DIY Terrarium

[BigV]

Good morning!

Today I made a terrarium.

We went for a Sunday drive and found ourselves at the neighborhood nursery, Swansons. I love this place, it's right in my neighborhood (well, almost two miles from my house, ok?) and right in a residential area. It is an oasis of beautiful and interesting plants in an already verdant and fecund area. I love to go there and just walk around, taking pictures, enjoying the beauty and getting ideas. One idea I got on this trip was to make a terrarium.

I saw a lovely display in one of their greenhouses. It looked a little like a glass fronted medicine cabinet, but smaller. It was made of metal with doors on the front, a slanted top and some pretty greenery inside. I learned later this style is called a Wardian case. It was pretty, but for $149 I decided I could do as well or better for a lot less. It turns out I was right.

I love the look of the Wardian cases, but the traditional cloche style or glass jar style terraria can also be beautiful. It is the captive greenery that appeals, not just the container; the wine, not the bottle, if you will. So I set out yesterday to find a suitable container. I thought about using my recently acquired sink-crushing carboy, but I didn't want to make a ship in a bottle style to start with. Someday, maybe, but not today.

I found this beverage dispenser at Goodwill. It has a working spigot (which I plugged up) but the lid was found in the cookwares section. I like the wide opening (about six inches across, big enough for me to work with the materials and plants directly with my hands. I brought it home washed it thoroughly, "sterilized" it with lots of boiling water, cleaned it up, dried it up and started in on the preparation and planting. Here is my construction photo journal.

My tabla rasa. The jar cleaned and ready to fill.


I had some aquarium gravel and put some in the bottom. This is for drainage.


This looks like a lot of gravel. It is a lot of gravel, actually, but my excuse is that the bottom of the jar is domed upward and I wanted a bit of gravel across the whole bottom and that meant covering the dome. The gravel is about a half to one inch deep at the center.


Next came a layer of charcoal, half an inch according to what I read.

[BigV]

I also had a bag of potting soil, so I filled up the next couple inches with some cold, wet potting soil.


I love the greenness of my world. Seattle is very, very green. This is the top of the wall along my driveway. Look at all the different textures of moss growing here. I imagined a carpet of moss across the surface of my terrarium. I harvested some of this beautiful, variable moss from the sidewalk right next to the wall.


This is more moss but on the driveway surface at the back of my driveway. As you can see, there are no tire tracks across it; there's no way I can get a car in my garage. Too much stuff, and besides, my garage is very tiny. Even my little VW Golf would fill it completely. Back on topic, this is where I would harvest some moss with a spatula.


The brick had a nice carpet of another shaggy textured moss, and on the paper plate is what I collected from the driveway and the sidewalk.

[Sundae]

Beautiful! Beautiful!
Gosh I love that jar.

I'd like to fill it with coloured water and set it in a sunny window. And I would make believe it was a potion that let me converse with cats.

Can't wait to see how this continues V...

[BigV]

I've planted my favorite piece, a Western Red Cedar seedling. It is a volunteer that started growing in one of my flowerpots in the backyard. The cedar is a very important tree around here, for a long time. The native people of the area used every part of it. I love working with cedar and there are other DIY threads to come that feature cedar. It is the centerpiece of this work.


Here's a shot taken from the mouth of the jar. You can see the different kinds of moss, including the brownish stripe moving from 8 o'clock to the center. That's Leptinilla squalida, Platt's Brass Buttons. I like the tiny fernlike leaves. Also, around the perimeter near the 8 o'clock is a tiny Sword Fern, another volunteer I plucked off of one of my lilacs in the back yard.


A shot from the outside showing more of the plants. There's a spearmint (or some kind of mint with bronzy purple new growth in the foreground. There are a couple pretty plants whose names I do not yet know with round leaves. One has a delicate white cluster of flowers at the top.


You can see the other plants a little better here. A word about the glass and the quality of the photo. Working in this jar while looking through the side of the jar was difficult. All the wavy distortions made for some... imperfect adjustments as I tried to manipulate the plants. They look fine, but it was weird looking through this funhouse lens.

[BigV]

Another overhead shot, all the plants are in, and a couple rocks for variety. I tried to find a rock with moss growing on it, but didn't find one I liked. Bricks, sure, concrete, yup, wood, oh yeah. Little rocks suitable for this--nada. Fine. Look at my naked rocks. Whatever.


Same degree of completeness (fully), from the side. This is how it will be viewed most of the time, through the side.


Taking pictures of this thing is kinda frustrating. I'm still experimenting with filters and flashes to try to learn how to best present it. This shot is ok.


I've installed it on my mantle. It won't get any direct sun but the window to the left of the mantle faces directly east and gets plenty of morning light. I think I'll keep it for a while to make sure it is up and running smoothly then give it to my mom. It'd be nice to have some living green in her place.


Thanks for letting me share my work with you!

[Sundae]

V, it's delicious.
An absolute thing of beauty.

Will you keep the lid on though?
Don't they need some fresh air? Or do you take it off periodically?

Fine. Look at my naked rocks. Whatever.

Oh I will, don't you worry

[glatt]

Well done. It looks great!

[BigV]

Thank you both.

The lid will stay on almost always. The idea is to create a more humid environment. These plants thrive in very moist conditions, and bringing them into the house from outside means they'll be warmer (nothing I can do about that) but also a lot drier. The drier environment is more perilous to the plants than the higher temperature, so I'll control the evaporation by keeping the lid on. Even at that, it is not a very tight fit, certainly not gas tight. The lid used to have a handle on it since it probably began life as a lid for a saucepan. There's a tiny hole in the center. Also, it is just resting on the glass rim of the jar. It's a little rattly and I know there is room for air to move through.

What air movement there is though is likely to be minimal. This also means it will stay humid and moist, just what these little guys like.

[Gravdigr]

I really liked the overhead shots.

[Gravdigr]

Originally Posted by BigV

...Even at that, it is not a very tight fit, certainly not gas tight...Also, it is just resting on the glass rim of the jar. It's a little rattly and I know there is room for air to move through...

You could split a car tire inner tube lengthwise through one wall and cut yourself a gasket. Maybe a dab o' clear sealant in the hole?

[infinite monkey]

Really pretty. Is that the carboy or whatever you called it?

[classicman]

Very cool V. Neat project I think your mom will love.

[Griff]

Oh, very cool. I've never seen a jar quite like that.

[jimhelm]

put a frog in there!

or something to convert the oxygen back to cO2?

[BigV]

A shot from day one. Please note the wide triangular leaves of the mint in the foreground to the right of the gray rock. Also, the slender upright sprout on the far left.





Three days later, you can see the mint has gone crazy, doubling its height. In the yard these grow over three feet tall, so this one will need a regular foot binding to keep it within the bonsai bounds of the terrarium. Also, and I'm very happy about this, the slender upright stalk on the far left has produced a tiny white blossom at the top! This seems like a favorable environment for these specimens. Also note the Platt's Brass Buttons has sent up numerous tiny green fernlike shoots.