On Friday I stopped by the garden shop to find some citrus fertilizer for my sick looking Meyer lemon tree, and I got sidetracked by shelf after shelf of the sweetest little succulents. I didn’t have an empty planter for them though, so I left them all sitting there waiting for a home. So sad!
On Saturday we left the West Elm + Etsy event (photos to come) with the terrarium I’ve been crushing on, and I hurried back to the garden shop to adopt some cutie patootie succulents. This will be my last terrarium post for a while, I promise. I don’t have room for more!
 |
You are just too good at this. Wish I could have made it to Charlotte for the West Elm pop up shop.
I.. How… how did you get them in there in such a perfect little arrangement?
It must be my freakishly long skinny fingers. ;)
You have a lot of patience. Very nice work.
oh. my. goodness. this is amazing! such beautiful work!
xo,
ashlee
Absolutely beautiful.
I am obsessed with succulents too! I would love to try making a terrarium, thanks for the inspiration.
wow it turned out great! Was it pretty easy to make?
Yes! Just a layer of rocks, a thin layer of activated charcoal (from the pet store—it helps prevent rotting), a layer of soil, and plants!
I wish we were neighbors so I could help you out by taking some of those extra terrariums off your hands! So great!
I am new to terrarium’s, how long do the plant typically live? I have a black thumb but I was thinking this might be a more fool-proof way to add some green into our house that I might not kill within a week :)
I don’t know how long they’re supposed to live, but my plants usually survive until I either forget to water for too long or over water them. The succulent terrarium I planted in February is looking good and the plants are growing. I just water it a little bit once a week.
So do these babies stay small? All of our plants either die because I forget to water them (oops) or get super big and we have nowhere to put them. But if I can find a variety that doesn’t need much watering AND stays small … That would solve all of my (plant-related) problems! :)
I’m not sure how big they’ll get. The succulents I’ve had in the past have been very slow growers, and I figure if they get too big I can just trim them down a bit.
My thumbs are far from green but I have wanted to introduce terrariums into my home.
All these questions about succulents, but I’m wondering about your little Meyer Lemon tree — did you find some good fertilizer?
Haha, thanks for worrying about my little tree! :) I couldn’t find any citrus fertilizer locally, so I ordered some citrus fertilizing stakes on amazon.com. Hopefully they will do the trick!
This is beautiful! Love the glass with the iron stand!
This totally inspired me, so over the weekend I made a cute litle terrarium (out of a big jar meant for the kitchen!) with succulents and cacti! It looks fabulous, so thanks for the inspiration!
I think I may do another with just succlents, they are far too adorable to refuse!
Awesome! Watch out, they are addicting!
I love this! Could you post or email me a step by step guide of what you did and where to buy? This turned out brilliantly!
Sure, the terrarium I got from West Elm (the link is above in the post). To plant the terrarium I put an inch or two of river rocks at the bottom for drainage (purchased at Lowes), then on top of that sprinkle a handful of activated charcoal to help with filtration (available at pet stores in the aquarium section). Then I put several inches of succulent/cactus soil (from Lowes) and planted my succulents (from Lowes). That’s it! :) I water it with a turkey baster a little bit each week.
This is awesome! Beautifully done! Can you use any glass container to create one? Also where did you get the unique hanging one?
Yes, any glass container will work! My hanging terrarium is from Score and Solder. http://scoreandsolder.com
How do you actually make the terrarium? What plants did you use? How often do you water it?
You can use any small plants provided that they all have similar water requirements. Ferns are probably the easiest terrarium plants. You can read steps for planting a terrarium within this post: http://witandwhistle.com/2012/11/30/diy-gift-terrarium-kit/
Thank you for sharing this and hundreds of other brilliant ideas. Can’t wait to have more free time and explore your wonderful blog :) Here’s my first try to make a terrarium http://nivamme.wordpress.com/2013/03/16/soil/
If you are new to terrariums, please be aware that succulents and cacti are one of the worst choices for contained plants. They are dry climate plants that retain moisture, so they don’t require moisture in the air (which is the whole point of a terrarium). Succulents also require high amounts of sun, but putting terrariums in light increases the humidity and magnifies the effects of the sun’s rays, effectively baking the plants inside. Good terrarium plants are low light and moisture-loving, like ferns, peperomia, polka dot plant, nerve plant, and mosses. Please save your succulents (and yourself from the heartbreak) and plant them in open air pots instead!
I’ve had the succulent terrarium pictured above for over a year now, and it is still going strong. You should see the aloe—it’s growing up out of the terrarium now! In my experience succulents work great for open terrariums if you keep them in indirect light and make sure not to water them very much.