I grew up learning about gardening from my parent's Sunset Magazine and the Sunset Western Gardener book. I also jealously guard my 70s out-of-print Sunset Terrarium book- the lovely illustrations from which I have occasionally shared on this very blog. Imagine my delight when the mag covered terrariums in the January 2010 issue! I love you Sunset! And I love you readers enough to rip the article out of my mag to scan. Excuse the ripped edges.
http://www.sunset.com/
Continuing in the vein of pocket-gardening- I spotted this clever shoe pocket garden idea from www.instructables.com at the Apartment Therapy Best of 2009 Easy and Low Maintenance Plant Projects. Shoe pockets run a little less expensive than the Woolly Pockets so maybe I'll try this project first.
www.instructables.com
Apartment Therapy Best of 2009
Thanks to Valerie for a new Q and A.
Question: Will I be ok without the charcoal since they are open terrariums?
Answer: An open-top terrarium should be fine without charcoal but if it starts to smell noticeably swampy I would dump it out and try again. Once a terrarium starts to stink it won't stop on its own and will most likely only get worse- especially if any critters hitched a ride into the terrarium and then find themselves deceased. Charcoal acts as a filtration system for decaying matter in the enclosed terrarium system (enclosed meaning no complete vertical drainage).
'Tis the season for beautiful orchids. Terrarium by Michaela at www.thegardenerseden.com.
When you have simply run out of floor space for plant stands and potted house plants it's time to think vertical. No- not hanging plants - even though that could be a solution. I'm thinking Woolly Pockets! Just when you think you've seen it all - Woolly Pockets are cloth planters that can be hanged on a wall. The company also offers a plant in a purse but I am too confused by that idea to even repost. You can visit the site for a looky-loo at that.
Woolly Pocket soft-sided garden containers are the ideal way to grow healthy gardens - indoors and out. Green Thumb optional. Pockets are simple to install and maintain. Just place and fill with beautiful, full-size plants. Breathable sides release excess moisture and aerate soil. Waterproof lining helps keep walls and floors dry.
Woolly Pockets are handmade in the U.S.A. from recycled plastic bottles.
Try adding a few slopes and peaks to the landscape in your next large-scale terrarium. Maybe even a mini-creek?
Check out this great guide at www.robsviolet.com for designing landscape features into your terrarium layouts. The site also has some great tips for dish gardens. My favorite tip:
Since this terrarium could become quite heavy once planted, Olive has tried to save weight by not filling large spaces with rock or soil when not necessary. The two large blocks placed in the back corner of the tank, for example, are actually pieces of Styrofoam, painted black. These will provide the desired height to the landscape without the weight of rocks, or soil (which would become heavy once watered). The Styrofoam as other advantages as well. Since it is solid, unlike our potting soil, it won't collapse, or shift, if (when) the tank is moved or tipped, and we can secure other materials (like our rock wall) to it.
Chris Digman digs recycling and repurposing objects - especially glass bottles. His uncanny skill at cutting and reassembling found glass objects into stellar wardian cases and terrariums is apparent in these great photos he shared and on this article at www.thedailygreen.com. I particularly love that windowsill box... what a great idea for fellow spatially-challenged apartment gardeners.
Digman stresses that glass is extremely easy to recycle, and that it comes in so many sizes, shapes and colors "that the things you can use it for are only limited by what you can dream up."
Peep these lovely mature bottle terrariums by LUCAS BRANCALION (Toronto, Canada) as featured at kitkadesigntoronto.com. I spy some rabbit's foot fern, selaginella and some venus fly traps but there are a few plants I can't name. Great selection of containers and really great examples of how neat bottle terrariums can be when given the proper care.
Apparently Lucas' own website is under construction right now but I hope that gets live ASAP. We'd like to see more!
kitkadesigntoronto.com
I've done it on accident, done it on purpose but can't always do it when I want to-- growing ferns from spores that is!
Vincent posted about a spore success story over at the dendroboard.com forum.
About 3 weeks ago I mentioned losing a little terrarium fern, Quercifilix zeylanica, and that I would try growing the spores that were left on dead fronds.
It's working....
These fronds just were left standing on dead plants since August, when they were killed by hot dry weather, until I finally cleaned out that terrarium in mid-November.
You can see the spore packets rubbed off on paper are huge- the dried frond in the close-up is over an inch long. The spores stayed in these seed-like packets instead of coming apart into dust, so I just left them that way.
I planted them on Black Gold "Cocoblend" potting soil, screened through a kitchen sieve. I didn't "sterilize" the soil, but the bag was pretty new and was probably pasteurized at the factory. I washed my hands, rubbed the spore packets off the frond, sprinkled them lightly over the soil, and misted them a little bit. After sealing the containers I put them in the back of a terrarium where they would get bright but not direct light.
I ignored them for about 3 weeks because nothing ever grows when I watch it every day.
You can (sort of) see that the prothalli are growing in tight little clusters from each spot where a spore packet fell. Next time I'll try crushing them to see if they won't spread out a little more evenly.
I just misted them lightly again to give the sperm some swimming room, just in case they're already releasing any. I'll update when anything new happens, but it might be a while before I see gametophyte fronds.
I couldn't resist reposting this beautiful watercolor from Caroline at itlooksgoodtome.com. The watercolors really capture the translucent quality of moss that I love so much.
How does your garden grow? The statement is no longer just a rhetorical nursery rhyme query or bio class question. With this handy PlantCam from Wingscapes (at a price I think is pretty reasonable for a toy with so much potential for fun: $79) you can truly watch your garden grow - and answer that age-old question. Spotted in the LA Times and the original article has a youtube video I am going to attempt to post for your viewing pleasure. I love it.
It’s a four-megapixel time-lapse digital camera that captures mini-movie frames of your plants as they grow.
Created by Wingscapes, the PlantCam operates much like the company’s Audubon BirdCam, a motion-sensor camera that photographs wildlife at the backyard perch, feeder or nest.
PlantCam, housed in a weatherproof case, is easy to mount on a tripod, post or even a tree trunk. Leave it alone to do its thing and pretty soon you’ll have all the pieces to stitch together a slow-motion film of a bud opening or a leaf unfurling.
A while back I shared some photos of Keri's paludarium on the F&M... and presto- we have more to oggle! Keri keeps this gorgeous set up in her cubicle! I wish I could have something so engaging in my office- but maybe it's for the better -= I'd probably be absorbed with peering into it all day and never get any work done.
Paludarium, part 3 on dfs-pet-blog.com
I have seen little bubble-looking wall-hanging terrariums which are all well and fine. But THIS stained glass wall hanging terrarium from Gryphon Stained Glass takes the cake! It actually looks like something I would want to hang on the wall and appears sizable-enough to accommodate some real plants.
Gryphon Stained Glass
Here's a well-photographed how-to terrarium tutorial just in time for the holidays, created by Jessica from Shrimp Salad Circus and posted on dabbled.org. Terrariums make great gifts!
dabbled.org
Here's another prime example of aquascaping- an art form I first learned about through an LA Times article a while back. Now we see the stellar arrangements from the Aqua Forrest Aquarium shop as featured in the SF Chronicle and Apartmenttherapy.com. I can just imagine the water moss flowing in the "breeze" and the school of fish a cloud of butterflies.
Aqua Forrest Aquarium shop
Apartmenttherapy.com
I've said it before and it's still true: I have not tried to grow African Violets before in any circumstance but I am interested in whether they would be suitable terrarium plants. I have heard strange myth-like stories about African Violets needing large amounts of TLC and even certain windowsills for growth. I have always been a little afraid to try them...
Cue this Santa Cruz Sentinel article about terrariums making great gifts and citing Dig Design Interior Gardens Gardens shop terrarium designs. Oh what a teaser photo! It sure looks like African Violets in an open-top terrarium to me!
Maybe I will finally give the plant a try this winter.
Santa Cruz Sentinel
The LA Times featured some more outrageous pricey gift ideas in the Brand X blog today. For more extremely opulent fish tanks visit the store site opulentitems.com.
To: The person who has everything.
From: The person with really deep pockets.
If a fishbowl is akin to a shack and the traditional aquarium is a house, then the Labyrinth Aquarium is like the sprawling Spelling Mansion. If a fish doesn't like the scene in one Lucite acrylic aquarium bowl, it has several others to choose from.
$5,500 without table and $6,500 with table; www.opulentitems.com
-- Alexandra Le Tellier
Image courtesy OpulentItems.com
