I'm trying to adopt terrarium building as a new hobby. I am working from Maria Colletti's book "Terrariums: Gardens Under Glass."
I finished the book yesterday and went to a nursery and hardware store today. It was much harder than I anticipated! I made a big mess and had to start over after messing it up the first time. It isn't perfect; I got some sand and soil on the leaves that I can't seem to get off, but I'm proud of it! I used succulents and an air plant, because they are resilient and I am inexperienced. I hope they survive!
Anybody into gardening or indoor gardening? I have so much to learn!
I do both indoor and outdoor gardening. :). It's a good hobby
Great! Maybe I'll take it outdoors some day, but probably not until after I have a home instead of an apartment.
Love it. Good luck. You may run into some difficulty with what you've got there because tillandsia (air plants) actually prefer being somewhere they can get a cool, damp breeze while haworthia (the big succulent at least, and maybe the small ones) prefer dry air. Neither species is really getting what they want in a bottle. The Wardian case on the front of your book was invented for the transportation of orchids and other tropicals across the Atlantic to Europe. Once there, they aided in the cultivation of plants from tropical, damp climates in... you know, like Sweden. Terrariums, then, are great for the fiddly plants that normally fail hardcore outside of greenhouses. You might try another with the tough stuff - fittonia, african violets, etc. I recommend Hessayon's House Plant Expert as a good reference for plants that you're growing indoors. Maybe take that tillandsia out and put it in a shell on the fridge. That's kind of where they like to be. http://www.insituplants.com/blog/beyond-succulents-strategies-for-successful-terrarium-gardeningWhat are the prerequisites for a good terrarium plant? First and foremost the plant needs to be adapted to the conditions approximated by a terrarium, which typically consist of lower light, consistently moist soil, higher humidity, lower air movement and limited space, though all of these variables can be controlled to some degree. Fortunately there are many plants who are right at home in such an environment; think of the tropical forest understory, where the light is dim and the air and soil are often very damp indeed. Many species can be found either growing directly on the ground or else epiphytically on the lower portions of trees, and these are often the best suited for terrarium life.
Hey thanks! Yeah I learned right after I finished it that Hawthornia is not a great terrarium plant. The nursery was really cleaned out after Christmas, so I took the only remaining succulent of appropriate size. I'm going to try to change it out ASAP for something else, maybe a Kalanchoes, per another person's advice. I am looking forward to experimenting; I will look into the species and references that you linked, thanks again.