More Grass Centerpieces

Here are more ideas for ways to use the fun (to watch grow)

and economical (only pennies each) grass centerpieces.
 The original post about how to grow the grass can be found by clicking this link

Growing Grass For Decorating.

 I recently grew a batch of 30 grass centerpieces for an event.

They still looked great even after the event,
 so I got to use them in other fun ways pictured below.

Well, this is not officially a centerpiece since it is on my
 mantle but the same idea could be used on a table.

Amazingly the roots of the mature grass intertwine and keep the soil from falling off

when the grass is taken out of the container. To water the grass to keep it from dying,

you just put it back in the original growing container every few days and water well. 

I used a layer of cork to protect the mantle from the

 moistness of the grass out of its container but

 if you are going  to grow your grass in an attractive 

container, you would not have to do this.

I put skinny candles already in a glass holder 

(from Dollar Tree) directly on top of the square of 

grass and pushed it down a little until it was level.

Since the event was in the first part of April, 
I got to use the grass as if it were Easter

grass in some instances but I think the grass looks good
 any time in the spring and summer.

In other information I have read on growing grass for centerpieces, it says that you can grow the grass in large containers and then cut the grass sod to fit in the container you want to use. I wanted to
try this as an experiment to see if it works.

Ummmm...maybe I did something wrong but mine was a muddy mess on the sides.

I guess my lesson from this is that if you are going to cut the grass to fit in a prettier container, make sure it is not see-through. 

 (You could GROW the grass in a glass container  if you don't mind seeing the roots or a piece of ribbon  or scrapbook paper could be added to the outside of the glass to hide the roots from view.)

From that little experiment, I had a square of grass
 with a hole in the middle. 

I threw away the muddy mess, cleaned the glass container,
 and put a chunky candle in it. To protect the table, I put the whole thing on a 1/2" thick piece of cork from another project.

Here is the same set up but with river rocks around
 the base of the grass.

This covers up the roots somewhat if you don't like 
the look of them without a container.

The whole idea of growing the grass to NOT be in a container came from a picture I saw where a floral designer used the live grass on river rocks only (no container) down the center of a table.

Here is my try at that:

If you try this, be aware that you need to put rocks underneath the entire patch of grass

to protect the table (or hide something waterproof underneath it all).

Here are a couple of instances where I did try to cut the grass to fit non-transparent containers. Since the containers were deeper than my grass, I packed them with plastic bags to make the grass the correct height.

 

You can even add flowers directly to the grass.  Mums, daisies, and other hearty flowers will last about 12 hours without wilting

 (if they not in a hot area).  

Water picks could be stuck into the dirt if you 

 would like to use something more delicate like roses, etc. 

Here is another illustration of mums stuck directly into the dirt. 

This patch of grass was cut to fit in an old "silver" container I got at a yard sale. I tried to make myself think it looked like a golf trophy

to illustrate how you might use the grass centerpiece idea at a golfing event.

If that looks more like "the rough" to you than a green,

 you cut trim the grass with scissors

The grass will not last AS long as it would if it were

 still in its growing container but it lasted

better than I thought it would.  

Instead of watering the grass from a pitcher, I just spritzed

it well (away from wood furniture, of course) every day.

I know this post is getting too long, but if you want to see the growing grass process

 for the above grass squares and the event they were originally used for read on...

The event was a kick-off dinner for a baseball league for handicapped folks called "Miracle League".

I started the grass three weeks before the event. 

 I already had the grass seed so every

thing else I needed (including the potting soil!) 

came from Dollar Tree.

Because I was planning on the squares of grass being used

without any container at the event, I just used disposable

aluminum pans to grow the grass seeds in since they will 

not be on the table at the dinner.

I usually end up putting a thin layer of potting soil on top 

of the seeds which are spread only one seed deep but 

completely covering the base layer of potting soil.  

Here are the seed squares planted.

Since the weather was warm enough, I had these outside

most of the time. I had to bring them in the house at night

a few times when it got colder or it was raining. 

Encouraging signs of life at about 10 days 

after planting...

At the end of three weeks, they looked like this...

...loaded in the car and ready to go party. 

Other elements of the centerpieces included a 13"

cardboard baseball (I ordered off the internet),

 and cork  squares to protect the tablecloths from

 the (as dry as possible) dirt and roots.

To personalize the baseball for the event, I printed out

 "Rooftop Friends" (the name of the group sponsoring

 the league)  "welcomes Miracle League" on a full-page

 clear label computer paper and stuck it on the baseball.

The cardboard baseball was too wobble-y to stand up in 

the grass by itself so I painted the tops of craft and

skewer sticks white (to make them less noticeable) and

 glued them onto the cardboard to make it stand up straight. 

 

  Most of the cork came from rolls of thin cork 
from Hobby Lobby. The rolls were cut into squares to 
mimic a baseball diamond. Then scrapbook paper strips
were glued on to represent the base lines.  

I ran out of the thinner roll of cork but found squares
of thicker cork at Michael's to finish up the centerpieces.

  The thick cork was actually MUCH better
 (but it was more expensive).

Thin cork base

Thick cork base

Tom Kat is always a good helper when I get into a time

 crunch (which happens a lot).

After the event, we put the grass squares back in

 their little aluminum holders and gave them a good watering. 

After using them in other applications (some of which are 

at the first of this post) they lasted about 5 weeks total.