Supposedly, a green thumb runs in my family. My mother has the loveliest garden back home. Besides the flowers; she also grows many of the fruits, vegetables, and herbs used in my parents’ restaurant. My sisters both have house plants. Tons of them. Not me. The gene skipped the oldest daughter, and I am a gardening failure. I’ve killed so many plants (even jade plants, which are supposed to be impossible to kill) that my mother refuses to give me any more plants. My ex and I had a fig tree together and I hope that it’s still alive somewhere, but can’t be sure. Watering it was my job and I wasn’t so good at that.
A few months ago, I decided that I wanted to create a little window garden. I purchased a long copper tray to display in my windowsill, and started with just three little baby succulents from The Sill. They didn’t die. (I mean, it’s really hard to kill a succulent… you water it once a week, and that’s pretty much all you have to do.) After a month or so with my three babies, my sister came over for wine one night and we drank a bunch of wine + decided to order several more succulents from Mountain Crest Gardens. (I was a little out of my element purchasing plants online, but both my mother + my sister have bought plants from them, so I trusted it.) I ordered a few “String of Pearls” succulents at Becca’s recommendation as I love the shape of the “pearls” and how they dangle down from the planter, the Aeonium Haworthii, Aloe Juvenna, and Gollum Jade.
Once I had my plants, I scoured Etsy to find some interesting looking planters, (loving the cat, bunny, + elephant) and now my windowsill is a veritable plant zoo. So far, nothing has died yet… let’s all cross our fingers, please…
I love how the Gollum Jade peeks out of the little elephant planter.
The one on the left is Aloe Juvenna, and the one on the right is Aeonium Haworthii. Growing up, we had a lot of blue + white china in our house, so I liked mixing in a few blue + white pieces with an otherwise all-white palette. Tip: vintage sugar bowls + creamers make for great planters!
The cat looks a little creepy, here!
This is so adorable! I love it. I’m all for simple, easy to care for plants. I don’t have a green thumb either but we have about a zillion house plants and plants on our patio. Seriously, our place kind of looks like a jungle these days. It’s all my fiance’s doing. He’s responsible for all of it – everything I touch dies.
Stealing this idea!!
What a great little widow garden, I am loving all the ceramics and china you put your succulents in. Succulents seem to be the only plans/flowers that I can keep alive!
xo Nan – Simply Elegant Blog
I have a terrible track record of keeping house plants alive. I might need to revisit this. It does add a “freshness” to your home. Have a good weekend!
Bravo! It looks lovely! x
I have a (much smaller) window garden with succulents that I planted, too! I recently discovered that a stem from one of them died, but the rest of the plant is alive and well 😉
This is so so pretty! I’m a terrible gardener, too. Looking forward to updates on these guys haha
Warm Regards,
Alexandra
http://www.littlewildheart.com
My mom has a green thumb too and it did NOT make its way to me. I have managed to keep some succulents and a small cactus alive for maybe 4-5 months, but my year old water chestnut is pretty shabby looking. Keep us posted if you have any other plants that make it!
This is great and so pretty! I love the planters and the types of plants that you chose!
Carmen (www.gokotta-blog.com)
That copper tray and animal planters are super cute! I have this vision in my head for decorating my living room/kitchen area and I have a big, bright window that I would love to have a table/storage area to have some flowers plants. It must be the eldest daughter thing because … I suck at keeping plants alive, but my family gardens often, haha! You’re not alone!
So cute!! I love The Sill. I have a porch at my apartment, so I garden in pots (this year it was tarragon, marigolds, rosemary, black peppermint, spearmint, lime basil, thai basil, strawberries & a flowering purple summer plant). Inside I have a succulent called Mother’s tongue from an event with The Sill plus a sensitive plant (needs watered often, but it is SO fun—you touch the leaves, which look like a baby fern, and they close up!) plus a hanging terrarium from Otte 🙂 and I just got a mini-rose plant at Whole Foods yesterday! There’s something about gardening for me that is therapeutic, and my mom is very much like yours and a huge gardener. I’m about to start some major redecorating in a lot of ways and really love this tray + mini succulent thing, too!!