Dish Garden help?

I bought a terracotta bowl and would like to have your input on what no-cactus succulents might play well together. Even though you don't know what I have, I can take your suggestions and adapt to what I DO have. Stay away from exotics, pleeze. Most of what I have is fairly common stuff. I think this could be a lot of fun for all of us.

Some additional help.....I DO have various echeveria, haworthia, graptoveria, sedum, crassula, cotyledon, cremnosedum, gasteria, & euphorbia.

Attached is a pict of the bowl. It's 12" across and 5.5" deep.

Thanks!
Sharon

Here are few dish C&S gardens from Philadelphia Flower Show. I would think that one should put together plants with similar grow habits, like all winter (or all summer) growers. But in this first dish, they seem to have echeverias, crassula, aloe, kalanchoe and portulacaria all together.

This is my favorite dish. I recognize haworthia, not sure about the rest, pachipodium may be, and some monstrose cacti.

And this is haworthia and crassula, classic garden style :-)

Put all of the Crassula in one pot, Sedum, Cotyledon, Tylecoden, do not put in Gasteria, they get too large, and need shade, Get some interesting small rocks , then finish up with top dressing, no blue, white, or pink, stay with natural colors. The rocks should look buried half way and look natural
Vary you plants height, color and form, so it won't be boring, if you don't get frost, you may use Kalanchoe with the pretty flowers to give it a punch of color and interest. I use drift wood in mine, if I can find it, I certainly don't pay for it, and I live close to the ocean. You may want to use forest bark or interesting small burn't out pieces. PS I would not use Euphorbia it will not take the cold. Select plants that will not out outgrow the pot too quickly. I don't take any pictures of my dishgardens, sorry about that, I have none to show you. My best were the ones with a Chinese theme, and those with cactus of our Southwest. I also make them for offices, (low light) with air conditioning. I don't have room here for me to write a book. These are sold at our plant sales at the Huntington Gardens. You will have a blast creating your own. Norma

bagel, that is professional quality work, that is a beautiful selection of plants. How big is the bowl please, Norma

Hi Norma, these are not my plants (though I wish they were!). I just took pictures of some at the Philadelphia Flow show last week. I am not sure about bowl sizes. I think the first one was about 12", and last two were somewhat larger, probably about 15" or so. There were a lot of different succulents at the show, some were really spectacular. I wish i could grow them like that.

Sharon, I think you may be pleased how well this can work. I've only done one bowl planter so far (had to take it apart finally because the plants outgrew it.) I was really surprised at how fast the plants grew and how huge their root systems were when I took it apart. I think many of them like having the extra "root room" of a big container. I'm going to do more soon!

Hope you'll post pics of yours.

These are gorgeous! What kind of lighting would be best gor these dish gardens indoors? (I would really like one as a centerpiece on my dining room table but I'm pretty sure there isn't enough light . . .) (OK, I know there isn't, but I want one anyway!) I have a shaded SW window about 5 ft away from the center of my table . . .a pothos did OK there.
Deb

OK! Here is actually my second trial layout. I realized the first one had some plants that, although small now and placed in the front, would grow to obscure the lower growing plants. I will post both an overhead shot and one at a slight angle. I will tell you I don't get a "wow" feeling with this but am not sure what else to try so any and all comments are appreciated. BTW.....how close to the rim should the planting media be?

Sharon

Here is the pict of it at an angle. The "wood" on the right is a piece of cork bark. BTW.....my first impression is there are too many plants but I can't make up my mind what to remove! I love them all!!! Does this mean I will HAVE to make another dish garden! OK! I'll FORCE myself! LOL!
Sharon

This message was edited Mar 19, 2008 1:16 PM

Sharon, that is beautiful! I want one really bad, now.
Very nice layout-
Deb

PS-where did you get your plants? They look so healthy and nice.

Awesome.
Seconds Murray, I need one too, lol.

Thanks, Deb! Remember only the last 2 picts are mine. I hope to someday put together ones like bagelK took at the flower show. About 1/2 of them came from:

http://www.cactusshop.com/retail/store/products.aspx

They supply a lot of cactus and succulents to the big box stores like Lowes & Home Depot.

The ones in the tiny pots were from Meijer's, a midwest big box store, supplied by the "Sorensen Greenhouses" up in Canada. They were labeled as the "Rainbow Collection" I believe and they DID have some very colorful ones and some I'd not seen anywhere before. Still, though, nothing exotic but nice and relatively healthy stuff but pretty and not picked over yet (except by ME!).

Sharon

I was just at Walmart and they have a nice bowl about the same size as yours-I would like to figure out how to age it a bit, it looks a little too "new". I have a few succulents I've been bidding on on ebay for another container, so I might have a couple of leftovers from that project. The plant selection around here is pretty dismal.
Thanks for the link!
Deb

I'm not sure where to find them but you might try vegetable dyes and put them on with steel wool.

Sharon

blend moss and milk together and paint it on.
do a search for applying moss to flower pots. should pull up some recipes.

These are older photos so the pots have filled out some. This was a decorative Mexican sink that I found at a garage sale for a dollar. I started by using it as a pot to quickly heel in plants that I wasn't sure where I wanted to put them and could easily relocate at a later time.

It has Stapelia asterias, Orbea caudata, a small Aloe hybrid, some Echeveria, Mimicry and probably some others. Some have come and gone into other pots when they grew too much. The Cacti figurine was a gift from a neighboring plant fiend.

This is a shallow but large oval pot. I use it in a similar fashion and it has Callisia navicularis, Aloe rauhhi, Gasteria lilliputian, Kalanchoe millotii, Haworthia and more.

I guess my point is, if you don't like it or if the plant outgrows its' environment, it is easily relocated elsewhere. They are fun to fuss with. The DGr that inspired me to try anything has some beautiful assorted succulent pots ~ Weedsgalore. I have been missing her!

Me too, Sue (Weedsgalore) has done some fabulous combination plantings for sure. I can't walk past a cobalt blue pot without thinking of her photos!

That looks great Sharon. And the best part is, once the plants are all tucked in, it will only get better and better. I really like the cork bark accent too. If you are not feeling the "wow" factor yet, just wait until they fill in...I think you'll be wowed for sure!

So, podster......what about using containers that don't breath? Also, I have a nice ceramic bowl but it has no drainage hole. I'd be afraid to try to drill a hole for fear of breaking it.

And Sheri.....thanks for the vote of confidence! I will plant them asap!

Sharon

Incidentally, neither of these containers breathe ~ both are glazed but have drainage. I would not use one for succulents without drainage but would not hesitate to drill.

Tape the spot first inside and out which will prevent it from cracking or chipping. I use a drill bit designed for concrete or ceramic and wet the area as I drill. I find speed can be controlled on a cordless drill. Drill slowly with patience. I have only had one bowl break on me. It was a shallow Mexican pottery bowl which was apparently fragile. I had already done its' twin successfully. Oh yes, wear eye protection.

If you don't want to and the bowl is deep enough, layer the base with coarse rock then soil. That way, any excess water should not affect the roots.

My best "bowl" (the one I took finally took apart due to too much success with growth) was actually plastic, not terra cotta, and it did great. I always just remember to check the soil in non-clay pots before I water, since they are slower to dry out.

I drill pots all the time (as a long-time scavenger of thrift stores for things that can be used as pots.) I bought the same type of drill bit that Podster describes at Lowes...I think it said on the card it was for drilling ceramic tile. I have never broken a pot, but I did finally wear out the first bit and had broke it in half on a really tough stoneware pot! Some pots are soft and easy, some are hard and tougher, but so far they have all fallen prey to me and my cordless drill. :-)

I always set the bowl outside in grass or soft dirt, so the rim is supported and has some give. I start from the bottom, and when I can see a tiny hole on the inside, I flip it over and drill from the inside of the pot (again, pushing against the soft dirt.) Once you get the hang of this, it opens up whole new pot horizons!!

Re-reading this thread, I wondered my reply to Podster made it sound like something tragic happened to Weedsgalore, so I had better correct that! LOL, far as I know she is keeping busy and happily puttering in her great gardens (I hope!) No doubt she will pop back in here when she has time, she always adds a bright spot. :-)
Sheri

LOL I did the same thing Mud!
I checked her most recent threads to make sure she was still kicking, hehe.

My first bowl is DONE! I have two picts....one with natural lighting and one with flash fill. Both give a somewhat different effect. There is one plant missing that was in one of the previous photos. It just seemed too crowded. Also, looking at the photo there seems to be a lot of space in the front. I might add a small piece of cork bark there and as the plants grow it can be removed. I'm much happier with the end product now that the plants are sunk into the soil.

I think I will try drilling the bowl. It's a nice bowl and I'm not using it for anything....don't like pots with no holes. I've drilled holes before....just have to figure out what I did with those masonry bits.

I'm with you, Sheri! I can't wait to do another! WHAT FUN!

Sharon

Different lighting....

So pretty!!

Very nice!

Very nice! You give me courage. It would be fun to see in awhile whensome of the plants have filled out.

Thanks Sheri, for the compliments! Sharon you have done a wonderful job! Making dish gardens is very addicting and intrigueing with all the design elements one can put in...i have collected rock specimens for years strictly to put in my dish gardens! (along with tacky animals sometimes too...it should be fun!) I have some dish gardens that are 6 and 7 years old, and the plants stay nice and small...i have some i planted last year and they already need to be redone...i do have a big problem with the "artillery fern" and Oxalis (clover) they invade my dish gardens and almost take them over..once they get in the dish...it is almost better to redo it!! But that is the fun too! You are doing really great with your plants and designs.

Bagel (your name always makes me hungry?) Those photos are a real treat! sue

I love dish gardens too. Since i don't know that much about C&S, I plant by trial and error. so far I haven't had to remove any misbehaving ones, just trim a little.

The ones posted here are lovely.

LOL Sue, "Bagel" is our dog name, and she LOVES food! I always borrow her identity when hanging on internet ;-)

Sharon, your bowl looks great, I am going to try one too. I've seen one in store last week for $45 (!) and it wasn't even that good looking.

Elena

I think at least one reason why people like dish "gardens" is anyone can create their own miniature landscape even if you live in an apartment. Another reason is for those of us that live in inhospitable climates, we can create tiny desert scapes. Dish gardens allow us to use and enjoy the fruits of our imagination.

Sharon

This is the only succulent dish I ever made. It is not very fancy and made of several Sempervivum species: tectorum, arachnoideum and couple of unknowns. I am really happy they survived our winter outside, and one even got very nice red color (it was all green in summer).

The color on those is gorgeous. I have a few echevaria that survived our Ohio winter and I'm amazed at how red they are right now. Nice job, Elena!

Sharon

Elena, that is lovely...i wish i could grow the variety of semps you have there...just too humid..i would slowly fill a hillside, like i see in my C&S books...alas...no hillsides here in flat ol' fla. either! lol..sue

I have several bowls now and through time, you eventually figure out which look the best and which growth too fast for the bowl size. Here are a few shots I took at the recent San Francisco Flower

**

I want to someday recreate the bowl in this link http://www.sunset.com/sunset/garden/article/0,20633,1130614,00.html

Another from last years show