build a terrarium

How I did it: I just returned from a trip to visit my parents in the Adirondacks. My husband and I are native New Yorkers living in South Dakota, and the thing we miss most is the woods. It doesn't look or smell the same out here. While I love SD, the trees lack color in the fall-- all of the red seems to be limited to the rocks. And the leaves here smell like old tea to me. When you walk through a pile of sugar maple leaves and pine needles in NY, it smells a little like candy and mint.


I had decided to bring back some of the woods in the form of a box of red leaves we could use as a potpourri. While at my parents' cabin, a box of leaves wouldn't be enough. I went to the woods and gathered these items:


* A small patch of eastern hemlock evergreen carpet (trees grown from seed below the parent that clings together like a kind of conifer-based sod)

* Three 2-inch deciduous trees, I think they are lakeshore-variant red maples, but it's hard to tell when they are this young. I just picked small trees that weren't elm in order to avoid Dutch Elm disease.

* Some rocks in NY colors, as opposed to the red ones out here.

* A hunk of paper birch stick

* Three eggs of moss (a collective of moss in an egg shape, also somewhat like a bit of sod)

* Two handfuls of needles and sticks from the forest floor to keep the nutrients about the same when transplanting.


I packed the plants in a Lock & Lock plastic tote and the rocks, needles and sticks in a plastic bag, wrapped them in another plastic bag and shipped them in a flat-rate priority mail box to my farm the day before I left.


Before the package arrived, I picked out a gigantic glass enclosure at Hobby Lobby. I bought two 3 lb bags of polished pebbles for the bottom, large ones in dark grey and small ones in lighter colors, and a bag of Spanish moss. Then I got a small bag of Miracle Gro 3-month potting soil at a garden center.


I put about a third of the smaller pebbles in the bottom, then layered about an inch and a half of the larger pebbles in top of them. On top of that I put three inches of Spanish moss.


I added about an inch of potting soil, pressed it down a little, and put in my hemlock. I added more soil around it and planted my maples, then added the NY rocks, birch "log" and moss to make a forest-floor look.


I watered it a little to settle everything, then I mixed some of the leaves, needles, twigs and forest soil with more potting soil, filled in the gaps, and watered again.
It doesn't look much now, but eventually this will grow into a tiny forest. I'll need to thin the hemlocks when they grow taller and prune the maples, but the moss should cover the bare spots in between like a carpet of grass. Every three years I'll have to remove the trees and prune the roots to keep them small.

Lessons & tips:

1. Research whether your state or country allows importation of flora before shipping wild plants home. Some US states will not allow certain plants in, especially citrus in southern areas.
   
   
2. Do not ship noxious weeds or endangered species, no matter how pretty they are.
   
   
3. When choosing wild plants, find a 100 square foot spot where everything is healthy and stick to plants in that area. They will naturally have similar lighting and nutrient requirements. Be sure to gather some of the nutrient-rich nearly-composted ground cover to help them overcome transplant shock, and take note of whether they are in direct sunlight, partial sunlight, or shade.
   
   
4. If you are uncomfortable with the idea of taking the terrarium apart to prune roots every few years, choose flowers and succulents instead of trees. Using trees will require learning and applying bonsai techniques. (Although learning bonsai is actually quite simple and well worth it.)
   
   
5. Keep in mind a terrarium is a living sculpture; it should bring to mind images of landscapes. Arrange items besides plants to create a complete scene. You can use rocks, moss and logs to recreate a wild look as I have done, or try for something ordered and nearly symmetrical for a science fiction look, or add toy soldiers or matchbox cars to make a miniature movie scene.
   
   
6. Your glass enclosure, whatever it is, needs to be at least 8 inches deep for all of the layers required to keep your plants from drowning.
   
7. You can use peat moss or a plastic or metal screen instead of Spanish moss to keep the soil separate from the pebbles. Screens will need to be replaced more often than moss, but if you're doing a bonsai terrarium you'll be taking it apart every few years anyway.
   
8. Choose trees that mature slowly.

Resources: Most of the items required can be found in the wild or at hobby and garden centers.

Aug 29, 09:44AM PDT | 0 comments