Succulent Quilt! (part 1)

I've always had a thing for succulents, but I was blown away a few weeks ago when I saw Flora Grubb's amazing vertical succulent quilt. It's been around the blogs, and don't remember where I first saw it, but it totally stuck with me. If you haven't seen it, you must check it out. 

Soon after I saw it, I happened into a florist/antique shop in the neighborhood. A strange little disorganized spot that sometimes has a few gems hiding amid the rumble. Stuck out in their backyard were a few flats of echeveria plugs. I scooped up a whole bunch of them, not knowing exactly what I'd do with them, just too good to pass up! I brought them home and Ben and I schemed about  how to go about making our own little succulent quilt. 

We started off with this wine box that we found on street a while ago. It's a small one, the kind that a fancy wine gift would be in. The important thing is that it's not too deep. This one is about 4" deep.

Here are our lovely echeverias, I wish I knew the names of the varieties. If anyone knows, please let me know. You can also use bigger clumps of succulents. I've actually never seen them sold separately  in plugs like this. Usually they are in larger pots and all clumped together. You can gently separate them. (I'll talk more about this in my second succulent tutorial...coming soon!)

We drilled lots of holes in the bottom for good drainage. Drainage is very important with succulents, they are desert-type plants that would usually grow in sand  and rocks. 

For even better drainage, we stapled a layer of crumpled up aluminum screening to the bottom of the box. This ensures that the bottom of the box won't get soggy and that the soil won't fall out of the holes. This was important to us, as we don't really have any outdoor space to hang this up (where a little dirt doesn't matter), so we want to keep the soil as contained as possible.

....continued in part 2....