I've been succulent-curious for a while now. It's hard to ignore all the beautiful images of them popping up everywhere. They have so much personality and come in so many colors and textures and since I have a very black thumb I love that they're relatively hard to kill.
I also love how perfectly they pair with vintage pieces. I think that's part of the reason they have been showing up and flea markets and antique shows more and more over the last few years. In previous posts I mentioned that succulents and plants have been a top trend at recent Brimfield shows. I expect that to continue in 2017.
Last Spring I came across a great deal on some vintage McCoy pottery planters and started a love affair with matte white pottery. I was determined to fill them with succulents but didn't really know where to start. So I decided to bring in an expert! I met Josephina Sullivan of Josephina's Creations in Brimfield a few years ago when she was shopping for vintage containers. This past July we reconnected when she was set up selling as a dealer for the first time. I knew she would be able to help me out.
We ended up meeting in her adorable studio in Worcester where she plans to offer succulent parties. It's so cozy and inviting and would be the perfect place for it. Vintage + succulents + wine + friends = sign me up!
These pictures don't do it justice! There are thousands of potential succulent containers (I'm not exaggerating!) wall to wall. Not to mention, everything else we needed to get the job done.
We started with some pebbles for drainage at the bottom of the planters.
Next we added the soil and started selecting plants. I let Josephina have creative control because she knows what she's doing and I definitely did not! Below you can find some of her best tips for beginners like me.
She really makes it look easy and turned my planters into beautiful living works of art! I just love how they came out!
My best little helper and I bringing our creations home!
And once I got them home I was excited to put them on display. I love how they look in the matte pottery! Fingers crossed I can keep them looking this good.
A photo posted by Kaitlin (@life2thebrim) on Aug 18, 2016 at 10:39am PDT
A photo posted by Kaitlin (@life2thebrim) on Aug 18, 2016 at 9:41am PDT
Josephina has so much knowledge and gave me some tips for creating beautiful arrangements and keeping my plants in great shape (or in other words, alive). Since I am so bad with plants I translated these into the simplest terms possible in hopes that I wouldn't be able to screw up!
- Good drainage
- Don't over-water
- Bright direct sunlight (they don't need much water but they need a lot of light!)
- Choose plants you love
- Have fun being creative with containers!
Josephina's best advice for combining succulents and vintage pieces is to just find what speaks to you. She even brings extra plants to Brimfield in case anyone finds the perfect container and wants to fill it with plants on the spot! Here are a few fresh ideas for inspiration (and you can find more on my Pinterest
).
