I recently attended a cactus/succulent sale and the best thing I came away with was free. Well, actually I stole it... What did I steal? I stole an idea..... I love stealing ideas. In fact I probably have stolen some of yours over the years.....
One of the vendors had a lava rock, sometimes called Feather Rock. It's very pumice-like, quite light and very easy to carve. He had carved little pocket into the rock and planted them with various succulents. It looked really cool. Well it so happens that I have a large lava rock at home that I originally purchased to put on my 12" deep plant shelf in the pond. Well it didn't work........because it floated
So I have moved it from place to place over the years but I have never been quite happy with what to do with it....
A few days ago I took my electric drill and a masonry bit to the rock and drilled out several pockets. Here's what it looked like after I poked a few holes in it.
And here's what it looks like after I planted some succulents in those pockets. It's pretty sparse looking now but in a year or so I'm hoping it fill out and look pretty cool. I have a micro-sprinkler about 3-4' away aimed at the rock and I think that will be able to supply adequate moisture when it comes on for 10 minutes every 3 or 4 days.