Creating Succulent Wall Art on Palm Debris

Follow Nell Foster on her gardening adventures at Joy Us garden

When the mighty winds blow along our California coast, the palm debris does fall. It’s nature’s way of cleaning out the palms. I love to use it for crafting because it’s so darned interesting and can be used in so many ways. I decided to create succulent wall art, along with a few air plants in the mix, on this piece of palm debris that I scooped up over the Winter. It’s quite sturdy and adds a natural touch to any project.

Step 1: Ingredients

Here are the ingredients I used:

1 piece of palm debris

1 piece of Teddy Bear Cactus wood

1 Aeonium autropurpeum branch

1 Aeonium decorum flower

2 Aeonium decorum “rosettes”

1 Spider Agave pup

2 pieces of Burro’s Tail Sedum

3 Air Plants 1 dried Mediterranean Palm frond

2 wacky sea sticks dyed Spanish moss dyed reindeer moss

There’s a video showing me making this piece of succulent wall art at the end but I’m going to take you on a pictorial step by step here. I also used a drill, wire and fishing line for this project. It could easily be done with all succulents or all air plants if you prefer. I picked all the succulents from my garden but you can buy cuttings on eBay.

I picked up the piece of Teddy Bear cactus wood outside of 29 Palms – more scavenging but this time in the desert. I wired it to the debris so that it would hold every else in place.

Step 2:

Here it is uprighted & ready to hold everything in place.

Step 3:

I’ve added in the chartreuse mosses & a couple of wacky sea sticks.

Our streets here in Santa Barbara, especially those that run along the ocean, are littered with palm debris when a strong wind blows. The dried fronds, flowers sheaths and flower stalks come crashing down so I head to the beach when I need some new material to work with. I made this summer flower arrangement on a Queen Palm flower sheath last August. I plan to use that sheath to mount one of my Staghorn Ferns on soon. I’ve had this project in the back of my head for over a year now. The best laid plans …

Be sure your eyes peeled next time you’re on a walk. You never know what Mother Nature is going to send your way!