Whenever we’re in Hollywood, I love to eat at Stella Barra Pizzeria on Sunset Blvd. We stumbled upon this place years ago one night before we saw the Book of Mormon at Pantages Theater and it’s so, so good. But this blog post isn’t about pizza, but seriously, get the butternut squash pizza and don’t skimp on the Fresno chilies – it’s incredible. Instead, I’m sharing my DIY version of the mason jar succulent planters they have perched in the restaurant window with a little twist.
I know it feels like the mason jar trend has long expired but I can’t help but still be drawn to these cute glasses. Whenever I go to Megan’s house, she always serves iced coffee in a huge mason jar tumbler with a straw and I love it. For this project, I wanted to recreate the mason jar succulents I saw at Stella Barra but I also had some reclaimed wood I had been saving for another DIY project. I came across this pin on Pinterest and married the two projects together.
What You’ll Need for a Hanging Mason Jar Succulent
You want to use wide mouth mason jars for easy filling but also make sure the jars are no bigger than pint size because once filled they will become heavy. Amazon affiliate links ahead.
Wide mouth pint-sized mason jars
Pipe clamps
Natural Course Sand
Small succulents or house plants
Potting Mix
Reclaimed wood or wood plank of your choice
Necessary tools like a hammer and pliers
I chose two 4 oz. sized succulents and one small indoor house plant. I have a dark track record of killing plants and know the succulents would need little care but the asparagus fern doesn’t stand a chance under my care. Pipe clamps comes in a variety of sizes. It took me nearly 20 minutes to figure out how to make them smaller. I thought I had to loosen the screw and adjust it like a belt. Turns out, you just turn the screw clockwise and it moves along the tracks making the clamp smaller and smaller.
You’ll need some sort of natural draining system for the bottom of your planter otherwise the water that isn’t absorbed by the roots of the plant and it will instead pool at the bottom of the mason jar.
Layer your potting mix on top of the sand and pop in your itty bitty succulents plants. This totally makes for a great spring project to do with kids. Even if you don’t have the materials to turn these mason jars into hanging planters, they stand alone as pretty table decoration or an affordable teacher or housewarming gift.
How to Turn them into Hanging Planters
We had a birch tree planted last fall and I’ve been keeping the tree box for some unknown future DIY project. I love the rustic look of reclaimed wood! It was pretty easy to pry the pieces apart with the back of a hammer because the wood was so soft. This will be a problem, keep reading.
I thought a sharp nail and hammer would be enough to poke through the metal clamp so to attach the pipe clamp to the wood plank. Those pipe clamps are pretty sturdy. My husband picked up a special drill bit to drill a tiny screw hole into the back of the clamp. All that was left was to attach the clamps to the wood plank and slide the mason jars into the clamps.
Are you wondering why I have this gorgeous new hanging mason jar succulent planter propped up on a bed of grass? The reclaimed wood was so soft and the filled mason jars were sort of heavy that we couldn’t get a hanger to stay secured in the wood. Right now, it is sitting on my outdoor fireplace looking pretty and waiting for it’s permanent home.
