Plant Nite @ Nu Café

Having done a couple Paint Nite's I thought we would try something a little different. Plant Nite is run by the same company as Paint Night and is a similar class style event where instead of painting a picture you build a unique terrarium of your own using supplied materials. Its a unique idea that we thought would be a fun evening activity.

We signed up for an event at our favorite coffee shop in town called Nu Café. They often have their Paint Nite classes on Monday's but this week the place morphed into a coffee shop garden with about 30 or so participants.  The three of us found a nice quiet table to make our home for the evening.

During check-in I asked if I could swap out the terrarium they provided with the pill shaped one that I had found ad really liked. The instructor told me I could make both if I liked and that she really liked the shape of the one I had found and wanted to know where so she could get some for a future class. Sadly I got it as a one off at Home Goods and it didn't give any indication of where it had come from.

As class began our instructor introduced herself at April Salter and her assistant for the night would be Jamie. She had us recite some simple instructions to have fun, not judge ourselves or the others around us and to drink and be merry.

On the table in large buckets was gravel and soil which would become the foundation for our garden. Each of us started by scooping 3-4 solo cups full of gravel into the base of our empty terrariums. She explained that we want to have the gravel sloped higher in the back and shallow near the opening.

Next we added soil evenly across the surface of the gravel creating about 1" of soil leaving a glass lip to catch anything from falling out. Once the soil and gravel was properly sloped and distributed April and Jamie came around with platters of small plants and advised us all to take 1 cluster of 3 plants. The two clusters I selected had donkey tail, jade tree, grey stonecrop, and mini aloe vera.

Once we were happy with out plans she instructed us to dig small holes about 1" in diameter and roughly that deep for each of the succulents we need to pot. Then we removed each succulent from its brown pot and shook off the majority of the soil it came with exposing the roots. We then carefully planted each succulent giving them sufficient space to grow in time.

It took me a little longer to get the donkey tail planted since the roots were very fine and the plant relatively tall. they just kind of flopped down which I didn't like.  Once everything was planted April and Jamie came around with tubs of colored rocks to cover the soil with and help keep the newly planted succulents in place. I went with a standard white rock so the green of the plants to add the color. I then placed some of the colored moss around the taller plants to keep them stable and upright.

They also came around with big golden nuggets which I placed inside the terrarium near the opening to add a buffer to prevent any soil from falling out. As class wrapped up we took a few pictures with our finished products and April and she handed out care cards to help us keep our new succulents alive. It was a fun experience and perhaps something I'll do again. Unlike the Paint Nite classes where the finished product would never get hung up in my house the terrariums are proudly placed in my window.