Here in Australia, we had a very hot summer last year, with daily temperatures between 40 and 48 degrees Celsius most days. 

Sad to say the heat took its toll on my fern tree and it eventually died.  I don’t think I watered it enough, to be honest.  Instead of digging the tree out which seemed like a lot of work to me, I turned it into a succulent tree.

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How to make a succulent tree

The one plant I never seem to kill are succulents, mine just keep multiplying and thriving.  Before I knew it I had so many succulents and nowhere to put them.  Succulents do not need a great amount of soil or attention so they were the perfect plant for my succulent tree.  If you are looking for other cool succulent planter ideas check out this themed terrarium. 

Prepare the tree

This was the fern that I started with, the other 3 survived but this one does get more sun than the rest.  It may be possible to do this to a normal tree stump but chopping into it at an angle and pulling it back.

To start cut away all the died branches, so you have space for your succulents.

Add lining

To add support for the succulents and keep the soil from washing away in the rain, you can use a hanging basket liner.  It looks like it is made from coconut fibre.  Cut out a triangle shape big enough to go into the area you have in mind.

Put the coconut fibre liner into the gaps, using the branches to hold it in place.  The point of the triangle is folded up at the end to keep the soil from falling out.  The liner will also hold water to keep the soil moist.  Next, add soil suitable for succulents and put in your plant.

Start at the top and work your way down. It is easier to cut away the branches you don’t need as you go along.  Don’t cut the branches right down to the base, they help to keep the soil in place.

Repeat the same process until all your succulents are planted.

I did not plant right down to the bottom because the top layers block all the sun.  If they thrive as they do in my pots I will go back at a later stage and add more to the lower part of the tree.

To finish off the succulent tree I bought some new decorative bark for the flowerbed. To water the plants a spray bottle works great, they don’t like too much water.

It has been a couple of months since I completed this succulent tree.  I will update this post with more pictures as they grow. 

If you liked this project check out these unique PVC Pipe photo planters I made for my great-niece.

Looking for more great ideas check out favecrafts or Diyideacentre

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