Make a Cactus Dish Garden
Learn how to plant this colorful dish garden filled with an assortment of cacti.

By:
Melissa Caughey
Related To:

Photo By: Photo by Melissa Caughey
Photo By: Photo by Melissa Caughey
Cactus Dish Garden
Create a sleek, modern, and drought-tolerant cactus dish garden for your tabletop.
Gather Your Supplies
For this craft you will need: a planter / assorted cacti / cactus soil / gardening gloves / kitchen tongs / small stones / chopstick
Plant Preparation
Select a planter with drainage holes. Fill the planter 3/4 of the way with soil for cacti.
Begin Planting
Wearing gloves, add the cacti to the dish. Arrange the taller ones to the back or center and the shorter ones to the front or edges.
Helpful Tongs
Kitchen tongs can be a very helpful tool to plant and prevent sticks from the cactus thorns.
Fill in Spaces
Continue to fill in the planter. Select cacti of different colors and appearances for interest.
Tiny Pebbles
Top off the dish garden with a layer of tiny pebbles or stones. These are tiny green jade colored stones.
Small Spaces
Use a chopstick to coax the pebbles into hard to reach places to avoid unnecessary encounters with thorns.
Pebble Mulch
Adding pebbles not only adds visual interest. It also helps to prevent weeds and helps to regulate soil temperature.
Moon Cacti
Three grafted cacti are featured in this garden. Grafting is a popular gardening technique where two plants are combined to make one plant. When the two plants are compatible they will continue to grow as a single plant. This type cactus is formed by combining a Gymnocalycium and a Hylocereus.
Garden Care
Be sure to leave a bit of spacing between each cactus. This allows for growth. Be careful not to overwater. Cacti prefer their soil to dry out a bit between waterings. Watering needs will be higher in the summer and lower in the winter.
Flowering Cacti
This assortment of cacti will bloom at different times throughout the year. Here a red bloom is beginning to open and another new flower bud begins to emerge from the cactus's crown.
Cactus ID
Many of these cacti are available at most garden centers across the country.