Neo Geo Terrarium by Ricardo Espinoza

Photo by Ted Savage

One wonderful aspect of terrariums is their versatility.  Terrarium enthusiasts design terrariums in a variety of themes and moods- from whimsical and fantastical (think mini faeries and glitter), to scientific or historic themed (beakers, test tubes and steampunk) or modern and angular.

Check out these geometric terrariums by Ricardo Espinoza.  While the angular, gem-facet look is becoming very common in terrariums - I haven't seen the wall-mounted geometric terrarium like the one in the photo.  See more at mocoloco.com.

Marimo Moss Ball Terrariums from EclecticZenMarimo.com

Marimo Moss Ball Terrarium Kit from EclecticZenMarimo.com

Looking for a new kind of terrarium to test your skills?  I recently built a marimo ball terrarium from EclecticZenMarimo, whose kits are available on Etsy.  This was an easy terrarium to set up and would make a great gift for someone looking for an unusual aquarium or terrarium for their office or home. UPDATE: Act now and you can enter to win a Marimo terrarium of your own!  Just visit EclecticZenMarimo for your chance to win.

Drawing by Arni Einarsson,
Myvatn Research Station,  from Wikipedia

Marimo or marimo moss balls are aquatic, spherical masses of algae that float free in freshwater lakes.  Best know for their appearance in Lake Akan, marimo have achieved "national treasure" status in Japan.  Observers describe marimo as dancing or moving in aquariums, due to their ability to bob along in still water.  Marimo thrive in cold tap water and are thus well suited for a life in a small desktop aquarium.

How to Build a Marimo Terrarium

The EclecticZenMarimo kit contained gemstones, shells, a piece of seaweed, and two marimo balls

Marimo Terrarium Supplies

The basic marimo kit from EclecticZenMarimo included gemstones, shells, sand, a spherical bowl with feet, a piece of seaweed, and marimo balls!  The kit also includes instructions for how to build and maintain your marimo moss ball terrarium, as well as a stick and a small funnel.  This tiny funnel came in very handy, as you'll see in a minute.

Small funnel, ready for the sand.

The seaweed can bend for positioning
into the narrow opening of the bowl.

1. Add the sand, rocks and seaweed to the bowl

After rinsing out the bowl, use the funnel to pour in some sand and stones.  I used a piece of paper to funnel the sand into the small plastic funnel provided in the EclecticZenMarimo kit.

What if the seaweed is too big to fit?
The seaweed is flexible and can be slightly squeezed to position through the hole and into the sand in the bottom of the bowl.

What if the sand sticks to the sides of the bowl?
Don't worry if some sand sticks to the side of the bowl.  Once you pour in the water all the sand will be washed into the bottom of the bowl.

Simply pour water into the bowl
using the funnel.

2. Slowly pour water into the bowl

Pour cool tap water into the bowl very slowly.  Some of your sand and stones may get disrupted - simply use a stick or straw to reposition the items in the bottom of the bowl.

What about floating sand?
I noticed some sand floating at the top of the water after I added it to the bowl.  This sand will settle naturally over time, but if you want it looking tidy in a jiffy - I had luck gently tapping the floating sand with the stick.  The sand drifted down to the bottom of the bowl.

3.  Add the marimo balls to the bowl

Nothing fancy here- just pop your marimo moss balls into the water.  Marimo will need fresh water once a week.

I will post again soon with more news about how my marimo balls are adapting to office life!

Marimo happy in their new home.

Top Terrarium Plants: Begonias

Begonias make wonderful terrarium plants, as long as you can find a variety that will remain compact enough to fit your terrarium.  If you are unsure of how large your begonia will become - just plan on maintaining a pruning strategy.  And of course - have a game plan for removing dead flowers or foliage.  Are your terrarium tools in order?


Advancegreenhouses.com suggests begonias as one of their top five terrarium plants.  The author points out:

"Begonias are a diverse group of tropical flowers that love humid and moist conditions, and some of them prefer low light as well. They’ll even flower many months out of the year, making them valuable additions to terrarium gardeners. Choose types like Rhizomatous begonias or dwarf Rex begonias. Rex begonias can be a bit finicky about their air circulation, so experiment with propping the lid open to adjust to satisfactory levels. Strawberry begonias absolutely thrive in terrariums–you can’t go wrong with these!"

Be sure to visit their site for the other four top terrarium plants.  Have you grown a begonia in a terrarium?  Tell us about it!

Lime Deposit in a Terrarium: a Tip from Chill Designs Terrariums

Photo courtesy of Chill Designs Terrarium

Chill Designs Terrarium offers a detailed terrarium care information via their ebay account.  I found this tip on how to clean lime deposit from a terrarium very informative.  This method would also be useful to clean bits of soil that cling to the glass as the layers settle in a jar.

"Terrariums are prone to developing a white line of lime-scale just above the soil line. To keep your terrarium looking like new, you'll need to clean this every now and then. How much lime-scale forms will depend on your water supply. To clean lime-scale from your glass container, take a wood satay stick and wrap a piece of moist kitchen paper (either moisten with water or a little non-toxic cleaner) and wipe around the inside of the container, cleaning away the lime-scale."

Terrariums in Montreal

Peter McCabe , The Gazette

The Ottowa Citizen shares this lovely photo of a peperomia terrarium,

Open a New World with a Terrarium Garden

Triblive.com reports on the popularity of terrarium-making classes in the Pennsylvania area, citing the appeal of monitoring a miniature ecosystem right from your desk.  The author also cites a helpful list of plants best suited for terrarium life:

"Plants that work best are those that require low to moderate light, do well in high humidity and can be easily pruned. Ferns, tradescantia, pilea, alternanthera and cryptanthus work well. Begonias and African violets are nice options for added pops of color. Club moss makes a nice ground, and ivy and creeping fig can help round out the look."

Force Begonias in a Terrarium

Inhabitat shared a fun tutorial on forcing early begonia blooms through a terrarium kit.  A bell jar environment encourages a new begonia to grow quickly and bloom faster than in the fresh air.  Growing young plants under glass shares some benefits with putting plants under quarantine before planting them in a terrarium.

Removing Dead Plants from a Mature Terrarium

The internet is chock full of glossy photos of brand new terrariums in all their leafy glory.  But what about the old terrariums, with dying plants or problem spots?  Kudos to yellowbrickhome.com for sharing some tips and photos of removing some dead plants from a mature terrarium.  I highly recommend popping over to the post to see the ingenious use of household tools to fix up an ailing terrarium.

Ten Themes for Your Terrarium

If you've made a few plain terraria and are looking for a new theme or inspiration, check out 10 out-of-the-box ideas at Concrete Playground.  I'll give you one spoiler: yoda.

How to Add a Plant to a Bottle

 I want to preface this tutorial with a cautionary tale: I seriously bit off more than I could chew with this particular fern division and I'm doubtful it will survive in the bottle terrarium.

When dividing your fern - pick a small chunk!  If the plant takes to your terrarium it can expand to the right size for the terrarium vessel.

1. Don't water your fern for a few days so the soil and root ball will be dry during the transplant.  More damp soil leads to more mess.

2. Sever a portion of the fern from the entire plant.  You can tease the roots apart and use a serrated knife when needed.

3. Use a piece of paper to wrap the rootball and gently compress it into a tube shape, this will allow an easier transition down the neck of the bottle.

4. Once the plant is in the bottle, use tools to adjust the placement in the soil.

Succulent Terrarium How-to

Photo from thelittlebigblog.com

A succulent terrarium makes a great gift as the plants need little water to thrive.  Make sure the recipient is aware of their limited needs and see a great tutorial at thelittlebigblog.

The Grabber: the Ultimate Terrarium Tool?

This unceremonious photo depicts one of my favorite terrarium tools, purchased for me by my sister at a hardware store.  We refer to it as "the grabber" and I believe it is a tool for plumbers.  It is about 18" and contains a claw at the end that can be opened and closed using a push lever at the other end.

The grabber is a bit much for everyday terrarium maintenance or planting.  The true worth of the tool comes through when it comes to extraction situations: removing moldy or dead plants, removing fallen dead leaves, removing the miniature ceramic kitten you now decide is ruining the terrarium ambiance.  I'd link out to a place to purchase this magical tool online but alas, I know of none.

Have you ever seen a "grabber" for sale online?

Don't Make this Activated Charcoal Mistake

Activated charcoal/activated carbon

Activated charcoal or activated carbon is one of the most recommended elements of a successful terrarium.  The substance is said to help keep a terrarium "sweet" by filtering out toxins or other bad stuff from the terrarium ecosystem.  Some terrarium enthusiasts consider charcoal/carbon unnecessary but I say - why not.  It is cheap and easy to find at any aquarium supply location.

Activated charcoal or activated carbon is typically covered with fine, black dust.  If you don't find a way to remove some of this dust, you'll risk coating the entire interior surface of your terrarium vessel with this difficult-to-remove substance.  You'll be in even worse shape if the interior of the terrarium vessel is damp.

The solution is to try to shake off some of the dust by pouring the activated charcoal directly onto a paper towel before pouring it in your terrarium.  This traps some of the charcoal dust on the towel and not in your terrarium.

This charcoal left fairly little residual dust, but better safe than sorry!

Moss Monday: Washing Moss

After: clean moss

 Here is the "after" photo of some moss I washed for use in a bottle terrarium.  I tried out using a drop of hydrogen peroxide in the bucket of water used for washing and so far the moss has proven healthy after a week of observing it before adding it to my terrarium.  Learn why washing moss can be so important for your terrarium health.

Before: grungy moss

Real Simple Terrarium Tutorial

Real Simple Magazine shares a short tutorial on creating a succulent terrarium.  I like the tip about using a paper towel to handle a sharp cactus while transplanting!

Terrarium-worthy Tools at Adana-USA

Thanks to reader Robotguy for sharing a link to adana-USA.com aquascaping tools.  We've discussed the crossover between aquascaping and terrariums before and as you can imagine- gardners in both domains are using similar tools to keep hard-to-access plants ship-shape.  This is your source for high-end and high-priced long-armed tweezers, scissors and scrapers.

Moss Monday: Ken Marten's Terraria

Photo by Martin Pope, The Telegraph

Former florist Ken Marten incorporates fossils, faces and other curios into his terrarium arrangements.  See the full photo gallery at The Telegraph.

5 Tips from a Terrarium Pro

Jennifer Schultz Nelson is a horticulture education in University of Illinois Extension and apparently a savvy terrarium keeper who has shared a detailed, two-part article at herald-review.com on making top-shape terrariums.  I'll recap the five best tips but read both articles if you want a great overview of making and maintaining terrariums.

1. Plan on using 25% of a terrarium vessel for drainage material and soil mix.  Read more about the supplies you'll need to build the soil layers in a terrarium.      
2. Don't overwater your terrarium.  "If the walls are completely fogged up with condensation, open the terrarium and allow some of the water to evaporate for a day."
3. "A closed terrarium will likely not need watering more than once or twice per year."  That one is news to me!  I've never had a completely sealed up terrarium so I cannot attest to that fact based on my personal experience. 
4. Like many plants, you will need to occasionally prune or remove dead leaves.  "Prune plants by pinching out growing tips or using a small blade attached to a stick inserted through the container opening."  I've had minimal luck with the small-blade idea and prefer using very, very long scissors (specially purchased online).  This probably depends on the sturdiness of the plant in question.
5. And I've saved the best for last, as it an unfortunate truth of the terrarium hobby that I've mentioned before.

"Occasionally, plants may overtake a terrarium or die, making replacement necessary. It may be necessary to start over if plants are extremely overgrown and cannot be removed without disrupting the entire terrarium."

Whether a terrarium is overgrown, or fails - just like any other gardening experience - sometimes plants don't work out.  Read my five tips for starting a terrarium over again (the right way).

Terrain: for the Posh Terrarium Enthusiast

Bask in the simplicity of this "Egg Base" terrarium from shopterrain.com, purveyors of badass chrome terrarium tools as well.

Moss Monday: Amazon.com Terrarium Plant Sets

Amazon.com seller Hirts: House Plants provides three and five plant sets of small plants suited for terrarium life (including moss and succulent specific sets).  The above set is the $15 Terrarium and Fairy Garden - five plant set, which includes 2" pots of selected plants:

• Miniature Ferns
• Polka Dot Plants
• Club mosses
• Miniature Begonias 
• Peperomias
• Dwarf Palms