Summer is always crazy busy for me, and my potted flowers are usually a casualty by mid-season:
My poor zinnias….
We’ve had an exceptionally hot and dry summer here in Central New York, and it’s been tough to keep everything alive. I’ve been wanting to add succulents to my deck, and I thought they might survive the blistering heat a little better than flowers.
Unfortunately, the hard-core urban ninja squirrels in our neighborhood started snacking on the succulents, and I came out to this scene every morning:
And…I didn’t really love the way they looked in the window boxes anyway.
Time to get rid of the squirrel buffet.
I thought the succulents would look better in a different container and I wanted to use them as a centerpiece on the large pallet table I have out there. I figured they would be low enough so they wouldn’t obstruct sightlines across the table, and pulling them in closer to the house might discourage the squirrels.
I hunted around for some kind of long low wooden container at the thrift store that I could turn into succulent planters – maybe something like a bread bowl. But then I stumbled on this set of wooden salad bowls for $4.99.
Perfect!
I drilled a bunch of holes in the bottom for drainage and sprayed them with a couple of coats of clear, matte poly.
I let the top coat cure for about a week before put the succulents into the dishes.
I used a gritty potting mix made for succulents and topped them with some pebbles.
I see these wooden salad bowl sets at the thrift store on practically every visit, and I think they make perfect planters, don’t you?
I used to keep my mint plants on this table, but they get so huge and bushy that they don’t make sense as a centerpiece after a few weeks. I think succulents are more interesting to look at and they should stay pretty low. Don’t they look great on my newly stenciled pallet table?
I’m linking my succulent planters upcycle up at some terrific blog parties – you can find my complete list of places I party HERE.
