DIY Mini Garden

I debated whether or not to share this DIY because I basically borrowed (re: stole) inspiration from the girls at A Beautiful Mess (1, 2) and it's such a simple project, I feel like instructions are unnecessary. But, I wanted to post something fun and festive before I go on holiday tomorrow so here I am.

You'll need:
a pretty container for your plants
decorative rocks or marbles
topsoil
succulents and cacti

My sister and I both wanted pretty but low maintenance plants for our respective offices as well as a pretty centerpiece for our coffee table. Succulents and cacti are great low maintenance plants since they need just a bit of water every few weeks. They need plenty of sunlight so set them where they'll get lots of sun but not on a windowsill (when the weather is cooler) because extreme temperature changes can harm your plants.

We chose these cute pink and yellow cacti for our mini gardens. They're so vibrantly colored and quite cute, despite their phallic shape.

We went to Home Depot to buy our plants and they had these amazing pots full of various succulents (which were priced from $14.95 to $19.95 depending on the size of the pot). We bought one that had a little aloe plant and also this mossy looking plant that reminded me of coral.

We started by adding a layer of rocks to the bottom of our containers and then adding a few inches of topsoil. The rocks will help with drainage since these glass containers aren't necessarily meant for plants and don't have the standard drainage holes drilled in the bottom. We bought our glass containers from Michaels for about $6 each.

After that, we just pulled the plants from their pots (carefully avoiding the spikes) and placed them in our containers. We used a bit more top soil to make sure the cacti and succulents were nicely planted so they wouldn't topple over. Then, we gave each of our pots a bit of water. This is how my mini garden turned out:

Here's my sister's:

I love the colors; don't you?

Here's the mini garden we made to go on our coffee table:

We packed a lot of plants into this container but I think it looks prettier that way. Plus, I love the pop of color that the yellow cactus gives.

And here they are, sitting on our living room table.

This little guy is coming with me to work. I can't wait to spruce up my office with a splash of color.

Cheers.