Sometimes I procrastinate a project for years and years and years and then a neighbor destroys my entire excuse for procrastinating. GAME OVER.
For YEARS (literally) I have been saying I was going to make a little plant ball (technical term, obviously) out of hens and chicks. Alas, I didn't actually have any hens and chicks so I kept not doing it. Our neighbor has hens and chicks coming out of her ears, though, so she gave me a whole bunch. I didn't even have to ask. They just shows up. SCORE!
As luck would have it, they showed up just in time for me to finally tackle another project.
That's my beloved wrought iron tree. Isn't she lovely? Naked, I know, but still lovely.
You know what a naked wrought iron tree needs? A ball of hens and chicks.
I started by acquiring one of these things:
I think I found it at Michael's, but JoAnn's or Hobby Lobby would have them as well.
I cut a hole in the top of my grapevine ball.
And then stuffed moss and potting soil into that hole. Basically, I lined the entire inside of the grapevine ball with moss and then stuck a whole bunch of potting soil in the middle.
It was a messy little project, but when I was done stuffing moss and dirt in there, I had a nice, neat "pot" for my hens and chicks.
I planted little hens and chicks in as many nooks and crannies as I could by wiggling my finger through the moss and making a little hole then pushing the hens and chicks roots in there. I used wire to secure a few that didn't seem to want to stay in place. When I was done...TA-DAH!
A little beaded wire made it easy to hang from my naked wrought iron tree.
So now my wrought iron tree isn't totally naked. I'm thinking the hens and chicks will have completely filled in by the time I hang something else up there, but that's OK. It can be a race.
Total project cost: $6. You have to love when you can score free hens and chicks!