Marcello and I were so excited to have a legit dining set outside the first thing we did was make a succulent centerpiece to go on it. It was easy and has lasted four months so far and still going strong!

I nabbed this wine box from Marcello’s box stash as it seemed to be the perfect size for our table, and we headed off to Home Depot. (By the way, it was nice to have the box with us to see how many plants we would need to make it full enough.) The succulent selection was slim. They were expensive and small. We bought a few anyway and picked up some sand, rocks and soil.

We hit up a local nursery afterward that had a much better selection with larger plants. We ended up spending about $65 on this project. That’s pretty steep for one of my projects, so I’ve waited four months to make sure this works before I share it with you!

So here is what we did to layer the box and allow for drainage. These naturally water-retaining plants do not like too much water, so drainage is very important, especially if the container has no holes.

This process has worked great for us and the centerpiece requires minimal care. We don’t water them on a regular basis, instead we look to see if the leaves become too thin. When the plants start to look like they’re drying out, we add minimal water. My experience is that they seem to prefer too dry rather than too wet.

Here’s a tour of the rest of our yard and patio.