DIY Planter Centerpieces

Next up is Christine, who gave these retro planters a refreshed look using succulents and river rocks that will be used as centerpieces on her wedding. Remember you have two more days to submit your project. Deadline is Thursday, March 25! We’ll be posting a few more entries from our DIY Contest today. The winner will receive $500 and the second place a $100 gift certificate to spend in goodies from Wendy Mink Jewelry.

From Christine:
This is an eco-friendly and inexpensive way to make your own beautiful and unique centerpieces. As an added bonus, people with a serious addiction to thrift shopping, like myself, can put their addiction to good use finding cheap vintage planters at thrift stores.

Materials:

– A variety of shapes and sizes of vintage planters from the 50s-70s found at thrift stores, estate sales and yard sales for a couple of bucks a piece. Look for pieces in your wedding colors. Mine are varying shades of blue and green which were pretty common pottery colors in the 50s and 60s, but it is also easy to find vintage planters in a variety of colors and materials.
– Gravel from any nursery or hardware store.
– Potting soil. I used cactus mix because it drains better and succulents like well drained soil.
– One to five succulent plants or cuttings per planter, depending on the sizes of the planters and the plants. Mine were from a friend who was digging them out of her yard to make way for new plantings, but you can buy a wide variety of succulent plants at nurseries, hardware stores, even at Target for just a few dollars a piece. Succulents root very easily so you can use cuttings pinched off of established plants.
– Flat river rocks or rocks collected from the beach.

Instructions:

Step 1: Fill the bottom of the planter with a thin layer (about 1/2 inch) of gravel. Succulent roots don’t like to sit in water. Since none of the planters I found had drainage holes I used gravel too raise the roots above where water would collect after watering. If you have planters with drainage holes you can skip this step.

See Also

15 Spectacular Wedding Dresses for Under $500

Step 2: Fill the planter with potting soil up to an inch or two below the top of the planter.

Step 3: Plant succulents in planters. You can mix multiple types of succulents in each planter or use all the same.

Step 4: If there are spaces where the soil shows you can cover the exposed soil with flat rocks or even some of the gravel from step one.