Moss-Filled Landscapes Worthy of a Terrarium

Waterfall in "Little Switzerland", Luxembourg. Photo by Kilian Schönberger

The aspect of terrarium crafting I find most appealing is the creation of a miniature dramatic landscape all by my own design.  I hear similar sentiments from other terrarium enthusiasts, who often enjoy including elements of the fantastic or macabre in their designs.

With that said, I imagine many terrarium enthusiasts would appreciate Kilian Schönberger's photography as much as I did.  Schönberger traveled to the further corners of Europe to document the landscapes that may have inspired the darker fairytales from the brothers Grimm.  His photos exude mood, despair, and moss; all key ingredients for a fantastic terrarium.  See more of Kilian Schönberger's photography from his series "Grimm Homeland" at wired.com.

Poinsettia in Any Color from Weidner's Gardens

Endless poinsettia

This past weekend I was lucky to tour the greenhouses of poinsettia that the lovely folks at Weidner's Gardens have been raising for this holiday season.  Talk about a spectacular display.  In addition to learning about the process Weidner's uses to mix their own soil (sphagnum moss by the pallet!) and moderate temperatures in their green houses (simply open the vents and let the cool pacific breezes lower the temps!) we got a sneak peak at some of the newest varieties of poinsettia.

In addition to the brilliant red, lovely white, and peppermint-marbled poinsettia, Weidner's has a crop of more modern varieties.  Gone are the days of the limited poinsettia color palette, nowadays there is a poinsettia to match nearly any holiday color scheme.

How to Get Poinsettia to Bloom for Christmas

I also learned a handy tip if your are keeping your poinsettia over for the next year: if you want blooms by Christmas you'll need to force it into 12 hours of darkness a day in the month prior.  You can place a box over the plant or put it in a closet - but the 12 hours is required to get blooms by December.  If you live in a part of the country that gets 12 hours of night in October and November, you should be in the clear.

Ecke Ranch is the largest purveyor of these speciality poinsettia varieties - check out their site if you'd like to learn more.

"Tapestry" - a true red flower (take my word for it, the colors are off in this photo)
 with gorgeous yellow and cool green variegated leaves.

"Carousel" - a ruffled bloom in a rich burgundy red.

"Renaissance Winter Rose" - the winter rose part seemed to imply the curled red leaves that form a more "rose" shaped poinsettia.  Note the long stems - this poinsettia is intended to be a cut flower and can last up to 10 days in a vase.

"Orange Spice" - an orange-red poinsettia great for thanksgiving.

Any shade of poinsettia you could imagine.

Terrariums in New Zealand

Photo / Ben Crawford, The New Zealand Herald

Indoor gardeners the world over enjoy building these miniature gardens enclosed in glass.  New Zealand Times reporter Ben Crawford touches base with local botanical stylist Annie Oxborough about the joys and challenges of maintaining terrarium gardens.

I love the silly quote about memories some of us may have of terrariums from our childhood, albeit this memory sounds distinctly NZ:

"She believes New Zealand's national aversion to styling our homes with botanical brilliance is due to dated images formed during our childhoods. Memories created at nana's; one of beiges, shag-pile carpet and conservatories crammed to overflowing with odd-smelling pot plants, barely any space left to lift a club sandwich from a Royal Doulton saucer."

Annie hits the nail on the head in regard to the appeal of terrarium collecting.  It is easy and fun to make more than one and when it comes down to it - the commitment is low and makes a terrarium a great gardening project for those who aren't expert gardeners.

"Planting a terrarium isn't a lifetime investment. One of the main barriers preventing people from having house plants is they think they'll kill them, but once you have a little display sorted you'll be surprised at how easy they are to care for. And if something dies, replacing a $12 plant isn't a big deal, that's only a couple of coffees."

You Can Archive Herbarium Specimens Too!

Thank you to reader Shireen for sharing this awesome crowd-sourced project.  You may have caught my post about one institution's struggles to make herbarium specimen cards available to researchers.  SERNEC Herbarium is a digital archive project that relies on people like you and me to digitize nearly 30,000 U.S. specimen cards for public access.   It takes only a few minutes to type in the information you see on the specimen card, but the experience is one that transcends space and time.  My first specimen actually hailed from a state park about an hour away from where I grew up, and was cataloged by a female scientist in the 1960s.  Talk about cool.

Here is a screencap of the entry screen to give you an idea of how easy it is; just identify the label on the card and you'll be provided with a zoomed image.  The system will prompt you for fields like specimen name or name of the recorder and you just type in what you see!

Moss Monday: How to Water Kokedama or Moss Balls

Photo from fleurametz.com

Kokedama or moss balls are the newest gardening craze.  Simply form some moss and mesh into a ball around a plant rootball and hang from a string or rest in a dish for a globular garden.  But how do you water a kokedama arrangement?

Here is a kokedama watering tip from fleurametz.com, be sure to visit their site for more tips on how to build a kokedama or moss ball.

"If you want to water the plant, simply do this my submerging the ball of moss into a bucket that is filled with water. The ball of moss is saturated after all the bubbles disappeared. Give it a small squeeze to remove the excess water."

Algae Monday: Te Waikoropupu Springs, New Zealand

Photograph by Michel Roggo / Via NatGeo

National Geographic reports:

"Te Waikoropupu Springs are the largest freshwater springs in New Zealand and the largest cold-water springs in the Southern Hemisphere. According to Roggo, they contain some of the clearest water ever measured.
Roggo made this picture a few weeks ago by mounting his camera on a pole. He made no contact with the water, because touching it in any way is prohibited in order to protect water quality and cultural heritage."

1012 Terra Terrariums Operate Without Soil

Image via Gizmodo

If you'd prefer the pristine view of your terrarium plant sans soil, check out these fascinating hydroponic terrarium vessels from 1012 Terra.  I wonder if the plants would survive for long?

Halcyon Days Perusing Victoria Magazine

1998 Victoria Magazine cover

My Mom had a subscription to Victoria magazine all during my childhood.  As soon as she tired of it I'd drag it off to a beach blanket on the grass under the trees and imagine living in the secret garden-esque settings contained within.

I loved the evocative scene-setting and delicate anglophile sensibilities.  It was a perfectly curated pinterest board before we had the means to make those dang things ourselves.

I also COMPLETELY thought the magazine had folded - but apparently it has not.

1998 Victoria Magazine interor

Long story short

1. When I saw this 1998 copy in an antique store I had to have it.
2. Perchance I need to re-up on a subscription.

Paula Hayes at Meijer Gardens

If you live in the Grand Rapids area, you can catch a lecture from Paula Hayes, renowned artists and sculptor known for her work with terrariums at Meijer Gardens tonight.  If you aren't in the area, thanks to Meijer Gardens for bringing this awesome video to my attention.  Paula Hayes shares the story behind her 2010 terrarium installation work at MOMA NY.

Books on Kokedama

I make an effort to comb used book stores and libraries for unusual gardening books.  Apparently my local library doesn't carry this gem "Kokedama to koke: chiisana midori no saibai tekunikku ninki no mini bonsai mo tettei kaisetsu," which was mentioned in the article discussed yesterday.

Kokedama Classes on the Rise in Japan

Photo from the Yomiuri Shimbun

Terrariums are not the only method in which you can care for a small bunch of plants indoors.  Kokedama is a planting method akin to bonsai gardening, and, according to the Japan News, is mounting in popularity in Japan.  The joys of microgardening transcends methods and nations!

Cow Skull Planter with Moss

This photo of an awesome planted arrangement in a cow skull from Seed to Stem is extremely timely for me.

As I reside in Texas, my sister (in San Francisco) sees me as her source for all sorts of western themed paraphernalia.  She recently requested that I locate and mail to her a cow skull, with horns if possible.  Suffice to say this was a goose chase as the cow skulls with horns are pretty expensive - and large!  It was going to cost a fortune to mail her one.  Long story short, we found a decent hornless skull at a roadside sale in a podunk town in Texas (which looked a lot like the one in the photo) and were able to mail it to her.  What will she do with this skull?  I do not know.  Maybe make a moss planter out of it.

Moss Monday: Bonsai of the Japanese Friendship Garden

The Japanese Friendship Garden in San Diego recently lost a significant portion of their bonsai collection to a thief.  In spite of that loss, the garden recently hosted a bonsai show with several different style of bonsai.  Thanks to my Dad for taking these photos to share on the blog!  

Minigardener Blog Reports on International Miniature Gardens

Visit the minigardener blog to see Janit Calvo's collection of fun photo spreads of miniature gardens from around the world.  a.) The miniature gardens are out of this world and b.) there is some extremely creative photoshopping of wee folk into the photos that can't be missed!

Are Trees on Skyscrapers a Pipe Dream?

Environmental writer Tim De Chant says trees would never survive the environment on top of a skyscraper as too much wind can damage foliage's ability to maintain moisture levels.

Would you still like to see trees on skyscrapers if they had to look like scraggly, mountain-top trees?

Lives of Grass

"Lives of Grass" by Mathilde Roussel, Photos © Matthieu Raffard. 

You'll have to click through to Roussel's website to see the up close photos of the breathtaking "Lives of Grass" installation art.  I find the images arresting and I can't imagine what it would feel like to come upon these in a gallery or museum.  I also imagine the use of earth and live wheatgrass would give the sculptures a wonderful earthy fragrance in an otherwise sterile gallery.

Cascade of Moss

Photo from slugandsquirrel.blogspot.com

Zen Terrarium at HGTV

From hgtv.com

Building a Bromeliad Terrarium

Check out the wonderfully detailed vivariumguide.com for guidance on building a bromeliad terrarium.  I am not very familiar with bromeliads and did not realize there are epiphyte and terrestrial bromeliads.  Make sure you know which one you have before you build a terrarium around it!

Tiny Tillandsia Terrariums for Weddings

Tillandsia terrariums for a wedding, from myownlabels.com.