How to Make a Vertical Garden for Succulents

Succulent plants grow in a variety of shapes, sizes and habits. Succulents that trail, clump or have an upright habit combined create a visually interesting and pleasing display. Succulents are flowering plants. Kalanchoes produce especially bright, colorful flowers on rounded plants. The thick, trailing stems of Sedum burrito look like green dreadlocks with pink flowers at the tips. Deciduous mat-forming pink Mongolian stonecrops are native to high elevations of the Himalayas up to 14,000 feet. Long, delicate stems dance with starry pink or red flowers throughout the summer.

Tar-lined clay pots with center drainage hole, 4-, 6-, 8-, 10- and 12-inch sizes
12 gallons commercial succulent potting medium
Coarse gravel
At least five locally adapted succulent plants: trailing, clumping, vertical
Gardening gloves
Rebar piece, 6 feet long, 1/2 inch diameter
Sledge hammer
Ladder, optional

Instructions

- 1
  Select a sunny outdoor location with at least 1 square foot of level ground. Pound the rebar into the ground to a depth of 1 ½ feet in the center of the chosen spot.
- 2
  Place the 12-inch pot over the rebar, through the drainage hole, and settle it on the ground. Put a 3-inch layer of gravel in the bottom of the pot. Fill two-thirds with potting medium.
- 3
  Place the 10-inch pot over the 12-inch pot, running the rebar through the drainage hole, resting the pot on the potting medium inside the 12-inch pot. Tilt the pot until the inside lip rests against the rebar. Place enough gravel in the bottom of the pot to just cover the drainage hole. Fill two-thirds with potting medium, leveling the soil horizontal with the ground.
- 4
  Run the 8-inch pot through the rebar. Rest its bottom on the lip of the 10-inch pot below it, not inside the 10-inch pot.
- 5
  Repeat with each remaining pot in turn, ending with the smallest pot on the top. Place a layer of gravel and potting medium in each pot as you work, tilting each pot in a different direction from the pot below it.
- 6
  Select plants for the bottom pot. Remove a plant from its nursery pot and settle it onto the potting medium. Repeat with all the plants for the pot, and fill in with potting medium. Tamp down the surface around the plants to firm the medium. Leave 2 inches of space at the top.
- 7
  Fill the remaining pots with plants as desired. Use trailing, clumping and vertical plants for variety.
- 8
  Water the vertical garden well to settle the potting medium and hydrate the plants. Care for plants as required according to nursery instructions.

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