Cloche or Planter?

I bought this hanging candle holder at the local Thrift for $4.95. I was going to take it out of its hanging metal ring and use it as a cloche but then decided I think I'd like it better as a hanging planter.

I am getting really bad about not taking before pics! But just picture it without the acorns in the bottom and that's what it started out as, m'kay?

Anytime you are making a planter, you need to use something in the bottom for drainage so the roots don't stagnate in water. I normally use packing peanuts because they are very light and don't make moving plants a workout, but that would really look terrible. I needed something lightweight but natural and so I decided to use the abundance of acorns that are littering my backyard. I collected the ones the squirrels had not taken a bit of, and filled it up about 3 inches.

Perfect.

Make sure some of the tops are facing out for color when you add the soil.

Don't dump the soil in like I did here. I had to dump it all out, find all of the acorns, clean them off, and fill 'er up again 

At this point I thought it would be easier if this was not hung up. Find another pot or something to place this in since it does not have a flat bottom. So  much easier and I am all about makin' things easier for you!

So now that you have a proper work area,  use a SMALL cup and GENTLY add the soil over the acorns. Again make sure some of the tan tops show through on the side of the glass. Now fill it up about less than 1/2 way with soil.

Add your small plants. I used 2 small ferns and a succulent.

I added some small rocks and a few more whole acorns to make it look a little like a miniature woodland clearing

Hang your hanger first then add the cloche.

See how nice the acorns look in the water?

I probably should have put less soil in so that the plant tops hit the top of the metal ring. That way more of the plants could be visualized. So now you know what not to do.

See how all the layers are natural but provide a visual buffet of texture.

What do you think? 

Now try finding something that would not be considered a planter and go plant something!

What can it hurt? Stretch those creative muscles!

 And make sure if you have and you are NOT a blogger, that you send me an email with photos so I can feature you and you can be apart of the SACP²!

Always being renewed,