Continuing “the year of Christy doesn’t want to water live plants”, I went all faux on the potting bench for fall. I wanted something taller in the pot to the left so I made my own fall tree that will never die.

I started with a dead branch from the yard.

I stuck the branch in an old pot of dirt to hold it upright while I added the leaves.

I used three packs of dried oak leaves from Home Depot. I picked mine up in-store as individual packs but they are available online in packs of two (link below).

Thinking back, it might have been better if I had used actual artificial stems since my fall tree is outdoors. But it has rained twice and has been very windy and the tree’s dried leaves are still holding up great.

The dried leaves straight out of the package are ugly and crinkled. Did you know that you can iron them on low heat to make them look fresh and new? It definitely takes some patience but the end result is worth it.

Before vs. After

I attached the dried leaf stems to the tree limb using fishing line.

Keep adding leaf stems until the tree is as full as you like.

When I had my tree looking how I wanted, I just stuck the branch into the pot outside next to my potting bench. Easy Peasy.

The mums are faux, also. They are the best real-looking faux mums I’ve found. One mum comes as a round sphere that you can take apart to make two mum pots. Mine are the 10″ size. I’m hoping they are available again next year so I can add to my collection.

I used the DIY aged terra cotta pots and my concrete pumpkin planter again this year.

Fall has arrived, especially on my DIY potting bench. What do you think?