Hardware stores are inspiring. There's no telling what I'll bring home! I enjoy coming up with unexpected uses for ordinary things. My husband finds these comical. :)
I bought a bag of cactus and succulent soil mix at the local nursery. Succulents prefer dry, well-drained soil and infrequent waterings, and these mixes help enormously. The PVC couplings and caps are from the plumbing department at Lowe's.
Small succulents are readily available at home and garden centers. I often plant them together in a single pot or group them together on a galvanized tray. This time, I wanted to experiment with a different way of displaying them as I had a narrow space between my bathtub and wall of windows that wouldn't accommodate a large pot.
The caps fit halfway down inside the coupling. This doesn't leave a ton of space, but succulents tend to have shallow roots. If you want a watertight seal, use a ring of rubber cement or other glue all around the perimeter of the cap before inserting it. I simply popped them in without glue to allow for a little bit of drainage in case of overwatering.
They seem happy in their new homes, and my sunny master bathroom now has some greenery!
Based on Japanese the design principle of odd numbers being the best way to display things, I typically wind up with three or five in a group. The idea is that if you use even numbers, your eye will automatically divide them into two, so odd numbers are more pleasing.
An idea to take this idea a step further would be to decorate the PVC with Sharpie. You could write Thank You! to a favorite teacher or I Love Dad! for Father's Day, for example. A simple ring of dots around the rim would be attractive, too. Have fun!
xo Karin
