Terrarium How-To
Tuesday, June 21, 2011 at 8:00AM 
My sister, Laura lives in Boston and has the green thumb in the family. She makes beautiful terrariums but since I've always lived far away, I miss out on ever receiving one of these lovely, low maintenance creations. So I get my fix at Garden, an impeccably designed and curated garden shop on the west side of Atlanta.
Chad Wellbrock, the Manager at Garden, offered me a few tips for creating your own terrarium. First, look for any plants that are slow growing that do not like a lot of moisture. Succulents often work best, but just remember that they will need a lot of sunlight to thrive. Chad likes using begonias too as they do well in this setting. You'll need a coarse soil mix next and Chad recommends a cactus blend. At Garden they've created their own special mix and offer it for sale if you live close to Atlanta...
When you're ready, place your soil in your glass container, (CB2 sells the pendant globes very cheap) then arrange your plants on a work surface until you find the combination that works best. To add height, try some pencil cactus. Just remember, the container should have an opening wide enough to fit your plant and your hand...
The biggest no-no is overwatering. Since spray misters can cause you to have to clean the glass, Chad recommends taking a bottle of filtered water and a drinking straw and siphoning a couple squirts of water for your plants just once a week. Easy peasy. Thanks Chad...
First Photo, courtesy Sarah Dorio. Bottom Photo, floragrubb.com Rest of pics: Sweet Peach. Content: Sweet Peach
Reader Comments (4)
These are the sweetest ideas. The ornaments are so adorable that I am going to try and make some for my own porch.
this is so gorgeous...i love it all!
These terrariums are so beautiful...I especially love the one in the hanging globe! I think I may try this! Thanks so much for the beautiful pictures and instructions.
Happy Holidays,
Kim Tyson
I'm dying to try this! But I want to know where one might find the unusual glass containers in the photos that lay on their side or even that tall vase? I can only find fish bowl vases everywhere I go and I know I'll want to make more than one and the variety would be good.