Terrarium plantings

by Helen M. Scott
Tuesday, November 20, 2007 2:43 PM MST

With the onset of winter months, it’s time to look indoors to promote your love of growing plants.

Here’s one idea.

In the latter 19th century, explorers were sent out to find unusual plants and ship them back to their respective countries. The journey could be long and plants needed to stay alive in a small amount of space for many months.

It was discovered that small plants would thrive when grown in enclosed glass containers where the moisture was not lost.

Plants can be grown in the same manner using any suitable glass container, such as a fish tank or small faceted glass case to create a terrarium garden. Terrariums are an easy, no-maintenance container garden that you can plant and enjoy for many years.

Wide liquor bottles also make interesting growing containers. Containers can be placed upright or even on their sides if the bottle is stable and will not roll. Plastic containers do not do as well as glass.

Providing the correct amount of light for terrariums is the key to successful culture. Bottle gardens look great on a shelf or on a coffee table. Newly made terrarium plantings set in moist friable soil, given correct light and a cover to hold in humidity, can go on for weeks, months and even years without water.

Recently, I saw a bottle planted with ferns and saxifrages that had not been watered since it was made several years before. But this is not the standard. Check terrariums at least once a week to see if the plants have enough moisture.

The location of your planter greatly will influence just how often watering is needed. A terrarium placed in a sunny spot will dry out faster than one in filtered light or shade.

It is never a good practice to place terrariums, other than those planted entirely with cacti and other succulents, in a bright window. The sun creates a steamy, jungle-like atmosphere inside the terrarium and covers the plants with beads of moisture.

Sun shining on these beads of moisture will turn them into veritable burning glasses. Sunlight also can evaporate the moisture the plants need.

In planting a terrarium, the only tools you need are a glass container, small rocks, soil and crumbled charcoal. Adding a layer of charcoal will help keep your garden fresh over a longer period of time.

First, add a layer of small river pebbles in the size to fit your container, and then add soil and charcoal moisture. Chopsticks can be used for a gardening tool if necessary to place your plants inside.

After the planting, you can add moss, pieces of bark, pottery or other objects of interest to create a miniature landscape. Your plants will grow larger, so you need to remember to clip back the plantings once in awhile if they are outgrowing their space.

Fertilizing is not necessary, because as the nutrients get used up, the plant's growth will slow down, helping to keep them under control. Over time, the soil can be "refreshed" by scraping off the top layer of soil and adding some fresh potting soil. This will add a small amount of nutrient, as well as freshening up the appearance.

Some plants you can experiment with for terrariums are small ferns, creeping fig, mosses, small palms, philodendron, wandering Jew and dracaena.

Just think, you don’t have to stifle your urge to grow just because it’s winter!

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