Like the look of the classic Wardian Case terrarium but hate the price tag of an actual case? The Upcycler has a project for you! Just add old glass picture frames + a couple hours of work and presto- it's yours.
Congrats to CJ at the Upcycler, his project is so clever it was picked up by Country Living Magazine and countryliving.com.
The Upcycler
countryliving.com
Hey ya'll- I'm taking a last minute trip to Austin and will be back later next week.
Hold yer horses 'till then!
- LAUREN
Here's another great guide to making your own terrarium from gardenguides.com. It's got everything listed that you could need to get started- plus this gem of a tip:
Avoid mixing arid plants with those that need humid growing conditions.
We can pretty much guarantee if you put a succulent next to a clump of moss in your terrarium one, or both, will croak.
gardenguides.com
If your gardening habits extend beyond the miniature and the glass-enclosed you may be thinking about starting spring seedlings for your garden. Maria at CityDirt.net would like to remind you that terrariums and bell-jar arrangements are a great way to start seeds!
If you live in a small space and the seedlings are visible, grow them in something that looks nice. When cultivating small amounts of salad greens indoors use Edwardian terrariums made of glass and metal or a large cloche with saucer. They have the same greenhouse effect as the plastic kits, yet look nice in your living space. Salad greens grow quickly from seeds and starts work even for the impatient gardener. Herbs, especially the woodier ones like rosemary, are much more slow growing and so it's worth it to just buy them as starts.
For smaller starts, get very small, clean terra cotta planters with drainage holes in the bottom. Fill them with good potting soil and plant a few seeds in each one. To intensify the heat and light, put them under a cloche, or a bell shaped glass, or inside a glass terrarium. This will also look very nice and could go in the center of a table if it's in a sunny spot. Keep the seedlings moist. When they start to sprout, remove the glass cover. If there are too many plants growing up against each other, cull out the spindlier ones. After each plant has a few leaves, fertilize them with worm castings.
If they are going to be outdoor plants, they will need to be hardened off, so put them outside on mild days, and bring them back in at night. Do this for a few weeks, and then transplant them into your window box.
Save your cloche, terrarium and small terra cotta containers for the next round of seeds or plant small, tropical houseplants in the pots and keep them under the glass as a centerpiece.
Here's a cute Moss Terrarium Treasury from myshoppingconnection.com- just in case you (as I) can't get through Monday without some moss.
myshoppingconnection.com
Thank you to Mr. Subjunctive at Plants are the Strangest People for sharing the link to this phenomenal photo set of macro cacti shots at http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk by Brian Johnston. It's a beautiful set of photos complete with Brian's very interesting commentary on taking the photos.
I wish the scientists in my building were taking photos of cacti instead of nanomaterials. Maybe I would be more interested in learning about the instruments.
http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk
Plants are the Strangest People
Can moss be grown as an horticultural crop? Annie at Mountain Moss Enterprises has been given a grant to find out.
MOUNTAIN MOSS RECEIVES WNC AGOPTIONS GRANT FOR MOSS CULTIVATION RESEARCH PROJECT!
As tobacco farmers struggle to adapt to the decline in demand for their product, our native mosses could be new "cash crop" alternatives. Environmentally-friendly mosses have marketing potential as viable horticultural choices to be featured in the creation of moss lawns, green roofs, outdoor living spaces, and moss gardens. Mountain Moss Enterprises, with funding from a WNC AgOptions grant, will focus on developing effective moss propagation procedures in the project: Mountain Moss Nursery: Green Alternatives for WNC Farmers.
WNC Agricultural Options partners — N.C. Cooperative Extension, Rural Advancement Foundation International-USA and N.C. Tobacco Trust Fund Commission have designated Mountain Moss Enterprises, located in Transylvania County, as a recipient of a WNC AgOptions 2010 grant. This project emphasizes entrepreneurial initiatives in the field of horticulture, specifically the emerging moss industry, and the utilization of value-added sustainable agricultural practices in farming operations. Forty-one other mountain farmers, and their own respective projects (not moss) have been selected for this year's funding cycle. WNC AgOptions is invested in helping agriculture grow and thrive in western North Carolina as farmers diversify or expand their operations in our changing economy.
This practical research project, a Mountain Moss Nursery, addresses the need for determining optimal growth conditions for a variety of moss types that will yield the best economic return as income-generating cash crops. Based upon bryophyte research, observation of moss growth patterns found in natural settings, and over ten years of moss gardening experience, Annie Martin, a moss landscape designer and an aspiring moss farmer, has selected twenty different types. These mosses will be grown in containers and for field production. Growth patterns and recommended methodologies will be analyzed. The results of this project, pertaining to efficient moss propagation, will be shared with other small farmers and nursery operators. This WNC Option grant will fund operational activities for Mountain Moss to conduct this field testing, but additionally, others will benefit from this value-added research necessary for entering the burgeoning moss industry.
Go Green With Moss!
I'm really excited about this terrarium arrangement but will not sully this post with my own interpretation. Alberto J. Almarza explains and I will quote:
"Life Fixture" is a terrarium inside a test tube inside an aquarium inside a light bulb in a light fixture...
One of the neat things about this piece is that there is a level of interaction between the terrarium and the aquarium. In this setup, the slow evaporating water of the aquarium acts as a nurturing source of moisture for the terrarium. This is a first experiment on a theme I am exploring; something in the lines of an "island concept" of sorts (luckily whatever I am doing continues to escape my full grasp...)
Though very tiny, the life in this ecosystem is comprised of 3 terrarium plants, one big water-plant and 3 sea snails that eat it. The plant feeds on the abundant light that seeps through the glass, and the snails keep it well trimmed. Occasionally, I add some tap water which renews the mineral nutrients of the little world.
Terrariums in very unique containers, available from Miss Mossy on Etsy.
Miss Mossy on Etsy
Might as well end the blogging week on a consistent note and have another gander at the NatGeo treat Carnivorous plants "Fatal Attraction" photo gallery. I got wise and snapped a screenshot of this baby off the flash player at NatGeo. Just in case you didn't take my word for it and go peep the pics yourself.
"Fatal Attraction" photo gallery
I'm on a carnivorous plant roll. Today I bring you Sarracenia Northwest, specializing in carnivorous plants for your home and garden with the slogan "No terrariums! No myths! No nonsense!" I'm almost afraid to ask "but what if I WANT to put the plants in terrariums?" Aside from the lack of terrarium love this site is a treasure trove of awesome photos and live plants for sale. They also have a monthly give away!
Sarracenia Northwest
So you were so inspired by yesterday's post that you are ready to try growing some meat-hungry plants on your own? Look no further than the wealth of information that is growingcarniverousplants.com. This site has a lot of information and some links to plant sellers.
growingcarniverousplants.com
NatGeo does it again with a stunning photo essay on the weirdos we know and love as carnivorous plants. The photos are mind-blowing and the one above is not even the best- check out the whole slide show for more. Did you know pitcher plants can live for decades? Just goes to show you can learn something new every day.
Ellison and Gotelli are trying to figure out what evolutionary forces pushed these plants toward a taste for meat. Carnivorous plants clearly benefit from eating animals; when the scientists feed pitcher plants extra bugs, the plants get bigger. But the benefits of eating flesh are not the ones you might expect. Carnivorous animals like ourselves use the carbon in protein and the fat in meat to build muscles and store energy. Carnivorous plants instead draw nitrogen, phosphorus, and other critical nutrients from their prey in order to build light-harvesting enzymes. Eating animals, in other words, lets carnivorous plants do what all plants do: grow by grabbing energy directly from the sun.
Alas, they do a lousy job of it. Carnivorous plants turn out to be very inefficient at converting sunlight into tissue. That's because they have to use a lot of energy to make the equipment they need to catch animals—the enzymes, the pumps, the sticky tentacles, and so on. A pitcher or a flytrap cannot carry out much photosynthesis because, unlike plants with ordinary leaves, they do not have flat solar panels that can grab lots of sunlight. Ellison and Gotelli suspect that only under special conditions do the benefits of carnivory outweigh the costs. The poor soil of bogs, for example, offers little nitrogen and phosphorus, so carnivorous plants enjoy an advantage there over plants that obtain these nutrients by more conventional means. Bogs are also flooded with sunshine, so even an inefficient carnivorous plant can carry out enough photosynthesis to survive. "They're stuck, and they're making the best of it," says Ellison.
LBrandt on Etsy is another fantastic example of haute terrarium design at it's finest. Lindsay works out of Arizona and offers "a rare preserve where Nature. Meets. Design." Got to love it and her shop is chock full of innovative designs. No one can call these terrariums cheesy 70's revival. Keep up the inspiring work Lindsay!
LBrandt on Etsy
Sheena at inthelittleredhouse.blogspot.com recently shared a beautiful terrarium-making experience replete with gorgeous photographs. I adore the above photo of the end products but the whole post is lovely. Go check it out!
inthelittleredhouse.blogspot.com
I was lucky enough to discover the gems that are Caroline's terrariums at shelflifegardens.tumblr.com. Her terrariums are full of glass, wild colors and contrast. Caroline uses all recycled glass and slow growing plants for one-of-a-kind arrangements. She also plans on collaborating with a glass blower to create more unique containers- which sounds very promising. For those of you lucky enough to reside in San Francisco, check out Caroline's terrariums at the Tedda Hughes Gallery and Boutique, beginning this Friday. March 5.
shelflifegardens.tumblr.com
Tedda Hughes Gallery and Boutique
How to remove those stubborn dead leaves from your terrarium? 14" scissors! I am finally getting a pair of my own and hopefully my terrariums will be looking a little neater sooner than later.... I have put off pruning for too long.
I purchased a pair off ebay, and then realized you can find them on plain old amazon.
I have to say I never anticipated putting the words "art deco" and "terrarium" in the same sentence but Warm Country Meadows on Etsy has made it happen. Very cool and I've never seen a vase like that!
Warm Country Meadows on Etsy
