The Succulent Terrarium

I recently visited a close family friend who was like a second mother to me when I was growing up.  I hadn't seen her for a while, so I wanted to make her something really special.  I didn't have time to knit her anything or make her another piece of pottery, but then it hit me: why not a terrarium?!  I've always known her to be surrounded by plants, so I knew she'd love it.  Well, to be totally honest, there was some selfish ulterior motives at play here.  I was really craving making another terrarium, but I had no room for it.  This spared me from answering that nagging question that can only be avoided for so long: "Now where the heck am I gonna put this thing?"

I remember going to her house as a child and seeing these gorgeous, huge ferns hanging in her kitchen.  Then I'd go play in her enormous, shady backyard which was beautifully landscaped with several varieties of hostas, astilibes, ferns and bleeding hearts, all interspersed with pillows of moss.  As the years passed and her tastes changed, those hanging ferns have disappeared.  But the important part is that they've been replaced by other plants, this time different types of orchids: phalaenopsis, paphiopedilum, oncidiums, dendrobiums.  Tastes only change so much.

The big question was: what type of terrarium?  Ferns and mosses seemed redundant - she could just go to her backyard for that.  Common houseplants would be too boring for her (and for me).  Why not cacti and succulents?  Aside from a random jade or aloe plant, I hadn't seen her growing many of those before.  So off I went in search of plants and a nice vessel (most of which was purchased in the NYC floral district) and then Adam and I spent an evening designing and planting it.

A few days later we brought it to her.  It was actually difficult giving it away - I love the way it came out - but she was thrilled when she saw it!  She gave me a big hug of gratitude, and that's when I noticed yet another example of our strange, serendipitous connection.  Looking over her shoulder I noticed three small pots of half-dead American pitcher plants on her windowsill.  Just the night before Adam and I had placed our first order of carnivorous plants online (see my previous post)!  We told her about the coincidence, and she begged us to take them off her hands - they were an unwanted gift, and they were slowly dying.  We've had them for a few weeks now and they're slowly growing new pitchers, and I've been told the succulents are growing nicely.  A happy ending for all!