Creative Terrariums E-Book

Enid G. Svymbersky

• Herausgeber: Fox Chapel Publishing
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Seitenzahl: 170

Beschreibung

Modern apartment dwellers who want to enjoy green growing things often lack the space for a garden. But if you have any room at all you can create a beautiful terrarium! This book shows how to build and maintain unique mini-gardens full of lush, oxygen-boosting plants. Craft blogger Enid Gonzalez presents 31 cutting-edge, contemporary terrarium designs that will add a decorative organic presence to even the smallest room. Each imaginative project features inexpensive materials, common plants, and step-by-step building instructions. Creative Terrariums also includes expert advice for terrarium maintenance, making it the indispensable reference for this satisfying and sustainable hobby.

Leseprobe

© 2019 by Enid G. Svymbersky and

Fox Chapel Publishing Company, Inc., 903 Square Street, Mount Joy, PA 17552.

Creative Terrariums is an original work, first published in 2019 by Fox Chapel Publishing Company, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright holders.

Project Team

Vice President–Content: Christopher Reggio

Acquisition Editor: Bud Sperry

Editor: Jeremy Hauck

Copy Editor: Amy Deputato

Design: Llara Pazdan

Index: Jay Kreider

Print ISBN 978-1-56523-984-5

eISBN 978-1-60765-640-1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Svymbersky, Enid G., author.

Title: Creative terrariums / Enid G. Svymbersky.

Description: Mount Joy, PA: Fox Chapel Publishing, 2019. | Includes index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018051102| ISBN 9781565239845 (pbk.) | ISBN 9781607656401 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Terrariums. | Glass gardens. | Indoor gardening.

Classification: LCC SB417 .S89 2019 | DDC 635.9/824--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018051102

To learn more about the other great books from Fox Chapel Publishing, or to find a retailer near you, call toll-free

800-457-9112 or visit us at www.FoxChapelPublishing.com.

We are always looking for talented authors. To submit an idea, please send a brief inquiry to [email protected].

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

The Wardian Case

How a Terrarium Works

Show Me the Layers

PART 1: GETTING STARTED

Vessels

Terrarium Plants

Foundation

Decorative Elements

Tools of the Trade

PART 2: PROJECTS

A Buddhaful Memo Board

Air Plant-etarium

Shake ‘n Bake

Best Fronds Forever

Concharium

Cactusville

Darling Dino

Desert Oasis

A Plant Lover’s Dream

A Mossy Occasion

Fern Fever

Go with the Faux

Green Lantern

Mossy Picchu

Will You Mari-mo Me?

Succulent Cocktail

Geo Minimal

Prickly by Nature

Little Miss Sunshine

So Jelly

Jar-ry Rigged

Wild Thing

The Beads’ Knees

Orchid Mania

Woodland Chandelier

Zen Succulence

Test Subjects

Secret Garden

Four Easy Ways to Style Air Plants

Capture the Rainbow

PART 3: KEEPING UP WITH YOUR PLANTS

Pest Control

Propagation

Sourcing

About the Author

Acknowledgments

INTRODUCTION

I grew up in a not-so-bad, but also not-sonice, part of Los Angeles. Describing it as “concrete jungle” would be putting it mildly. Trees, hedges, and flowerbeds were practically nonexistent in my neighborhood. That is, until you reached my house. Picture a perfectly manicured lawn, multicolored rose bushes and hydrangeas, and an incorrigible rubber tree that needed pruning all the time, not to mention a ginormous avocado tree in the backyard that could be seen from the street threatening to devour the power lines. The neighbors hated us. They lived in constant fear that our trees’ roots would crack their precious concrete. They were a constant nuisance to my parents. On the flip side, we frequently had strangers knocking on our door asking for avocados and growing advice. These were more our type of people and I always watched my grandparents or parents (depending on who was home) invite them inside. The inside of our house was no different from the outside. My grandmother’s devil’s ivy (Epipremnum aureum) grew rampant all over the living room. In true jungle fashion, it trailed up the walls and around the perimeter of the ceiling in the most breathtaking way. Anyone we invited into our home was instantly fascinated by our wacky way of life.

Always chasing greener pastures, I attended UC Davis, a school known for agriculture and its arboretum that spans more than 5,300 acres. To this day, I have never lived on a greener patch of heaven on earth than during those years. If I was better at math I would probably be telling you about my days learning about chemistry and botany, but instead I was most at home at the school’s craft center. In exchange for free classes, I volunteered to check out tools to the woodworkers, sell clay to the wheel throwers, and set up the chemical baths for the photographers. This is when crafting and making things with my hands really became a passion for me.

Years later, I decided to do what everybody does when they have a passion for something: I started a blog! Living in Los Angeles again, and working a 9-to-5 job, I needed a creative outlet. I was fortunate to find an online community of crafters and plant enthusiasts who felt the same way I did. Then opportunity struck—not for me, but for my husband. He was offered a great job in the San Francisco Bay Area, so we immediately packed our bags and moved . . . into a 130-square-foot room while we figured out where to live. I very quickly realized that I had never been so devoid of greenery in my life. How could we survive six months in a boring, confined room like this? To bring a little life to the place I started creating mini aeriums (air plant terrariums) and succulent terrariums. No clear container was safe from me! I used whatever I could get my hands on: glass jars, bowls, plastic bottles . . . I even transformed our mini coffeepot into an air plant terrarium (see here). I thought it was the sweetest little thing, and I couldn’t just keep it to myself. I decided to post the picture on my blog, and, before I knew it, it was all over social media. That moment of creativity born of my desperation for some greenery in my life is how I came to write Creative Terrariums.

I would love to share your finished terrarium designs! #creativeterrariumsbook

Maybe you picked up this book because you live in a small apartment and feel that a terrarium would be the perfect complement to your space, or maybe you love the challenge of a good DIY project with your kids, or maybe you’ve killed one too many houseplants (it’s okay, we’ve all been there), and now you’re ready to give terrariums a try!

In these pages you’ll be introduced to 33 step-by-step terrarium projects featuring cacti, succulents, tropical plants, mosses, and air plants, to get you started. You will learn everything you need to know to choose the right vessel, foundation, plants, and decorative elements to confidently bring your own mini landscapes to life. You will learn how to identify symptoms of illness and methods for saying “buh-bye” to unwanted pests. We’ll also cover general care tips and techniques to maintain your terrarium.

Whatever the reason behind you holding this book in your hands, please know that I’m beyond humbled, and I sincerely want to thank you for joining me on this adventure. I wish you lots of fun and happy plant memories ahead.

—ENID

You will learn how to identify symptoms of illness and methods for saying “buh-bye” to unwanted pests.

THE WARDIAN CASE

A HISTORY OF TERRARIUMS

I’ve heard of some fanatical obsessions sweeping a nation but none of them can light a candle to the 19th-century Victorian infatuation with ferns. In fact, the compulsion ran so deep it was given a name, Pteridomania (pterido being the Latin word for fern, and mania, well . . . you can guess). Ferns were so much a part of Victorian life that fern motifs were printed on every decorative façade imaginable: buildings, fences, furniture, pottery, tea sets, clothing, and even tombstones donned the fronds. Fern fever even offered young women a little social independence. During this era, it became perfectly acceptable for women to explore the outdoors on fern-hunting expeditions, sans chaperone! As you can probably imagine, the boys were not too far behind. Over the years, these social occasions reportedly led to many a fern-induced love affair. So just how did this frenzy take over an entire nation?

Wardian Cases

Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward (1791–1868)

Dr. Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward, a London physician and nature enthusiast, could not for the life of him keep his ferns alive. He yearned for an indoor garden but the increasing smog from industrialization and the infamous London fog proved to be less-than-ideal conditions—until one day, to his utter amazement, he found a young fern growing inside one of his sealed jars. Dr. Ward discovered that the fern thrived in a closed and humid environment. This observation piqued his interest, so to conduct further experiments he called on a carpenter to build him a small airtight greenhouse made of wood and glass. This “Wardian Case,” as it would eventually come to be called, is how the first terrarium of the modern era was born.

“Know from whence you came. If you know whence you came, there are absolutely no limitations to where you can go.”—James Baldwin

Dr. Ward shared his findings with his friends in the botany community, and before he knew it, fern fever was in full swing. Wardian Cases were manufactured in all sizes, from small portable cases for the amateur home collector to giant life-size versions called “ferneries.” Most significantly, Wardian Cases were instrumental in transporting live specimens across long ocean voyages. Thousands of Wardian Cases were used to import live tea trees from China to England, and we all know how much the Brits love their tea! Rubber trees were fetched from Brazil, which led to a prosperous rubber industry that played a crucial role in both World Wars.

However, as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end, and by the beginning of the 20th century the popularity of ferns dwindled and was subsequently replaced by orchid fever. Dr. Ward was certainly not the first person to invent the science behind a terrarium, but he certainly championed the cause and made plant collecting more accessible to the masses. In the end, what I find so remarkable is that all of this was born from nothing more than a little fern in a jar.

According to the American Fern Society, today there are over 10,000 species of ferns. Ferns are common enough that they are readily available for purchase at most garden centers and even farmers markets. In parts of the southern United States, Kimberly queen ferns adorn entranceways and Boston ferns hang from porch baskets. In New England, fiddlehead ferns are harvested in the spring and then cooked and served as a delectable regional specialty. With the popularity of terrariums on the rise, ferns are once again making their way under glass enclosures for our viewing pleasure!

A hanging Boston fern.

HOW A TERRARIUM WORKS

WHAT IS A TERRARIUM?

Terrariums are an eye-catching way to bring the whimsy of nature indoors. These mini indoor gardens are a great way to maximize space while adding a touch of greenery to your home. The conventional definition of a terrarium is a self-sustaining living ecosystem inside a sealed glass container. The high humidity inside an airtight container provides the right conditions for many tropical plants to thrive in your home all year long.

While there are some extraordinary exceptions, terrarium displays are not forever. Even with regular pruning and maintenance, plants tend to outgrow their containers and need to be repotted into larger containers. This means you get to go out and buy new plants for a new display, and that can be really exciting!

Take into consideration that not all plants can be kept under glass and not all species can be planted together in a terrarium. Tropical plants are best suited for closed containers while succulents, tillandsias, and cacti need the airflow that an open vessel provides. While not all the terrariums in this book are conventional terrariums (in fact most stray far off the beaten path), it’s important to understand some fundamental workings of a biosphere to really appreciate how amazing it is to cultivate life under glass.

Everything happening inside a terrarium is a miniature representation of all the amazing phenomena we experience in our own natural world. I’ve found that having some knowledge of plant biology is very helpful in maintaining healthy plants indoors. While we all learn about photosynthesis and the water cycle in grade school, I thought a little refresher would be helpful.

PHOTOSYNTHESIS

Plants create their own food through a process called photosynthesis. In the Greek language, photo means “light,” and synthesis means “to combine.” Plants combine water and carbon dioxide and use the energy from the sun to create their food. Plants have tiny openings in their leaves called stomata which open to collect carbon dioxide from the air. The water molecules from the roots and carbon dioxide from the leaves are then transported to the plant’s chloroplast cells where sunlight is collected. Here food is created for the plant in the form of sugar (glucose). Oxygen is a byproduct of this process (it’s lucky for us that it is) and at night the plant releases oxygen into the air through the process of respiration. Because it’s not polite to disturb plants during respiration, if you must add water to your terrarium or water your houseplants in general, try to do it in the morning.

CRISPY BROWN LEAVES

Q: What does it mean when leaves, especially along the edges, turn brown and crispy?

A: From what we know about transpiration and evaporation, water from the leaves is evaporating faster than the plant can transport water from the roots to the leaves, leaving them to dry out and lose their vibrant color. Your plants could be suffering from the soil being too dry, the air being too dry, or getting too much sunlight. Prune crispy leaves to allow the plant to focus its energy on healthy foliage.

THE WATER CYCLE

The water cycle is what sustains all life here on Earth. Without the water cycle, we would not have clouds or rain to provide fresh water to all living things. This process can be summarized into three different stages: evaporation, condensation, and precipitation. As the sun heats up our oceans, lakes, and rivers, water vapor is created through the process of evaporation. This warm water vapor rises into our atmosphere where it meets cooler temperatures. During the condensation stage, water vapor cools and transforms into clouds. Clouds become saturated with liquid water molecules and, when they can hold no more water, they release it back down to earth as precipitation. Rain, hail, and snow collect in bodies of water, and the cycle begins again.

THE WATER CYCLE INSIDE A TERRARIUM

The water cycle inside a terrarium is not much different than the one outside. The three stages are transpiration, evaporation, and condensation. In a terrarium, the glass vessel takes the place of our atmosphere by holding the soil, water, and all living things inside. First, water is transported from the roots through the plant’s leaves and released into the air through their leaves in a process called “transpiration.” As the sun heats up the vessel, water is evaporated into the air. If you look closely you may even see a light mist or fog inside. As the air inside the terrarium becomes humid, or saturated with water vapor, it starts to condense and create liquid water on the glass. Eventually the water slides down and back into the soil. The water is recycled over and over so there is no need to continuously water a closed terrarium.

SHOW ME THE LAYERS

Terrarium vessels do not have drainage holes, so it’s up to you to create a proper drainage system for your living display. In closed terrariums these layers play a crucial role in the water cycle. In an open container, they ensure proper drainage and keep plant roots from sitting in water for too long. The layers are presented in the order they should be followed. Of course, there is always a little room for creative interpretation.

LAYER ONE: DRAINAGE

This layer is also called a false bottom or water reservoir. It prevents plant roots from sitting in water, which can lead to rotting. Water percolates down into this layer until it can evaporate.

Drainage Mediums

•    pebbles

•    sand

•    gravel

LAYER TWO: SEPARATION

This layer is optional but effective! It prevents the soil layer from falling into the drainage layer. This can get messy and take away from the overall appearance. Dried sphagnum moss is a popular choice for this layer. Before placing dried sphagnum moss into any terrarium project, first soak the moss in water for 10 minutes and then squeeze and drain out the excess water and let the moss dry. My favorite medium to use for this layer is fiberglass mesh. Hardware stores sell this mesh in rolls and the tiny holes in the screen allow water to easily pass through but deter the soil from falling through to the bottom. (Turn to the next page to see how to prepare it.)

Separation Mediums

•    dried sphagnum moss

•    butcher paper

•    fiberglass screen sheet (window or fly screen)

HOW TO CUT FIBERGLASS MESH

Place your container on the screen. Use a marker to trace around the container and cut the screen.

If you don’t want the screen to show as prominently through the glass, you can cut it slightly smaller than the size of the container.

LAYER THREE: FILTRATION

This layer is used to filter the water that will come down through the substrate layer. Horticultural charcoal will help keep mold from growing inside the terrarium. It will also keep the terrarium smelling fresh and do away with that mildew-like scent that can sometimes accompany damp areas.

Filtration Medium

•    horticultural charcoal

LAYER FOUR: SUBSTRATE

This layer is for the soil. The type of soil medium depends on the type of plants used. Some tropical plants prefer more acidic soil than others. We’ll talk more about the most suitable soil for your plants in the foundation section (see here). This substrate layer should be similar in depth to your drainage layer. Soil can become very saturated with water before it begins to percolate to the bottom. If the water reservoir is too shallow it will flood, and the roots of your plants will stay wet. This can lead to root rot and unfortunately kill your plants.

Substrate Mediums

•    potting soil

•    succulents and cacti soil mix

•    peat moss soil mix

•    orchid soil mix

LAYER FIVE: PLANTS

After you have layered the foundation of the terrarium it’s time to add your plants. The types of plants you use depend on the type of vessel. Remove plants from their pots, clean away any excess soil from the roots, and place them directly in the soil. Then cover the roots with soil, and pat down firmly.

Closed Terrarium Plants

•    ferns

•    mosses

•    tropical plants

Open Terrarium Plants

•    tillandsias (air plants)

•    cacti

•    succulents

LAYER SIX: TOPDRESSING

This layer is purely decorative. You can cover the substrate layer with a more attractive topper. Use a bamboo skewer or wood dowel to spread the medium between plants and cover the soil completely.

Topdressing Mediums

•    sand

•    pebbles

•    crushed glass

•    crushed seashells

LAYER SEVEN: DECORATIVE ELEMENTS

Decorative elements are not always necessary but they can add character to a themed terrarium!

Decorative Mediums

•    seashells

•    figurines

•    crystals

•    rocks

•    sea fans

•    reindeer moss

VESSELS

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION

Traditionally, when we think of terrariums, we picture thick green foliage in a sealed glass vessel. But let’s face it: there are so many more options for displaying plants these days that it’s worth breaking the mold. Before deciding on an appropriate vessel for your terrarium, you’ll want to ask yourself a few questions: Where will the terrarium live? On a nightstand, so it’s the first thing you see in the morning? On a coffee table, for all to see? Are you all out of counter space? Then how about suspended from a wall or ceiling? Once you have the location all figured out, think about what type of vessel would work best in that space. A vessel with a flat bottom works best on a shelf, a vessel offering unobstructed 360-degree views is the perfect centerpiece for a coffee table, and a vessel with a hook is perfect for stringing up anywhere around your home.

On average, mosses prefer some shade, so be sure to relocate any moss terrariums from window ledges after you’re finished admiring them. Succulents, on the other hand, love lots of sun.

The coffeepot terrarium that started it all for me!

REPURPOSED VESSELS