I know I should wait until tomorrow and get prettier pictures for this post, but I won’t. I just finished planting my tomato cage mannequin and I want to show her off now! Here is how to plant a mannequin for your garden!
If you missed my post yesterday, I showed you there how to make your own mannequin from tomato cages!
I was a bit worried that my mannequin would end up like the owl or the bunny and I wouldn’t like it plants. So before planting my mannequin, I spent some time on Pinterest for inspiration and ideas. I think most are done by floral designers and worth looking at first.
Choosing plants
I planted my mannequin with 2 flats of seed begonias and four small spider plants. When I couldn’t decide what color of begonia to use, I picked the mixed trays. I’ve always been a bit of a sucker for mixed flats of flowers anyhow, I just love seeing the colors all jumbled together.
I also used a bunch of Tradescantia (Wandering Jew) and a pretty small-leaved English Ivy. All of these are plants that do well at my house, where it’s very shaded. Which plants you choose should take into account your own climate and conditions.
Planting the Mannequin
For the bottom of my mannequin, I used cuttings of the Wandering Jew. It roots so easily, that I just stuck them right into the moss.
It seems like there always has to be that one blurry picture in the bunch, but here she is with the first flat of begonia.
And here she is finished! I pulled the ivy apart and separated the plants. I used florist wire to ‘pin’ it where I wanted it. Ivy has aerial roots, so it should eventually settle into the moss where I’ve pinned it. For anyone disappointed that I did not use succulents, there are 92 begonia plants in her skirt. If I had used succulents, that would be over $200 worth of succulents.
First sunny day, I’ll get her outside for some beauty shots! What do you think?
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