Professional gardener Angela Carcich can whip together a dish garden in five minutes.

You can, too.

The supplies to create a dish garden - a miniature landscape in a container - are relatively simple.

You need a tabletop-type container, growing media and several small plants that like similar growing conditions.

Your container should have drainage holes so plants don’t sit in soggy soil.

Otherwise, use gravel in the bottom of the container for drainage and let plants dry out between watering.

“Dish gardens are really fun to make,” says Carcich, assistant nursery manager at Smithfield Gardens in Suffolk, Va.

“Cacti, herbs and small tropical plants can be used to make different kinds.”

Here are three dish garden ideas you can make to keep for yourself or give as gifts.

You can find the supplies at any garden center.

Succulent style

Materials:

–Shallow container large enough to hold 3 succulents, or cacti.

–Small amounts of gravel, sand and potting soil.

–Three miniature succulents in 2- to 4-inch pots.

–2-3 small decorative pebbles.

Directions:

Mix the gravel, sand and potting soil to form a planting medium that drains well.

Use it to fill the container halfway.

Remove plants from their plastic pots and place them in the container.

Add planting medium as you work.

Once your plants are in place, add more planting medium to secure them.

Position your small decorative pebbles.

Cost: about $25

Tropical touch

Materials:

–14-inch-diameter basket (4 inches deep with plastic liner to waterproof basket).

–Gravel to create half-inch layer in plastic liner.

–Decorative moss.

–6 small tropical plants from a garden center greenhouse; we used tricolor acalypha, mint rose variegated geranium, variegated hoya, philodendron, dracaena and Chinese evergreen, all in 4- to 6-inch pots ($2.69-$4.99).

Directions:

Place the plastic liner in the basket and cover bottom of liner with about half an inch of small gravel.

Use a potting medium (Miracle-Gro Moisture Control works well because it contains Soil Moist capsules to help retain moisture between waterings) to partially fill the liner.

Before you place each plant in the liner, remove it from the plastic growing pot and use your hands to gently break roots apart.

“This is most important or the plants will think they are still in the pot and their roots will still grow in a circle,” says Carcich.

Place your tallest plants in the back, then stagger plant sizes and textures for visual interest; let trailing plants hang over front and sides.

Finish filling liner with potting medium.

Add decorative moss touches to top of potting medium and add a pretty bow to accent plant colors.

Cost: about $30

Herbal helper

Materials:

–Strawberry pot-type herb container (strawberry pots have side holes for plants to grow out of).

–Potting soil.

–Assorted herbs in 2-inch pots ($2.69 each); we used two pineapple sage, variegated myrtle, rosemary, tricolor sage and chives.

Directions:

Use planting media to fill the pot halfway.

Plant the side holes first, placing the rootball of the herb into the pot, then gently pulling its foliage through the side hole.

We placed rosemary, chives and tricolor sage in the three side holes.

Plant 2-3 herbs in the top of the container; we placed variegated myrtle between two pineapple sage plants.

Cost: about $25

Dish garden do’s

–Pick plants in 2- to 4-inch pots that thrive in the same conditions - succulents for dry soil, herbs for sun or tropicals for humid conditions.

–Choose a variety of heights, leaf textures and foliage colors.

–Strawberry pots, baskets, ceramic and glazed containers and bonsai dishes work great.

–Liners protect and waterproof baskets.

–You can plant in a recycled milk jug or 2-liter bottle, then insert it into a pot.

–Make sure the container is large enough to allow future root growth.

–Use all-purpose liquid fertilizer and follow directions on the label for feeding plants.

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