Last week I posted how I made "instant" plants from boxwood cuttings. Well, this week, I have my oh-so-fabulous, faux ivy in a planter, made from scraps.
I have a very bad track record with houseplants. You might wonder, "how on earth does Lili keep her garden alive?" after a peek at my houseplants. So, faux is often the way to go. But those silk plants in catalogs are not cheap!
Here's my extreme budget version, using what I have on hand.
I seem to produce a lot of crafts that use faux ivy. And I always have a few lengths leftover.
Here is a planter with 3 pots inside, from 3 once-live ivy plants I had in the house.
The pots still have their solidified dirt in them. Of course, you could use a chunk of styrofoam, too. (I'm just a tad on the lazy side, at times!)
Anyway, I take one long strand of ivy and cascade it across the top of the 3 pots, to add height and even bulk across the planter, tucking the ends in between the pots and the planter.
Then I simply add the short pieces of ivy to the pots, bending one end on most pieces, so they will cascade naturally out the side of the planter, and leaving a few pieces straight and upright to add height. I mass more pieces on one side more than the other, as plants in nature never seem to grow evenly, either.
My planter sits on the brick ledge above the fireplace in the family room, at about 5 feet high. Most of us can't see inside the planter, unless we are standing right up against the brick and looking down and in. And even so, one would have to be studying the insides to discern this was indeed faux, and a cheap faux at that. So, for me, it works.
