Succulent plants grow into sun-loving holiday wreath

By Wanda A. Adams
Assistant Features Editor

Easter Martin has loved succulents since she was a young girl, when she became fascinated by the way that a donkey's tail plant will trail over a garden wall, form roots on a leaf and form a new plant.

Once the plants have been rooted in the wreath, as in this one by students at Nanea A 'O Kula farm, you have to wait for them to firm up their hold and grow to fill out the spaces. Michael McGuire • Nanea A 'O Kula

Many succulents naturally feature Christmas colors — green tipped with red, festive mauves and cool celadon shades. You can also make a living wreath with other easy-to-grow plants; ivy is popular.

Martin shared her instructions for this simple home project with Advertiser readers. It's best carried out now, as the plants need time to root so you can have your wreath up for holiday display.

The technique is straightforward: Make a form out of chicken wire that resembles a bundt cake or angel food cake pan. Fill it with sphagnum moss and soil, plant it with succulents and let them take root until it's time to hang it on the door. (There are other techniques. If you go online and use a search engine to check out "succulent living wreath," you'll find versions that use commercial wreath forms, then secure the moss and dirt with florist's wire or fishing line, as well as variations on the chicken wire theme.)

One resource: The Cactus and Succulent Society of Hawai'i, which meets on the third Tuesday of the month January through November at the Hawaii Agricultural Research Center in 'Aiea, below 'Aiea High School, with plant sales at 7 p.m. and a meeting at 7:30 p.m. They hold an annual plant show and sale. (Information: www.geocities.com/rainforest/vines/7706/ or e-mail nwong1@co.honolulu.hi.us).

Two society members sell plants from their home nurseries: Perla Alvarez, 423-2056, and Michael Miyashiro, 591-9999.

Many well-known garden families have succulent members; a succulent is defined as a plant that stores reserves of water in leaves or stems. Regardless of family, succulents are drought-tolerant, like full sun and need rich soil that drains completely.

Some have rounded, flower-like petals, others are sharp-edged and contemporary looking. They grow well in pots and you can mix and match them; different varieties don't usually adversely affect each other.

Martin said folks in her classes are interested in the idea of a living wreath because it's different and because it doesn't waste effort; the wreaths can be kept from year to year with proper care. "The other thing is that people love succulents. Most of them say they never knew there were so many colors or types," she said.

The wreaths aren't particularly difficult to make but they do challenge your creativity. "You need to let your imagination flow, be your own creator of your own wreath. It makes it really fun," she said.

If you've already got a succulent garden, or have a friend who has one, you can start the wreath from small cuttings, leaving room for the plantlets to grow and spread. However, the wreath won't fill in in time for this holiday season.

Martin says she's found that full-grown plants "don't mind" being crowded in together to cover the whole surface of the wreath; the roots form together, giving the wreath stability. "Sometimes you want instant beauty," she said. Plants can be trimmed back when they begin to fill out and grow together.

At one time, Martin could have made a dozen wreaths with the succulents in her front yard in Makawao. But then came Penelope. Penelope is her much-loved pot-bellied pig and, to Penelope, succulents are porcine caviar. "She ate 'em all. She thinks they're so delicious," said Martin good-naturedly.

So she started all over again — in the back yard this time.

Jon Orque • The Honolulu Advertiser