Weekend Project: The Indoor Garden
While we wait for the weather to warm up – and according to Punxsutawney Phil who saw his shadow last week, it will be at least five more weeks – terrariums are the perfect craft project. We’ve collected tips and how-to advice so you can be prepared for the next snow day or weekend window of opportunity to garden indoors!
Indoor plants improve air quality, reduce stress, lower heart rates and normalize blood pressure levels. Exposure to plants also can decrease anger, tension, anxiety, depression and has been linked to speedier healing and recovery after illness or surgery. So terrariums are not only the perfect way to spend a snow day, they have benefits far beyond the crafting joy you’ll get from creating one!
Live Plant Terrarium How Tos
While there are two types of terrariums: the kind with live plants and the craft projects that are a little like building a ship in a bottle this how-to advice is on the live plant variety, so you can BYI – build your own!
Terrariums are indoor gardens grown in enclosed or sealable glass containers with soil and plants – tiny greenhouses that are self-sustaining ecosystems. We’ve seen terrariums in mason jars, glass tea and coffee pots, fishbowls and round globes with easy-to-hang rings for hooks. They can be diminutive or the size of a home aquarium, and while they’re considered decorative or ornamental, terrariums do have health and wellness benefits.
For the visual learner, Anne, at Anne or Shine on YouTube, says terrariums make great Valentine’s Day gifts for guys, too – they’re more masculine than flowers and require little water. Ann uses glasses and jars she found at the Dollar Store and the Good Will Store and plants them with succulents for low maintenance.
You’ll also need some small rocks and for a little color and variety look for aquarium gravel, or pieces of broken dishes or pottery. It is a good idea to get the right soil – high on organic matter. Amazon.com sells an essential kit for terrariums, as well as planter soil for a succulents’ terrarium.
Now while you’re on Amazon, check out this miniature orchid terrarium that requires “zero care”. From Latin America, the blooming Psygmorchis pusilla is maintenance free and can be planted in a pot, at any point.
Picking Your Terrarium Plants
Once you’ve found your container and rounded up enough pebbles, charcoal, sand and soil, you’ll want to pick a few plants that won’t outgrow your terrarium. Good sun-loving choices include boxwood, croton, Joseph’s coat, pineapple verbena and twiggy spikemoss. For shady spaces, choices include gnome ivy, golden club moss, Irish or Scottish club moss and miniature ferns. You can also use a terrarium to grow plants that require direct sunlight including herbs like sage and thyme.
Etsy offers a number of succulent terrarium kits with the container, plants, activated charcoal, pebbles, moss and soil. Each kit also includes a gift card in case you want to make and give the finished terrarium as a gift.
Getting Green Inside Colliers Hill
While we wait for early spring and all the feel-good gardening tasks it will bring, Colliers Hill residents are beginning to nurture greenery indoors! We can’t wait until it’s flowering season – starting next month with crocuses and Witch Hazel – if you planted them last year! While we watch and wait, check out the beauty of the brand new homes by Century Communities, K B Home and Richmond American Homes. Life is better on the Hill, with more options in floor plans and amenities. Tour the model homes and find the design that fits your needs – priced from the $300s to the $600s.
