We’re loving the look of this beautiful, succulent-adorned Living Wreath by floral expert Kim Foren. {It reminds me of something that might be spotted hanging in an Anthroplogie catalog shoot!} And if you’re itching for a creative weekend project or feeling your green thumb calling lately… good news: Kim explains all the DIY details below so that you can make your own living wreath!

This is perfect timing too, because don’t you think this would make a fantastic DIY gift idea for Mother’s Day?!

How to Make a Living Wreath

by Kim Foren of Geranium Lake Flowers

1. Start by sourcing a wire wreath ring. Check garden and craft stores or online. The ring needs to have a round three dimensional shape with 2 top rings and one lower ring so you can properly plant your plants. I usually use a 12-14 outside dimension.

2. You will also need wet potting soil and soaked sphagnum moss for your potting medium.  For the plants, make sure they have 3″ of roots so they can be pressed into the ring and not fall out.

3. I start by massing all the plants together and work my way around the ring being careful to fill ring with soil, moss then my plant material. {There’s a fantastic video tutorial on this part of the process here.}   It works best to keep your wreath flat while working. After it’s completed, water well and let the plants take root. Leave it flat for at least a week.

4. Once plants have settled and taken root you are free to hang it up!  For watering in the summer, I often either soak in a utility sink or soak completely with a hose.

Experiment with all kinds of succulents (hen and checks, aloe, echeveria, kalanchoe to name a few), spring pansies, annuals works great and even cherry tomatoes for a living edible wreath!

ABOUT KIM:

Owner Kim Foren is trained as a fine art painter and showed her whimsical oil paintings for sixteen years at Quartersaw Gallery in Portland. Desiring a change in her corporate life, she started selling flowers in 1993 out of her VW van in front of Grand Central Bakery in Portland.

Today, Geranium Lake Flowers has received Best of Portland awards from Portland Monthly magazine, Portland Bride and Groom, Oregon Bride Magazine and Willamette Weekly. Kim has been touted as “Martha Stewart with an edge” by The Oregonian, Jonathan Nicholas and the Willamette Weekly claims she “puts a fresh face on floral.”