More Plantage

A terrarium is, technically, a sealed environment in which plants and/or animals are kept.  Like this one that I made last year:

All I had to do was to mist it every few weeks and the water would recycle itself within the jar.  I learned the hard way that plants that crave moisture (like moss) thrive in this environment, but plants that need less water (like succulents) will rot.  Before I go on about plants, I feel that I must warn you that the relationship is more one-sided.  I think this says it all:

Ok, so my secret is out.  I’m like the creepy stalker and my plants are all like “Didn’t I get a restraining order?”

But I persevered and assembled two more open “terrariums” for my mother-in-law and sister-in-law.  Here is one of them:

My dad, who is an accomplished gardener, gave me a few tips last time I built a terrarium.  First I put down a layer of rocks so that there could be some drainage at the bottom of the glass jar.  Then I put down a layer of peat moss to absorb water, and a layer of Cactus soil which has nutrients for the plants that I was using (all succulents and cacti).  I placed the plants where I wanted, and put some moss (of course!) down on top of the soil.  Here’s a close-up:

And a view from above:

Because it’s open, this arrangement will need to be misted with water every couple of days.  My only concern is that the plants will outgrow the jar.  I guess it’s another wait and see!