Design Happens

Dan Faires, the Design Star season five fan favorite and host of DanMade, presented at the 19th annual Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival presented by HGTV at Walt Disney World over Easter weekend. Dan demonstrated how to plant with a terrarium and how to go vertical with a clever container garden. Check out Dan’s tips for terrariums and vertical gardens:

With Mother’s Day less than a month away, it’s time to start thinking about gifts. If your mother is anything like mine, she will love this Danmade Planterfall. It’s practical, affordable, and is perfect for anyone who likes to garden.

Here is a list of materials you will need to make the Danmade Planterfall:

1- 6 inch terra cotta pot
3 – 8 inch terra cotta pots
1 – 10 inch terra cotta pot
1 – 12 inch terra cotta pot
1 – 14 inch terra cotta pot
1- 12.25 inch terra cotta saucer
1 – (1.25 CF) medium size bag of miracle grow potting soil
1 – medium bag of pea gravel or stone
1- 1/2″ 4-foot dowels
1- can of flat black spray paint
1- hand saw or something to cut the wood dowel with.

This project was the biggest hit at the Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival and a lot of the avid HGTV fans in the audience are planning to make one of them at home.

If you are an herb lover, or just want to step your planter up a notch, add chalkboard paint, a foam brush, and a box of white chalk to your shopping list. All you have to do is simply paint the rims of the pots and you can label the plants in your very own Danmade Planterfall herb garden!

Here are the step by step instructions for making your own Danmade planterfall:

1. Spray paint your pots whatever color you choose to have in your garden. A lot of people don’t consider terra cotta pots for their garden simply because they don’t like the look and feel of terra cotta. However, because terra cotta is naturally porous, it absorbs spray paint very well and will remain beautiful all season long.
2. Start with the largest (14 inch) pot on the bottom, and then insert an 8 inch pot UPSIDE DOWN into the pot.

3. Insert stone or gravel around the 8 inch pot that is upside down inside of the 14 inch pot.
4. Insert your 1/2 inch wooden dowel into the 8 inch pot’s drainage hole.

5. Slide the 12 inch pot RIGHT SIDE UP onto the dowel so that it rests on top of the upside down 8 inch pot that is inside of your 14 inch pot.
6. Slide an upside down 8 inch pot onto the dowel and inside of your 12 inch pot.

7. Insert stone or gravel into the 12 inch pot.
8. Repeat steps 6 and 7 this time using a 10 inch pot instead of 12.

9. For the last tier of your Danmade Planterfall you will slide a 6 inch pot onto the dowel UPSIDE DOWN inside of the 10 inch pot and then slide your final 8 inch pot RIGHT SIDE UP so that it rests on top of the 6 inch pot.
10. Remove and cut dowel as necessary and then re-insert. The dowel is important because it helps lock all of the pots together so that it is all one sturdy unit and not just individually stacked pots.

11. Insert stone into the 8 inch pot that is on top.
12. Insert soil into all tiers of the Danmade Planterfall and add your plants of choice.

If you decided to paint the rims of your pots with chalkboard paint, label each plant by writing the names of the plants with white chalk onto the rim of the pot!

That completes the three Danmade projects that were highlights at the 19th annual Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival presented by HGTV. If you missed the other projects, click below to see the step by step details:

Danmade Terrarium
Danmade Vertical Garden

I have to say it was SUCH AN HONOR representing HGTV at the Flower and Garden Festival. I am happy to be able to share some of it with you here on the blog as well.

Stay tuned for more projects and tips on the next Danmade web-series coming soon to HGTV.com!

Have a GREEN day!

Daniel Grady Faires
Host of HGTV.com’s DanMade