cactus dish garden

Hi everyone. I'm from Minnesota and buried in snow. Today I decided to plant a cactus dish garden. I went to the nursery, then to the library to find a book with pictures and ideas to be a little (or a lot) creative, however could not find one. Any ideas for a hyperlink, or a site to go to?? Any help would be appreciated..thanks, cj

Hi,
Here is site that has them for sale, but it has a lot of interesting ideas also..Wish I could have one of each..Maybe this will give you an idea or 2..
Larkie

http://www.altmanplants.com/cs_dishgardens.htm

Try planting in size 12 mens shoes, make sure their is holes for the water to drain out. I use 5-6 in clay pots, planting 5 plants, 2 rocks and 1 piece of drift wood. Use plants that will be happy living with each other, all cactus, or cactus with succulents that need little water, all plants that like sun, don't dry to put a shade growing plant with them. Make sure you finish with a top dressing of natural gravel, for the desert plants, beach plants smooth pebbles are okay, African plants quartzite, shale, volcanic rock of any kind, sandstone. Again be very careful that the plants you select all are summer growers, or winter growers, or like some shade, (like under a bush that they naturally grow under in Africa to get out of the hot sun.)Select plants that can grow in that pot for a least a year before having to transplant. Select the miniatures. Select plants that don't grow to fast. Be sure to mix up the textures.
Be sure to mix up the color of leaves.
Be sure to choose different forms, (round, columnar, soft fuzzy, pointed leaves, lacy leaves, etc. and you may email be if you have questions.
Be sure to put a screen over the hole. Keeps the soil in.
Be sure to leave room for them to grow.
Be sure to use a red leaf plant.
Be sure to use a blue leaf plant
Green is always good
Do use some yellow leaves
Think about when each will flower
Do make sure that the master piece looks good from all sides.
Mix up the height of the plants
Use a attractive top dressing, no, pink,no blue, no,no, no.
Be sure to have a plant that hangs over the pot edge.
Be sure not to glue on anything

Be sure to use pink or orange plant
What you see in the Altman pictures are what we call sell ready plants, no room to grow, they show well, and ready for instant sale.

I have used a kitchen strainer, shoes, baking pan make holes, round bundt pan, make holes, low pots look better than tall, you must keep plants in proportion to the pot.
Do have fun doing this, I love it. Norma

Thanks for all the info! Norma, you've got mail!

I Cjean, no mail yet. Any questions just ask. Dish Gardens are fun. I've even made them in a tea cup, I drilled a hole in the bottom, used only miniature species, and use the saucer to catch the extra water. That was my favorite.
Try a timble. I would think a cat food can would work as well, with a hole in the bottom. Small bean pots are great.
Hit the yard sales, if it holds water it will hold plants, just drill the hole. Old rusted wheelbarrow works well, for a large planting, using large plants of course. I have used 4" bamboo planters. cutting the holes in the sections between the nodes for the plants. Construction stones work also. Check out the decorative rock yards. We have a place called the Pottery Barn, or Mainly Seconds, bird baths. Nite. Norma

Here is an arrangement that my friend 'tiny' had done for her kitchen table; just to help with your ideas.

You can also use old coffee mugs to plant a cactus in. If you don't want to drill a hole in the botton, then just put some small pebbles in the bottom; like acquarium rock, and that will help with drainage.

Tiny's dish garden came from Western, they make them by the thousands. They are carbon copies, sent all over the world, Altman does the same thing. Make your own, be unique. Norma

CoCo..thanks for the pic of your friends dish garden. It's reaaly pretty, I like the little teapot adding the decotative touch. Norma, you have given me great ideas. One of the problems that we have here in Minnesota is the variety of cactus plants is very limited. When you refer to all of the varieties of cacti with red, and blue leaves, etc. where would be a good place to special order the plants? Yours sound fantastic..would love to see pics. cj

tiny did buy the ceramic container, but she bought the soil, rock, and extras and arranged the cactus garden herself. She used to do flower arranging of all sorts long before she got into the stamping/scrapbooking business. She has even made her own grapevine wreaths; soaking the vines and forming them; so she is quite handy when it comes to decorating of this sorts.

The Mesa Gardens, Arid Lands, are we talking cacti here or do you really want succulents? Dennis Hoidel from MN. Big Foot, K& L, if you are in business send in your business card to the Huntington Gardens, they have a wholesale list.

Now draw a 6 in circle on a piece of paper, you may want to use a saucer/salad dish for an out line. Now I'm going to place the plants for you, in the middle place a circle, and put a tall blue cactus, to right put a round all white and fuzzy Mamm. to the left put a tiny cluster cactus that has red spines in the front pick out a peanut cactus, and in the back of the tall plant you may use a Crassula pruinosa, (gray leaves) or a tiny leaf Crassula anomela
these can all take the heat and dry conditions, top dress with either a beige gravel or gray gravel, I often use two colors of gravel to make a stream (round pebbles) I also use two desert type rocks very rough not smooth. I never use even amounts, 5 plants 2 rock=7 I may also put in just pieces of old wind washed wood in interesting forms. Norma