---
title: "After three months of planning and mentally preparing for it, I gave…"
description: "After three months of planning and mentally preparing for it, I gave home-made succulent arrangements to a few people last December. What I learned makes me…"
url: "https://getplanta.com/community/lZ7uAE3pQ86jnFGxrCwLrg/6496f91a4fbd67249a388d92"
community: "Anything about plants"
author: "Dave_opuntiaface"
published: "2023-06-24T14:09:30.918Z"
language: "en"
image: "https://images.getplanta.com/v1/resize/gFKgBIDtQUSoNHyzAXA4pLM-wYI4yLGXFPAMGDtMt3o/07d60579ff68406b8d900301a92fe259.webp?size=large"
---

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# After three months of planning and mentally preparing for it, I gave…

_Posted by Dave\_opuntiaface on 2023-06-24_

After three months of planning and mentally preparing for it, I gave home-made succulent arrangements to a few people last December. What I learned makes me now look at every box store arrangement and think, that’s a beautiful decoration that will be dead in two months. Son and mother - or neighbor and neighbor - will have an awkward conversation next time they visit.

It takes about a month to figure out that succulent arrangements are untenable if you didn’t start sorting by (surprise) light and water needs; with water, I’ve built little retaining walls or kept the plant inside its own pot and planted the whole thing underground. Experiments.

Here is an arrangement I made for myself at the time. Note that is last month, and it kind of looks rough because I knew I would be repotting it - because of all the reasons mentioned. The plants were a gift, and I was going through a “I want plants rooting over rocks” moment. I was at the point of watering according to one plant’s needs, though there used to be four diff species. This is better. That stretchy one can finally get some light. I also couldn’t pass up that little shiny Haworthia where I got the smaller pot.

Also, the amount of effort involved in fitting that white box on my shelf was ridiculous ha.

![Attachment 1 of 1](https://images.getplanta.com/v1/resize/gFKgBIDtQUSoNHyzAXA4pLM-wYI4yLGXFPAMGDtMt3o/07d60579ff68406b8d900301a92fe259.webp?size=large)

## 2 comments

### Anya commented on 2023-06-24

I love those translucent haworthia so much!!

#### Dave\_opuntiaface replied on 2023-06-24

They are so great, and I hadn’t seen healthy ones for a while. One of my Xmas arrangements had this Haworthia and two other South African sun addicts. It was a ridiculous gift for someone who put it in the dark. The point is that hers stretched so crazily that the shiny windows are kind of blank stares on top of floppy, 2-inch tall leaves. I saw it and gave her a footstool for her window :)

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