Adorable mini Christmas garden gifts

This was not supposed to be a blog post. This was only supposed to be a quick way to throw together a little hostess gift with some plant clippings and bows. It really got out of hand! What started as 1 mini-rosemary topiary turned into 3 mini Christmas themed planters. *sigh* Let me start at the beginning.

Everybody knows how much I love my plants ... especially my herbs! What better way to spread the love of herbs this holiday season than with a rosemary topiary? I set out to make this with my out of control rosemary 'bush' and a few pots I had picked up from the dollar spot at Target. I clipped my rosemary, prepared it and rooted it then decided it looked suspiciously like a Christmas tree. So I decorated it. 

Then I had to make another one in a shape, since the first one sorta failed. After that I only had 1 pot left so I tossed in some succulents that I had been propagating and voila! 3 mini Christmas gardens. That's my story...and I'm sticking to it!

Making mini Christmas garden gifts

Here are the supplies I used:
1 set of 2 green ramekins from Target
1 "lace" red pail from Target
Mini plastic plant pots
Small pebbles for drainage
Potting soil
Rooting hormone
Green floral wire. Thick and thin
Rosemary plant and succulent babies
Assorted tissue paper
Ribbons, beads and other trinkets

Start by pouring a layer of pebbles in each of the mini plastic pots for drainage. Add some potting soil. 

Cut a piece of rosemary the size you want. Pinch off each leaf on the bottom inch of the spring. Do not pull, just pinch using your nails to cut the leaf off. Since it's late autumn, the plant should be in all hardwood, so you'll need some rooting hormone to help it along. I scrape a bit of the wood covering off the very bottom of my rosemary sprig. 

Dip the end inch of rosemary into the rooting hormone then place into the potting soil. 

This is where my topiary idea went sideways. Instead of shaping it, I added a plastic stick and used the thin floral wire to wire the rosemary sprig to it so that it stood straight up like a Christmas tree. Just wrap a piece of wire around both the sprig and the plastic brace and twist together in the back. Water lightly.

I added some tissue paper to the red lacey pail and placed the potted rosemary inside. I decided to make ornaments for my 'tree' and fashioned them out of beads and beading wire, then slipped the loops over pieces of rosemary so they hang like Xmas tree ornaments. I also hot glued a piece of florist wire to a dove and twisted the wire around the branch for a tree topper. (you can see how small it is in the picture!)

Then I got back to my original topiary idea. I wanted to make a little arch, so I cut two rosemary sprigs and prepared them then set them aside. I used thick floral wire to make a loop in the correct size. Twist the bottom together with needle nosed pliers. Place this in a the dirt in one of the pots. Make the twisted part long enough to go down into the drainage rocks that are in the bottom of the pot. This will keep it from falling over.

Plant a rosemary sprig on each side of your arch and wire it to the metal with thin floral wire. Water lightly. I glued a red ribbon around the top of the pot since it was taller then the ramekin and stuck out a little bit. I did this to try to cover the black plastic pot a bit, but if yours doesn't stick out you can skip this part. Add bows, tissue paper and other decorations. 

Mist your rosemary lightly every other day for the first few weeks. Rosemary grabs moisture out of the air so this will help as it establishes new roots. Water lightly about twice a week but don't soak the soil. New roots should start to develop in about 10 days.

Since I had that third pot, this is where I planted the succulents. I just tied a ribbon around this one and added some pieces from a floral pick. I'm going to get a few more of these mini pots and do this with some catnip plants I have that self seeded themselves. These will be great for my friends with kitties. 

They would also be a good way to use up some Christmas cactus cuttings if you rooted yours when you pruned your Christmas cactus this year. If you grow a lot of succulents you probably have a few dropped leaves sprouting into new plants. Any small plant you have extras of will do. 

I have several parties I go to every holiday that I always bring a dish to, but feel like I should bring a small hostess gift too. These will do the job nicely!

~L

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