Make: Living Wreath with Succulents

What you need: Wire Wreath Form / Succulents (indoor or outdoor) / greening pins / fishing line / Sorghum moss / Dirt (I re-used the dirt from my succulents 

First get a pail or bowl of warm water and place moss in it. I bought my moss in a small bag for about $4 in a craft store; floral section (I got my greening pins there too; $2). I actually bought 2 bags but because I used a small wreath frame (12in) I think I only used about one bag worth as I had a ton left over.

Then take your succulents out of the container and remove all excess dirt just exposing the roots.

You will want to make a work station for assembling your wreath. I did mine outside and laid down paper bags because it was quite messy. 

In the part of your wreath that has the dip in it start laying a layer of your moss down. Make sure you squeeze the excess water out of your moss before you lay the layers down. 

On your next layer add a layer of dirt. Place one more layer of moss on top of the dirt.

Wrap it all together with the fishing line to keep it in place. I suggest cutting a very long piece of fishing line for this so you can just wrap it in one go and tie the ends together. 

Flip the wreath over to back (the side that is raised a bit) and place a layer of moss on that side as well. Repeat the fishing line step.

Lay out your succulents around your wreath to give you an idea of how you want them place. Then poke holes to place the roots in. To secure the plants in place use the greenery pins around the base of the plants. 

Once you have completed assembling your living wreath you can let it dry overnight to get rid of any excess water. To care for it just spritz it with water once a week. 

I was asked to participate in a "craft war" over at BuzzFeed, Shift to make a "modern and hip" wreath. I don't think I have ever seen a wreath and had the words modern or hip come to mind, so it was not an easy task coming up with such a wreath! But I thought it was a little different take on the normal holiday wreath and would work for the holiday season as well as the summer months. It wasn't as difficult to make as it was messy and truth be told I think I might take it apart and plant the succulents in little pots for the winter, as one of my new house plants have already died (the tropical one, the one i thought was the healthier of the two!).