Bougainvillea to neem: How to personalize your driftwood creation for your garden

Hyderabad: Driftwood is a piece of wood that has drifted with the water currents for a long time and thus has a unique smooth surface and curvatures. It could be a root, tree stump, or branch.

Driftwood is wood that has been washed onto a shore or beach of a sea, lake, or river by the action of winds, tides, or waves. It is great fun experimenting with different wood sculptures.

One can even leave the creation unadorned. Adding branches and flowers can be a mode of self-expression and creativity, too.

Versatile creations

Driftwood pieces are all the rage in large metropolitan cities that are short of space. These expensive creations are easy to make, and you can be as creative as you like with them. You can hang them on the wall, put them on a window, or use them as a centerpiece on the table.

Driftwood plant arrangements can be used both indoors and outdoors and will last much longer than your typical flower arrangements. If the succulents grow too big for the driftwood, you can take them out and even plant them in the ground or a pot.

Rekha Bayanker, one of Hyderabad’s top Garden Experts, has attended classes in the USA on the art of making Driftwood out of Dead wood. She says it is a simple 7 step method to create your personalized driftwood creation, which can enhance sculptural floral and plant arrangements.

Seven steps to personalize your creation

1. Pick any artistically curved branch or root of a sturdy tree, like a bougainvillea root, a neem root, or teak wood, to make the best specimen. Look for one with a crack or depression that is somewhat towards the middle of the wood. Try to use the existing cavities to create as natural a look as possible. If necessary, use a tool to dig out the centre and make more space for your plants. You don’t have to dig very much: succulents don’t need a lot of root space.

2. Soak the log of wood for a week or two in a tank of water for the bark to peel off.

3. Remove the outer bark with a wire brush and a knife.

4. Apply a solution of washing soda mixed with water in a 1:6 ratio and dry the wood in semi-shade, as direct sunlight will crack the wood. This helps get the extra resin of the inner fibre out and also helps to remove the outer soft pulp.

5. Spray or apply an anti-termite solution called Herbo Termite and let it dry for a day.

6. Use the sandpaper to smooth the surface of the wood piece. Experiment and use sandpaper of different grades to get the result you like best.

7. Spray or apply matte varnish to give your driftwood piece a natural look.

Neem Root and Mango Branch

The two driftwood pieces prepared are a Neem root, which is round and adorned with assorted succulents. The root has a natural crevice in which succulents are planted.

Another beautiful driftwood piece is a long Mango branch, which also has a natural crevice. In both cases, these are filled with a mixture of charcoal, sand, garden soil, and Sphagnum Moss.

A knitting needle or chopstick can be used to push in the roots of the succulents and the moss where the aperture in the driftwood is too narrow for fingers to reach. Sphagnum Moss is used so that the garden soil does not come out of the drift woo,d and the moss helps to hold in the moisture.

Arrangement

Arrange your succulents. You can go for the same kind of plants or a dramatic mix of colours and shapes. Use succulents in the shape of a spike or a rosette and in different colors like silver, green, purple, or pink. Put in your biggest ones in the middle and then tuck the little ones around the edges.

You don’t need to leave them room to grow. Pack them in there like you are arranging flowers. Succulents multiply very easily. You can remove the extra ones and rearrange them, or even plant the extras in a pot when the driftwood gets crowded. Succulents do not have strong roots, so they are easy to rearrange and need very little watering.