!o—Lancaster Farming, Saturday Jan. 26, 1974
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Getting Back-to-Nature with Terrariums
W
The winter season is an ideal time to take stock of your
house plants and perhaps add new interest to your greenery
ay creating your own terrarium.
Terrariums are enjoying tremendous popularity this year,
and with a little ingenuity you can put to use some of those
unusual glass containers you have been saving and make
yourself an interesting back-to-nature project which the
whole family will enjoy. They also make an ideal gift for
shut-ins because they require little attention.
According to Miss Judith Levine, floriculture teacher at
3rownstown Vocational Technical School, terrariums offer
‘the perfect environment, and the perfect humidity” in
vhich plants can flourish. “And,” adds one of her students,
‘Everybody thinks they’re interesting.”
Miss Levine says there are three basic kinds of terrariums,
there is the woodland terrarium which can be created from
‘anything that grows in a wooded area.” She suggests using
uch things as crow’s foot, moss, likens, partridge or tea
ferries, and says the fall and “middle spring” are the best
imes to bring back your treasures from the woods to plant
n a terrarium.
The second basic type is the tropical terrarium, which is
nade with greenhouse plants. The possibilities are really
ride open, but a few suggestions for plant material made by
Miss Levine include watermelon or ripple leaf peperomia,
•reeping fig, wandering jew, nerve plant, dub moss, bird
test fem, begonia, ivy, minature African violets, draceana,
ir tropical prayer plants.
The third type is a desert terrarium, which would use cacti,
ade plants or succulents as plant material. Miss Lavine
ays, “Any plant which can stand a little moisture” would be
good choice. She added that cacti require more water than
nost people thing.
Plants can be mixed in a terrarium at will as long as they
lave the same basic requirements for light and temperature.
Miss Levine cautions, “You can’t mix oranges and apples.”
Materials you will need for your terrarium include the
container, gravel or perlite, charcoal, the soil mixture and
,he plant materials.
For the woodland terrarium. Miss Levine says, “It’s best
,o find the soil around the plants.” This can be mixed with
me third sand to improve drainage. The sand used in these
soil mixtures should not be too fine like seashore sand or it
will pack too solidly. Perlite can be substituted for the sand.
In the tropical terrarium, the soil mixture should be one
hird garden soil; one third humus or leaf mold - purchased
)r found in the woods; and one third sand or perlite. She
. *
Before inserting the plant in the terrarium, gently
<nock soil from the roots.
''mmmmmmrnmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
By Sally Bair
Feature Writer
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Here are some of the materials needed to create
your terrarium: glass containers, variety of plant
cautions that if you use your own garden soil instead of
purchasing it, the soil must be sterilized. To sterilize soil,
spread it on a baking pan in a 200 degree oven, baking it about
half hour or until it reaches 180 degrees in the center. Another
way of telling when it is sterilized is to bake a potato
simultaneously and when the potato is done the soil is
finished.
For the desert environment, the soil mixture should be one
quarter fine garden soil, one quarter humus and one half
sand or perlite.
Your imagination is the limit when you’re choosing the
container. Miss Levine suggests looking in housewares
c jpartments instead of garden centers if you’re buying
because the variety is greater. She also says, “Stay away
from darker glass because plants need all kinds of light and
some kinds will be filtered out by colored glass.”
Fishbowls, aquariums, apothecary jars, glass cookie jars,
the new decorative storage units and even some lucite and
plastic containers make interesting terrariums. You may
want to choose the container with the final result in mind. For
instance, an apothecary jar makes an excellent container for
a single plant, while the larger containers require a variety
of plant material. With the new interest in bottle cutting,
Miss Levine suggests that you may want to make your own
container.
The inevitable question arises about terrariums in a bottle.
Miss Levine says, “They’re best left to professionals.” It
requires a great deal of patience and maneuvering to
assemble a kittle terrarium, and to do it you need tools like
slender grabbers, forceps, long scissors and a long handled
spoon or one attached to a long stick for tamping the soil.
Miss Levine says she likes to “use accessories to create a
natural setting.” She suggests using rocks, seashells,
ceramic ornaments, snail shells, figurines, deer,
mushrooms, turtles and the like to add interest.
The first step in the actual assembly of your terrarium is to
clean the container. Miss Levine says, “Clean the container
well with a commercial glass cleaner or very hot water,
bacause it’s very difficult to clean later.”
Now line the bottom of the container with a layer of
drainage material. The material should be either gravel or
perlite - up to two inches. Miss Levine suggests adding
charcoal - a little will do the job of preventing the soil from
souring, but a thin layer will create more interest in the
terrarium.
Next the soil mix is added. Miss Levine notes that netting
can be placed between the perlite and the soil so it doesn’t
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materials, and drainage materials - charcoal, gravel
and perlie.
If you’re making a sizable terrarium, Miss Levine suggests
that you may want to sketch your ideas op paper before
beginning the actual work in the terrarium. She suggests
adding hills, valleys, paths and lakes (out of a plastic con
tainer lid) to keep the effect as natural as possible. She also
(Continued On Page 22)
A single miniature African violet in an apothecary jar
would make a lovely gift.
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