mel Z.

⭐MythBuster: I get a lot of comments on why I pack my Succulents so close together. Or why I mix in different varieties in the same container. The main concern is that they won't be able to grow properly or that they will have different watering needs.

Well the first thing that I must say is that I completely understand the concern...

In traditional Gardening it's all about spacing out your plants to give them enough elbow room to grow. Succulents on the other hand, are slow growers, and will take a lot longer to outgrow their containers.

For example, the Succulents in this arrangement will grow happy and healthy for at least 6 months.

Not to toot my own horn... BUT I have many years under my belt of personal experience in growing and arranging Succulents. I feel confident and have the cheek to say that just because I pack my Succulents so close together, does not mean that they will rot, not grow, or will have to be repotted immediately after completion.

If you find that your succulents are "growing" too quickly you may actually be seeing them stretch and not grow... When succulents stretch they are showing signs that they need better or more consistent lighting. Move them into a better lighting environment and you'll notice immediately that they stop stretching.

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🦃 Thanksgiving Succulent Pot in a Pot

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