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Garden Gate:  Plants for "Edwardian" Terrarium?  |
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melody
True Blue Farmgirl
3336 Posts
Melody
The Great North Woods in the Land of Hiawatha
USA
3336 Posts |
 Posted - Mar 31 2011 : 7:51:45 PM
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My DH brought me a little present this afternoon in the shape of an "Edwardian" style glass and metal terrarium. It's about 14 inches tall, 16 inches long and 10 1/2 inches deep. I have never attempted a terrarium type garden before and I need to know what to plant....
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Thank you girls!
Melody
Farmgirl #525
www.bythebayhandcraftedsoap.blogspot.com
www.longtallsallys.etsy.com |
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walkinwalkoutcattle
True Blue Farmgirl
1675 Posts
Megan
Paint Lick
KY
USA
1675 Posts |
Posted - Apr 01 2011 : 10:50:47 AM
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That is BEAUTIFUL!! I wish I knew what to tell you to grow; I am NOT an indoor gardening expert. I'd probably put herbs in it and keep it in the kitchen so they're within reach, if it were mine.
Farmgirl #2879 :)
Starbucks and sushi to green fried tomatoes and corn pudding-I wouldn't change it for the world.
www.cattleandcupcakes.blogspot.com
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foreverbooks
True Blue Farmgirl
514 Posts
Carole
Tombstone
AZ
USA
514 Posts |
Posted - Apr 01 2011 : 11:19:24 AM
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Melody, Megan is right...your terrarium is absolutely gorgeous! Please keep us up-to-date on what you plant.
Carole
Arizona Farmgirl Sister #2556 |
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buffypuff
True Blue Farmgirl
1183 Posts
Claudia
Deer Park
WA
USA
1183 Posts |
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TJinMT
True Blue Farmgirl
211 Posts
TJ
Billings
MT
USA
211 Posts |
Posted - Apr 01 2011 : 1:25:27 PM
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This is wild - we just made terrariums today at my MOPS group! I was blessed to be able to make "test" terrariums 10 days ago in preparation for it. It was fun! I'm going berserk wanting more terrarium space!!!! Even my husband wanted one for his desk at work. We did "woodland" terrariums, as we live in Montana and lots of great mountain moss is only an hour away.
These are the layers:
About 1" of tiny river stones
About 1" finely shredded bark (I think they call it orchid bark, it was at Lowe's)
1-2 TBS activated charcoal (from the pet store in the aquarium section)
Those layers acted as drainage and foundation, with purifiers. Then since we were going with smaller terrariums than your gorgeous one, we took well-rooted violas and loosened the roots and placed them on top of the layers, putting good potting soil around and just a bit underneath. We left about 1/2" of roots above the soil line.
On top of that soil we placed wild mosses. It brought the level up to the base of the violas. We sort of mounded it with little hills and valleys, tucking in around the edges so it wasn't all just flat - more like our Montana mountains!
We decorated with small rocks with lichen, or tiny river stones with words like LOVE, HOPE, FAITH etc. We had sticks with beard moss, and tiny pinecones all gathered from the forest.
They were a big hit and they're just LOVELY! I want one the size of yours, or an aquarium even. The smell of those good layers, the rich green-ness of the wild mosses, the tiny viola flowers... wow! I wanted to find wood violets but we're running behind on our Spring so couldn't dig any up yet... actually most of the most was dug out of surrounding snow within the past month! Fun!!!
I hope you enjoy yours as much as we're enjoying ours!!!
~TJ of Green Willow Place
www.MyWesternHome.wordpress.com
"We make a living by what we get, but we build a life by what we give." ~Thomas S. Monson |
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melody
True Blue Farmgirl
3336 Posts
Melody
The Great North Woods in the Land of Hiawatha
USA
3336 Posts |
Posted - Apr 01 2011 : 2:55:32 PM
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TJ....Your terrarium sounds wonderful!!
I have my empty terrarium placed in my front room now where I have three very big windows, and just looked at it all day. Itching to get started, but still doing research. The moss sounds divine and oh so quiet! Are violas purple? Years ago at a local arboretum they had a little miniature garden displayed with mosses and a little stone garden path... it was exquisite...like another world. Thank you for all the information you posted! I want to incorporate some local "sea" glass that I find along the shore about two blocks from my house. And, I LOVE the idea of tiny pine cones too!
Melody |
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TJinMT
True Blue Farmgirl
211 Posts
TJ
Billings
MT
USA
211 Posts |
Posted - Apr 01 2011 : 3:07:03 PM
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Melody -
I love the idea of using sea glass, WOW! Neat!! Do you have tiny pine cones in your area? I'd be happy to send you some... I guess I should correct myself, they're actually Douglas Fir cones :)...
The violas we bought were purple and white, little lion faces... I'm not sure how big they'll get, but hopefully without being fed they won't overtake the terrarium too quickly! If so they'll come out (just one in each of ours) and leave the moss varieties. My friend who organized the whole thing had also found a few very small fern and ivy plants for sale, we divided them and moms could use them instead of the viola if they wanted.
Just remember you can't leave your terrarium in the direct sun - they turn into saunas and bake the plants!
The tiny little rock path - I LOVE IT!!! I want to incorporate that idea when I do a big one!! I wonder if you could use a baby fir tree in there, sort of like bonsai?? If you enclosed the roots in one of those tiny-sized terracotta pots, so the plant couldn't expand too much... and kept it trimmed with teeny little scissors?? Wouldn't that look neat too?!
Loving these ideas!!!
~TJ of Green Willow Place
www.MyWesternHome.wordpress.com
"We make a living by what we get, but we build a life by what we give." ~Thomas S. Monson |
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chickenjanedoe
True Blue Farmgirl
96 Posts
Sandy
Claypool
Indiana
USA
96 Posts |
Posted - Apr 01 2011 : 5:06:26 PM
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Melody what a beautiful gift. You are going to have so much fun with it. Another idea you might try is instead of mosses and woodland plants use sedums and succulents. Some of them look very exotic, can be trimmed to resemble trees and shrubs and you could incorporate doll size beach furniture and a little chest to fill with your sea glass 'treasure'. If you make a stand out of wire you can use a marble for a gazing ball. Lots of ideas and now I know what to do with that giant pickle jar! :) Have fun!!!
sandy |
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Sunflower64
True Blue Farmgirl
173 Posts
Janie
Canton
Ohio
USA
173 Posts |
Posted - Apr 02 2011 : 12:48:13 AM
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A venus fly trap would love that environment and they are so interesting...have fun!
~Janie~
"The country way of life is the closest thing to heaven"
www.kitchenweekendwarrior.blogspot.com |
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DebraJean
Farmgirl in Training
12 Posts
Deb
Washington County
OR
USA
12 Posts |
Posted - Apr 13 2011 : 11:04:36 AM
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Ladies! Check this out: http://www.amazon.com/New-Terrarium-Creating-Beautiful-Displays/dp/0307407314
Click to "Look Inside" and flip through and check out the Wardian cases. They are adorable! I checked this book out from our public library not too long ago. You'll love it. Up until then, I thought these cases were mostly for herbs and African violets. I see you all are even more creative.
Melody, what a lovely gift! Enjoy!
"And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom." - Anaïs Nin |
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Garden Gate: Plants for "Edwardian" Terrarium? |
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Plants for "Edwardian" Terrarium?
