Bloomin' Marvelous Series - Succulents

I know, I know....I just did a succulent planter as a guest post for my friend Karen, but I gave that one to her as a birthday gift.  (Was that not tricky....making her a gift and then using her gift as my guest post for her?)  This one is mine!

It has some different plants in it and it's an entirely different shape.  I used this little Frankoma dish that I've had for years as a planter.

I put some cactus soil in it.  (So technical...I know.)

Then I added these awesome succulents that I got at Lowes.  Check them out...they were around $2.50 a piece and I only needed three of them.  This one is called Silver Coral and I used it in my first planter as well.  It's very cool and kind of keeps peeling it's skin as it grows taller.

This next plant is called Baby Toes...they're pink and cute as a babys' toes. (duh)

The last plant is probably my favorite.   It's name is Stone Faces, but really it looks like brains to me. 

I messed around with these until I found an arrangement that was aesthetically pleasing to me and planted them in the container, adding a little more dirt to top it off.

Please take a second to admire those cute Baby Toes again, ignoring the fact that they are right next to the creepy, brain-looking Stone Faces and the skin peeling, octopi-like Silver Coral that appears to be reaching out a tentacle to pick off a toe!
I like to put something on the top of the dirt to kind of hide it and to keep the dirt from splashing out when I water it.  I used some aquarium gravel in a lovely shade of green.  It also helps hold a little moisture in the soil.

Spooning it on with a plastic spoon is the best way I know to do this without making a mess.  Better right?

Here are the two succulent planters I made, side-by-side.  Which do you like better.....the oval one or the round one?

If you have a garden, either one you've already done or one you want to do, we hope you'll share it with us at the Bloomin' Marvelous link party at the Inspiration Cafe on July 29th.  We'd all love to see what you've done!