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  But the important part is that they've been replaced by other plants, this time different types of orchids: phalaenopsis, paphiopedilum, oncidiums, dendrobiums.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!

My terrarium obsession

For the past couple of months I have been obsessed - obsessed! - with terrariums.  Well, actually I've been fascinated by them since I was a teenager, and my mother recently reminded me that I made several back in the day.  But I blame this current wave of obsession on Paula Hayes and her breathtaking miniature landscapes contained within equally-magnificent hand-blown glass vessels.  This woman has cost me untold hours of my life spent staring in fascination at my computer screen.

Apparently I'm not alone.  A quick Google search will show that terrariums are very "in" right now - who knew? So, in the imitation-is-the-sincerest-form-of-flattery vein, I decided to make my own.  While I was able to gather plenty of how-to information online, I decided to sign up for a workshop at Sprout Home with my boyfriend, Adam  (it was free - why not?).  They had a nice selection of vessels in a wide range of price points (I was also told I could bring my own), and a good selection of plants.  I made a very simple terrarium using Baby's Tears and a small fern, and covered the remaining surface with some dried sheet moss and rocks.  It was ok, but I wasn't completely satisfied with it yet.

So I studied my terrarium - what works?  What doesn't?  What would make it better?  I decided the Baby's Tears worked, the fern didn't (out of proportion to the vessel), and live moss would make it better (dried moss is cheating anyway, so out it went).  I found the Etsy store of Teresa, who sells an assortment of live moss and other goodies.  I purchased her moss and lichen terrarium kit, and asked her to send some moss-covered rocks as well which I saw advertised on her website.  I spent the next few days eager for my package to arrive.  Finally, a few days later I had a wonderful assortment of moss and lichen, and Adam and I spend the evening designing the layout.  We had a little more than we needed, so I picked up a small apothecary jar and made another one.  They've been growing for a few weeks now and I'm happy to say they seem to be doing great.  I credit my staring at them and randomly shouting "grow!"  (I swear, it works!)

Pillow moss, Spanish moss

Fern moss, Reindeer moss (lichen), Mood moss