green « a summer lifestyle

I got married! And it was the coolest thing ever! (and yes, I’ll write some more on that soon!)

But now, the sad part, is even the honeymoon is over. After months of planning, rearranging table settings, writing vows, and choosing flowers, glasses have been cheers’d, rings have been exchanged, and a killer honeymoon has been taken.

Ok, so it’s not really over. Our life together has just begun, ya ya ya…. but what about the decor?!!!

Between the wedding weekend and our honeymoon, we had an in-between day that allowed us to do laundry and re-pack bags. We traveled from the wedding (in San Diego), back to Brooklyn, washed clothes, repacked swimsuits, and quickly prepped … yes, in order to relax 🙂 But before we went, I hung up a few of the wedding flowers from our ceremony site in the closet to see if I could get them to dry nicely.

The flowers were from our beautiful, perfect, alter (thank you Organic Elements!) Mixing the culture of my – husband!- and I, we incorporated succulents from southern California and Arizona, and proteas, gum nuts, and kangaroo paw from beautiful Australia. Organic Elements made the ceremony site uniquely us. And I wanted a way to keep that with us.

So we tried our luck with drying, and I hung the flowers from a hanger in our closet (maybe it’s an old wive’s tale, but I think that’s how you do it!:

That was four days ago. We just got home, and before unpacking, I checked on them to see how it went. I then proceeded to grab a couple nails, a hammer, the leftover twine and gold spray painted mini clothes pins we used at the wedding (stay tuned!), and here’s how it turned out. Now, we have memories from our wedding that we can look at each day we wake up. I’m one lucky lady.

I love succulents. They are green. They are cute. They are tiny. Most importantly, they are hard to kill. Scratch that. I’ve killed a couple. But if you plant them correctly, they can last decades.

There are several places you can buy succulents. Ace Hardware has great ones. You can buy them at the nearby plant store. In DC, there is a plant shop on 14th and R st (ish) that sells lovely succulents in great planters. Or, you can buy them in bulk online, where they ship the rooted plants to you in brown paper bags.

I’ve done all of these options. And pretty much, they all work.

If you are going to plant your own succulents, you’ll need little planters with holes at the bottom. Make sure you have a plate to hold the excess water underneath. Here’s why. Succulents are cacti – but cacti aren’t succulents. While succulents require a tad more water, they’re still desert plants. They don’t need a lot. They live in dry climates, and need to be able to release the water around them. Also, the desert is full of rocks. So it’s important that you also have rocks in your planters. You can also buy nutrient-rich cactus soil. By the way, succulents are cheap! The fancy planters and expensive plant shops are what make them costly. You can buy small plastic planters at Ace Hardware for $4. A bag of soil for $9. If you can’t find rocks – perhaps you live in the city – you can buy them in the decorating section at places like Target.

In terms of watering – you can water just a little bit every two weeks. Or month. It depends on how much sun they get. It depends on the heat. Use your judgement. If you question yourself, know that in this case, less is more.

Check out some of the succulents I’ve planted.. hope it inspires you to add green to your life.