If
you’ve ever had the pleasure of wandering into a greenhouse
in the middle of winter, you know how being around healthy,
living plants can infuse you with a feeling of relaxation, and
can even convince you that spring will indeed return again.
Of course, replicating the greenhouse effect in your own home
can prove challenging. Most plants have very particular
requirements: they need a certain amount of sunlight and a
particular amount of water; they need the air to be moist, or
dry, and hold steady at a given temperature, or fluctuate
throughout the day.
It’s enough to keep you from ever bringing a plant into the
house.
But
there is one great solution. The terrarium.
People who are crazy for lizards
know the terrarium as an enclosed environment in which to keep
ol’ glassy-eyes happy and warm. But you don’t have to
include a living creature with the plants, and an enclosed
terrarium can add that greenhouse-like feeling to a room,
without requiring much care. If you do include lizards, your
little greenhouse will technically be called a “reptarium,”
and if you include a dish of standing water, it is technically
a “vivarium.” Of course you’ll check with the pet shop
to make sure the plants will be compatible with the creatures
you include.
Terrariums are
also good choices for those people who live with certain
cats, the ones who love nothing more than to chew up
greenery. Chances are, if you’ve tried having both
cats and houseplants, you know that buying a plant often
just entails making an investment in Kitty’s hobby of
ingesting leafy greens. At best, you end up with a
shredded stalk in a pot, and at worst, you end up
poisoning Kitty, as many common houseplants are indeed
quite dangerous.
Because a
terrarium is enclosed, the plants within will be safe
from Kitty’s attentions. A terrarium is a beautiful
little self-contained, self-sustaining universe. The
plants soak up moisture from the soil, then give the
moisture back into the air through a process called
transpiration. The water condenses on the glass walls of
the terrarium and runs down to — you guessed it —
the soil!
Tip:
When looking for what plants to put in your terrarium,
first choose plants that love moisture and don’t grow
very large. Then take into account their requirements
for light. Ferns, lichens and mosses are good choices
for a spot with poor natural light, as are Swedish ivy,
bird nest sansevieriea, and maidenhead spleenwort. There
are many more plants that will thrive in medium light,
among them Irish moss, Tahitian bridal veil,
heart-leaved philodendron, pitcher plant, and butterwort.
The principle
behind the terrarium isn’t very complicated; it’s really
the same principle that the whole earth runs on. The rain
falls, then evaporates into the air, gathers in the clouds,
and falls again. It’s the beautiful cycle of nature. And you
don’t have to do anything to keep it running except mist it
occasionally and make sure you don’t pump carbon monoxide
fumes into it.
While there are terrariums to fit into any style of home décor
— including the most modern — they date to the early
1800s, a time when people were fascinated with the workings of
the natural world, and were eager to find innovative ways of
bringing the outdoors inside.
The discovery of the terrarium was actually a happy accident
caused by pollution, of all things. In 1827 a London doctor
and amateur botanist, Nathaniel Ward, found that his fern
garden was being choked off by the heavy pollution of
industrial-age London. Simultaneously, he was busy keeping
caterpillar cocoons for study in glass jars, and he noticed a
tiny fern growing quite happily in one of the jars. It
didn’t take him long to figure out that he could grow his
garden ferns in jars, protecting them from the harsh realities
of gritty urban life.
The terrarium’s popularity quickly spread, in part because
its invention was made at a time when many English were also
becoming interested in exploration and discovery; the jars
were ideal for bringing home exotic tropical plants, and then
for keeping them alive once they were in the cold,
inhospitable climate of Mother England.
It’s
recommended that you never place your terrarium in direct
sun; however, plants which enjoy more than just medium light
include hen and chicks, jade
plants, asparagus ferns, and
Venus fly traps.
For colour and interest, consider adding flowering plants, such
as African violets, miniature
roses and geraniums. Once you get the hang
of which plants will thrive in a terrarium environment, your
imagination is your only limiting factor: you can make a
little woodland scene with miniature pine cones and a tiny
mirror for a lake, and you could even plant tiny dolls into
the forest. Once you add things other than plants, keep an eye
on them to make sure they don’t rot in the moist
environment.
Start by
lining the bottom of the terrarium with a drainage
layer, which will prevent the roots from rotting. You
can make this with a little crushed charcoal covered
with a thin layer of pebbles or gravel. On top of this,
sprinkle a layer of activated charcoal — found in pet
shops, as it’s used in aquariums — to help keep the
air clean. Next, add a thin cover of sphagnum moss,
which will prevent the soil from sifting down to the
drainage layer.
Finally,
you’ll add a layer of soil. In many gardening shops
you’ll find a special terrarium mix, which consists of
potting soil with sand added to it. If you want to save
the money and mix this yourself, you can make your own
mix by adding one part coarse builders’ sand and one
part leaf mold to each two parts of your usual mix.
Never use beach sand in any potting mix, as it has other
elements that will not be good for your plants.
When adding the
soil layer, keep in mind that you want to vary your
“landscape” by creating hills and terraces. If your
terrarium is going to be home to any live animals, such as
lizards, tarantulas, or other wildlife, make sure you include
a water source, by embedding a shallow dish into the soil and
keeping it filled with fresh water. You should also consult
with a knowledgeable pet shop owner or a veterinarian to make
sure the creature will have what it needs. If you’re not
worried about keeping a live creature hydrated, you can also
create the look of fresh water by embedding a mirror into the
soil and planting small ferns around the edge.
When choosing
the actual plants and deciding where to place them,
think about how the terrarium will be viewed. If all
sides can be seen, plant the largest plants in the
centre; if it will be primarily seen from the front,
plant the largest plants in the rear, with shorter
plants in the foreground.
Plant the plants just as
you would outdoors, by digging a hole and then firming
the soil around the roots. Don’t let the leaves touch
the sides of the terrarium, as this will most likely
turn them brown.
Once your terrarium is set up, make sure that you keep
an eye on the moisture level in the terrarium, misting
it if it appears to be getting a little dry; at the same
time, be careful not to over-water the terrarium plants,
or you’ll just end up with a pile of rotting plants in
a nice glass box. But that’s all the care your
terrarium will need, and it should provide you years of
green happiness.
by Sarah Van
Arsdale.
Article reprinted
with kind permission: Sheffield School of Interior Design
