I was shopping today for a rug for our living room. I went into a discount store that always has great buys, but alas, no rug. This store is one of those stores that always has something that I think I need, so to remove any temptation, I didn't even get a shopping cart. Who was I kidding? After I looked at the rugs, I decided to take a quick walk through the rest of the store, I was in the clearance aisle when I spotted a big glass pear. It was about 18" tall, handmade and beautiful. I suspected that it was going to be considerably more than I wanted to spend, but I was wrong. $8.00. I couldn't believe it! Needless to say, I scooped it right up. I continued down the aisle and couldn't believe my luck. Another pear just like the first one! Now I wasn't sure at this point what I was going to do with one pear, much less two, but at that price I couldn't resist. At the very least, I could give the extra one to someone as a gift. Now that my hands were full, I headed to the register to pay then head home with my new treasures.
I have developed a new fascination with succulents. I love the variety, and the low maintenance, and in Texas in the summer, I appreciate their tolerance for heat. I decided that the pears would look great planted with succulents, so on the way home I stopped at the nursery and bought some.
Since there is no drainage hole in these pears, I added about an inch of gravel to the bottom to compensate.
Next came placing the plants. I'm not a very symmetrical person. By that I mean that even though I had two identical glass pears, I didn't want them to look exactly the same, so I mixed the plants.
Since the pears aren't very deep, I knocked some of the soil off of each plant before I put it into the pear.
The I placed all the plants where I wanted them and added soil.
Sorry I didn't take more pictures here, but I was really making a mess. My man-sized hands made adding the soil through the smallish hole a challenge, but I finally got all the plants in, then the soil, then I watered them.
By now you night have guessed that I decided to keep them both. They look great on my outdoor dining room table with a candle between them. So for less than $40, I have a unique and beautiful living center piece. Now I know that the plants I put in them will eventually outgrow their space, but I'm not worried about that. When the time comes, I can transplant them or even change my mind entirely and use the pears for something different. For now though, I think they're perfect!
I'll keep you posted...
Lynn
