Terracotta pots age beautifully and suit any garden style. But because they’re made of clay, they can also break. You’ll find the shards will be quite large and, with a bit of imagination, you can recycle them with this clever arrangement to display an eclectic range of small cacti and succulents. More good news: terracotta is porous, so excess water (which these plants don’t like) seeps through the pot’s side.
Melissa King’s terracotta pot DIY
Gather your supplies
- Large, broken terracotta pot, with all the pieces
- Succulent potting mix
- Decorative gravel or small pebbles
- Selection of cacti and succulents
You’ll also need
- Table protector
- Thick gloves
- Trowel
- Pieces of polystyrene
Step 1
Fill the bottom third of the broken pot with succulent potting mix, leaving it shallow where the break is and higher where the side is solid.
Step 2
Use a couple of the broken pieces to create a small curved retaining wall towards the base of the pot.
Step 3
Build up the potting mix where the side is solid.
Step 4
Create another retaining wall a bit higher in the pot with a larger broken piece.
Step 5
Create a third retaining wall, a bit higher again.
Step 6
Plant out your cacti and succulents, placing taller cacti at the back and smaller succulents in front. Use polystyrene to protect your hands from cacti spines.
Step 7
Cover the potting mix with decorative gravel.
Plants included in the terracotta pot
- Tall spiky cactus at back left, Blue Torch (Pilosocereus azureus).
- Tall, furry cacti at back right, Silver Torch (Cleistocactus strausii).
- 3 x small, flat-leafed, black-tipped succulents on top tiers, Silver Drops (Kalanchoe tomentosa).
- 2 x very small, spiny balls on top tier and third tier, Golden Torch (Parodia leninghausii).
- 3 x small, round spiney balls on second tier, Golden Barrel (Echinocactus grusonii).
- Small, grey-purple succulent, Purple Delight (Graptopetalum spp.),
- Clusters of green, bead-like succulents down sides of arrangement, String of Pearls (Senecio rowleyanus).
- Cluster of silver spined cacti, Snowcap (Mammillaria spp.)
- Green, spined cactus with orange flower, Pink Sensation (Rebutia spp.).
- Light-green, flower-like succulent with two pups, Hen and Chicks (Sempervivum cantabricum).
- Round cacti with swirls of spines and yellow flowers, Krainz’ Crown Cactus (Rebutia krainziana).
- Small, grey-green, red-tipped succulent, Lipstick (Echeveria agavoides).
- Round cactus balls with crimson flowers, Sulcorebutia mizquensis.
- Lime-green, bronze-edged succulent, Coppertone
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