{How $10 in plants improved the inside of my soul.}

I HAVE A SECRET LOVE FOR HOUSEPLANTS. Their textured leaves, the way they grow when you aren’t watching, the dash of color they add to room. A few times now Bauer has uninvitedly decorated our hardwood floors with shredded plant pieces. And once that happened for the third time I held off on replacing them. For a really long time, ha! …Until last week.

Sometimes I let our “we are renters” status get the best of me. I won’t buy something, make something, do something, because I know this isn’t our forever home. It’s really a terrible habit, one I need to kick.

But then I had a realization: I don’t want to keep waiting for a “better” home or time, when really the best time is now. I know where it’s gotten me with making friendships {it’s been a long process + I wish I would have tried harder a couple years ago}. I know where it’s gotten us with finding a church {not a demon church –wink!}.

So I decided to stop waiting + start planting. It’s now or never, baby!

There are a couple local Minneapolis nurseries I like to visit, and one of my favorites is Bachman’s. They have a beautiful, large greenhouse, surely they’ll have a few plants for me to take home? :) Anna met me there last week for coffee — they have a large gift section + little cafe, and as we looked at their plants we giggled over the different terrarium fairies + scary looking cactus’s — cacti? — cactus?

I found a few plants to take home, and the next day I made {yes, made} myself go outside + play with what I had bought. Working on this project reminded me of how much I love working on projects like this.

Gathered around me were my new plants, some fresh soil, a watering can, two little terracotta pots, a yellow ceramic pot, and a pathetic looking practically-dead terrarium. I shopped the house for most of these items, look at what I found:

So cute, it’s like the Whitley Family Plant + Pot Collection, Class of 2012. I lined everyone up and thought about what to work on first… My terrarium from last year needed a serious refresher so I decided to start with that.

First I would need some fresh soil. The sand + charcoal layers were still OK; these things help imitate a natural environment for the plants. But the soil, that needed to be replaced. I scooped about six large handfuls into the glass globe.

This put about 2.5″ of soil inside the bowl ~ I made sure to smooth it around so it became an even layer of nutrition for the plants.

The three succulents I bought at Bachman’s are about 4″ tall. It’s important to select plants that are smaller than your glass globe so your terrarium can work properly. Succulents + cacti are the easiest to work with — ferns require a lot more water, and they aren’t as easy to trim if they grow too tall. And I believe you can re-plant the leaves from succulents and they’ll regrow? But don’t quote me on that ;)

Water your succulent terrarium every 2 weeks or so. You can put your finger inside the soil to test how hydrated it is. One tablespoon of water per plant or lightly mist the entire area of soil a few times. See? Easy.

The little fairies + garden accessories don’t catch my attention, but I think a tiny terracotta pot {or two} is adorable inside a terrarium. I nestled them inside each other and stuck the bottom into the soil a bit. The pop of natural red clay is so striking against the green succulents. Love…

Almost finished! I watered everything just a bit, wiped down the inside of the bowl with a wet paper towel, and brought the refreshed terrarium inside. Depending on the type of terrarium you make, place your globe in an area of your home that will get the right amount of sunlight. Diffused light is best for succulents, but not too much light.

So the last plant I bought is this colorful flora {below}. I’m accidentally threw away the plastic card that tells you all about the plant, but I do remember that it was described as “sassy” so, HELLO! into the cart you go!

The leaves are green with pink vein-like pattern. It really is so cute :)

I really need to work on playing with plants more often. For about $10 I was able to buy three succulents + a small houseplant, and to think of the joy they’ve already brought me in just one week. I was able to spend an afternoon outside planting them, it was a gorgeous day too, and I did something that I knew would improve not only the inside of our home but the inside my soul.

Here are some cacti {golly I hope that’s the right tense} I’ve had for almost a year. They are leaning a bit but if I didn’t type that out would you have even noticed? Probably not. All I need to do is make sure I get back on track with watering them every couple of weeks + rotate the pot every couple of days. In no time they’ll be back to their prickly, stiff self.

Oh, and while I was planting my new plants I also played with Mr. Bauer {melt my heart}:

Stop waiting // start planting. That’s my personal motto for this season of life. Do you have a personal motto? What could you apply this to — it doesn’t even have to be literal, you can “plant” practically everything :)