How to "Gift a Succulent"

I love succulents, where I live, the are referred to as "hens and chickens" not sure why but I think they should call them rabbits considering the way they multiply. I have gifted them, used them in children's projects, anything to pass them along to a new home. At the current time, I have 17 planters full of forth generation succulents sitting on around my porch and on my carport.

You will need simple things you can around your house if you are the crafty sort.

• A container. For this I chose a barrel that had been purchased from Hobby Lobby.
• A succulent plant
• Acrylic paint (your choice of colors)
• Paint brushes
• A Plastic Bag (maybe, depending on your choice of container).
• Scissors
• Potting soil

As you can see, my planters are overcrowded. The need a little breathing room. So when I am gifting or using them for another purpose such as summer camp or Bible School projects, I take from the most crowded planters to give the others a little room to stretch.

I chose burgundy and hunter green as the colors for this project. Sounded simple enough until I realized out of all the bottles of paint I own, I didn't have burgundy so I had to mix paints. It came out the perfect color for what I was wanting. I used a wider brush for the center portion but a narrow brush for the area between the bands. It wipes off easy enough if you are working with little ones. They like messy. It took two coats of paint. If you want, you can shoot it with some clear acrylic sealer to make it more water friendly.

This was the most difficult part of the project for me simply because my scissors were dull. Once I traded dull scissors for sharp ones, cutting the bag at an angle was a piece of cake. I then placed the bag inside the barrel. The reason I did this was simply because I didn't know if the barrel would leak when you added water, better safe than sorry. Plus, when it comes time to transplant, you simply pull the bag of dirt out and the barrel can be used again.

I didn't use but about 6 to 8 ounces of potting soil. It doesn't take much for these plants to grow, their roots don't run deep so just enough to fill the barrel about 3/4 way full will be enough. Once you have enough dirt, simply slide the bag into the barrel.

Simple hollow out a little bit of the potting soil enough to nestle the succulent and fill the dirt back in around it. Add a little bit of water and sit it on the window sill or outside to get some sunlight. You are now ready to share your hard work with someone else.