Our 9th anniversary brought these guys into our lives – Mr. & Mrs. Ceramic Head Vase. They arrived in the middle of the build, so straight to storage they went awaiting some greenery approximately 10 months later. As much as I love the idea of having fresh flowers in these guys all the days, I know it will never happen. I decided to plant something in them instead.
Technically they are vases not planters, but you see them planted with succulents all the time. In fact if you live in LA, you can buy them with succulents in them. Anyways, they are 11″ deep, but only 5″ wide at the top of the head. So deep and not wide which left me needing to fill in a significant part of the bottom of the vase. Also since they are vases, there’s no drainage hole like a typical planter.
My plant (ripple jade aka crassula arborescens – thank you plant tag) was 5″ wide but 6″ deep. I thought about filling the vase with dirt or rocks, but I didn’t want to weigh it down. I also didn’t want to pay for extra dirt or rocks. (Dude the vases have already demanded enough of my cash.)
I needed something to fill the bottom and a clever a drainage solution. A cheap drainage solution, so I cut up a pool noodle. Yes a pool noodle to fill about 6″ at the bottom. Then I just took my plant out of the plastic container and smashed it into Mr. Ceramic Head Vase’s…er…head.
Then repeat with the Misses. We picked out an elephant bush for her hair/head. Apparently they make up about 80% of an elephant’s diet (if you believe plant tags), so let’s hope she never goes to the circus.
This what what they looked like immediately after I planted them. Can’t you just see the joy on their face. They just can’t contain the excitement of having hair.
Here’s what they look like almost 2 months later. Yep the hair plants are still alive. In fact the elephant plant seems to have grown. It’s amazing what proper drainage, water, and sunlight do to plants. The greenery and the bright white vases look so good against the dark wallpaper.
I’ve been obsessed with them for a long time. Saw them a long time ago on a YHL house tour. They are so quirky and fun! I like them better with some greenery in them anyway then fresh flowers
The lady looks really good with large flowers like peonies, but I could never stay on top of that! Also I’m terrible at arranging flowers, so it wouldn’t be fun for me.
Awesome. And so much better than a Chia Pet! 😉
Yes! The modern Chia Pet.
K my first thought is regarding the pool noodle, it’s genius. But will it get all moldy? or like stink? That would be my fear. If you don’t know, I’d be more than happy to take the day off work and google this serious issue. And my overall thought is I love it.
Well the noodle is meant for water, so that’s a plus. There aren’t any strange smells yet, and there’s also several inches of dirt and plant on top of it. I think anything you put down there is in danger of mold to some degree except maybe rocks which I’d be fearful that they’d scrape the vases up. Anything else can be rinsed out. It’s a waiting game at this point to see if this works, but so far so good!
These. Are. Awesome. Their expressions are priceless. Like they are shocked they were frozen into a ceramic planter.
I really do wish I could keep a plant alive.
I’m going to refer to them when my children throw fits. I’ll say they are watching you…that will be creepy enough to stop that behavior right?
Love that you used your noodle (!) for this project. So clever!! And of course I love these two heads. And with hair? Even better. They sure do look mighty pleased
Now to keep them alive until you get here…
ooh, you ARE clever! pool noodle! And they look great–I’m glad they finally got out of storage and grew some hair
Me too. They lived a real sad life before all of this.
i like to fill heads with weeds, so i think it would be a vase for me. although i used to grow my own weeds, so not sure. 😉 kidding. i love them either way. what’s not to love?
I’ll tell you what’s not to love… gold spray paint and selfies. Get a life Cassie.
Oh how clever you are Amber!!! And grandmere and grandpere look absolutely thrilled with the results.
Now to continue keeping them alive…