DIY Backdrop Plant Wall with WallyGro x @insucculentlove

Jessica Cain of @insucculentlove shares her experience creating a free-standing, wooden living wall backdrop for her wedding using Wally Eco planters. Read on to see Jessica's botanical inspirations and learn how she achieved the perfect garden party vibe at her wedding by constructing this long-lasting, great-looking succulent plant wall!

2019’s trendy new theme: Garden Party Affair! 

It’s all about the botanicals, florals, greenery, over-the-top living displays... and they’re everywhere! Creating the idea of a living oasis as the perfect garden party wedding has been widely raved about and caught on trend quickly! We decided to do just that - create a glamorous outdoor garden party affair, filled with botanicals in every corner! One of our favorite installs was our Living Photo-Booth Backdrop.

It’s become a necessity in today’s society to have a photo booth at, well, pretty much every single possible event that we need to document in our lives. With this trendy design, we decided to combine the idea of a ‘basic’ photo booth with the idea of a living garden party theme, to create a succulent wall backdrop for our photo booth! Our wedding guests enjoyed snapping photos in front of the succulent wall throughout the evening, and it added a unique flair to our event. 

With our wedding theme color (and life color) being mint, we decided to use Mint colored Wally Eco planting containers. Mint is also a common under-tone color for succulents, so for arranging purposes, this worked great! Other great colors would be Rose & White, or moodier colors if that fits your event appropriately. 

The succulent backdrop we used for our wedding was composed of 25 Mint Wally Eco planters and a 6x7 ft. wooden wall. We enlisted the help of a local wood crafter to create the physical wooden wall, which was then painted by my husband and dad (a great bonding project for the two of them)! We chose to have the wall be a whitewash stain to have the mint planters and colorful succulents look even more vibrant against the white wall!

Create your own Living Photo-Booth Backdrop

This easy-to-make succulent wall will take the basic idea of photo booths to a new level! Then, after the event, the succulent wall can be used as decoration on a patio or create a gorgeous landscaping piece for your backyard! We use our succulent wall to divide the pool and pool equipment in our backyard, adding life to what would have been a basic wall.

Supplies:

• 25 Mint Wally Eco Planters
• Succulent/Cactus Soil
• Wall Backdrop (6x7’)
• Paint for the wall
• Screwdriver (to attach the planters)

Botanicals: 

• We used succulents for this project, but any botanical plant can be used as an alternative!
• We used about 3-4 6” succulents per planter. If using 4” succulents, you can use about 7-9 succulents per planter. 
• A variety of hanging succulents and large rosette-like succulents worked great for designing purposes. 

Crafting + Arranging:

1. To start creating the wall, we attached the Wally Eco hangers to the wooden wall with the screws that were included with the planters. We evenly spaced out the planters with about 5-8" in between the top of each planter. The spacing will be determined by the height of the succulents being used, so plan accordingly! 
2. To plant the actual succulents in the planters, start by filling the Wally Eco planters about 1/2 way up with soil. (We used cactus/succulent soil, but it’s not necessarily required.)
3. Arrange the succulents to your liking and create a design out of the succulents! 
4. Once the succulents are planted, hang the planters onto the wall.

Arranging Tip: In traditional arranging, it is best to have a ‘thriller’, ‘filler’, and a ‘spiller’. This is regarding the botanicals being used. For example, in this photo, the red succulent in the middle is the ‘thriller’, meaning it is the most eye-catching part of the arrangement. The green succulent (‘String of Bananas’) cascading over the front of the planter is the ‘spiller’. The two light purple succulents on the sides of the planters, (Echeveria ‘Lilanica’) are the ‘fillers’, meaning they fill in empty space in the arrangement, and bring it all together. 

When planting the Wally Eco planters, try to have spillers, fillers, and thrillers in each of the planters. Spiller succulents look great cascading down from each of the planters! 

Great ‘Spiller’ Succulents: ‘String of Bananas’, ‘String of Pearls’, ‘Little Missy’, String of Hearts’, ‘Donkey Tail’, ‘Ruby Cascade’, ‘Ruby Necklace’, and any other succulents that cascade down! 

Great ‘Filler’ Succulents: Sedum clavatum, ‘Pink Jelly Beans’, Sedum reflexum, ‘Brown Beans’, ‘Pulv-Oliver’ and any other succulents that help fill in space. Sedum succulents make the perfect ‘fillers’.

Great ‘Thriller’ Succulents: ‘PVN’, Echeveria ‘Sahara’, Echeveria ‘Afterglow’, Echeveria ‘Neon Breaker’, Echeveria ‘Dusty Rose’, and any other succulents that ‘pop’, or catch your eye in the arrangement.

Care: 

• To care for the succulents in the Wally Eco containers, gently water every two weeks. If the succulents are kept in dry locations, or the planters appear dry, gently water more often. 
• The Wally Eco planters are separated by a divider, which indicates where to put the water in the planter. The water will filtrate through the planter.
• Succulents are the perfect pair for Wally Eco planters, as they are easy to care for and look fabulous!

All About Jessica & In Succulent Love (& her book!)

I started my business by complete accident with my love & passion for succulents. One day after crafting succulent pumpkins with my grandmother, (YES! Succulents can live on top of pumpkins!!), I had some local businesses reach out to inquire about ordering pumpkins for corporate gifting. My hobby quickly blossomed into a full botanical design business, which is what I do today! In Succulent Love can be found on Instagram and our website!

We currently ship hundreds of succulents across the country (USA), host DIY workshops locally in San Diego, and create custom designs (like our 2-story succulent wall at Flower Hill, Del Mar)! I even wrote a book all about botanical design with an emphasis on succulent DIY’s. Pre-orders of my book are now available on our site: Stylish Succulent Designs & Other Botanical Crafts. 

If you are outside of the US, pre-orders are available through Amazon & other major retailers where books are sold. The book launches on the market 10/29 for its debut!! There are 40 different DIY botanical projects, with one of them being Succulent Walls with Wally Eco Planters! 

Stay Connected with Jessica + In Succulent Love

Instagram: (@insucculentlove)

Website + Shopping: https://insucculentlove.com/