Terrariums!

Several months ago CBS Sunday Morning featured the work of artist Paula Hayes. A glass blower and terrarium builder. (See her incredible creations at this link.) I fell in love with the beauty of her glass encased gardens. (See her 15-ft terrarium at MoMA.)

Then, our local library held a used book sale, and I picked up a copy of Terrariums & Miniature Gardens by the editors of Sunset Books and Sunset Magazine (copyright 1973, retail price: $1.95). I recalled the idea of terrariums, for I don't think I've ever seen one other than in photographs... it seemed like a good extension of my interest in house plants, glass, and miniatures. It also seemed like the answer to my yearning to work with plants, but my limitations to being outside due to severe insect allergies and knees that don't like kneeling.

I put the book aside until the time seemed right...

Meanwhile, I emailed Melissa Kline (writer and crafter) and asked her if she'd be interested in making a terrarium; then we could each blog about it. Melissa said yes and showed me a cool photo of a small terrarium already in her home. We were all set then to gather our materials and compare notes. (Melissa has described the step-by-step process in detail with photos on her blog, Reflections on Writing.)

One day, I was in Columbus (OH) and stopped at a really nice (though poorly signed) Heritage Square Antique Mall on Brice Road in Reynoldsburg, just north of I-70, east of Columbus. Well organized and brightly lit, this 53,000-square-foot store was filled with good quality, clean items. Including a wonderful apothecary jar, I purchased for $28.

My jar sat for a few weeks, and then I took a look at the Sunset book and decided to gather the inside materials for my first terrarium: small rocks, charcoal, dirt, sphagnum moss (all from Lowes), a plant or two, a tiny figurine. I placed a piece of vinyl (a shower curtain liner, so useful for things other than showers) on the kitchen table and started creating my little glass world (see above).

I liked my first results, but what I found challenging was locating the best plant(s). Lowe's did not have a good enough selection. And it's winter. So, for my next terrarium, I will order plants online. Melissa made good progress with her terrarium project and blogged about it here. I think it is interesting to see how different people approach the same creative project.

I found two fishbowl-type containers (about $3 each) and brought those home for a future project, as well as another trip to the antique mall where I found a $10 glass decanter (oh, that narrow opening will be a challenge!) as well as another book Gardens in Glass Containers by Robert C. Baur, copyright 1970 by Hearthside Press, NY.

Here are some interesting tidbits from Baur's book:

In 1832, Dr. Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward, surgeon by profession, natural historian by avocation, needed to send ferns and grasses from America to Sydney, Australia, a journey of eight months. He secured the plants in two sealed glass cases and...

"When the plants arrived, they were thriving, even though no water whatsoever had been added to the cases lashed to the deck. the globe-trotting greenhouses had weathered extreme changes of temperature ranging from freezing cold to intense heat, and were none the worse for weather or wear.

"Dr. Ward's Australian colleagues promptly refilled the cases, and sent them around the Cape of Good Hope, with equal success. Ward, convinced, published his findings in 1842 in an article entitled 'On the Growth of Plants in Closely Glazed Cases.'

"By mid-century, Wardian Cases, as the portable greenhouses had come to be known, were traveling the seven seas. In this way some 20,000 tea plants were shipped from Shanghai to the Himalayas, giving birth to the entire Indian tea industry—and this when previous attempts at shipping su ch plants had failed."

Baur went on to write that many garden plants from Europe and America were exchanged via the "Wardian Cases" and "it's said that Kew, the Royal Botanical Garden, imported more plants in the scant fifteen years than in the entire preceding century!" You can see images of Wardian Cases here.

So, as you can see, terrariums have served more of a purpose than simply giving plant enthusiasts a hobby, a way to enjoy plants in the home, office or apartment.

Speaking of where you might see terrariums, yesterday, my son and I were at Easton Town Center in Columbus at the C.O. Bigelow store. Hanging on thin thread over a table were three small terrariums in glass eggshapped containers about ten inches tall. I looked around and found more terrariums among their products, glass containers of all sizes and shapes. "May I take a photo of the terrarium?" I asked, pointing to the main display. "No, we have a store policy and do not allow photographs." (I guess a middle-aged woman with a cell phone is a threat to the entire financial security of Bigelow's, hence I will not add a link. Take that!)

When we left, we noticed a side window, and my son took this photo for me. I wanted to show Melissa how hip we are to be making terrariums!

Here are some of the glass containers you can use for a terrarium. Once you start, you'll be on the lookout for interesting glass containers of all shapes and sizes.

glass teapot, Easter egg, covered salt dish, liquor bottle, old medicine
bottle, a Mason jar, a nursing bottle, a wine or water bottle, apothecary jars, glass aquarium, open globe, fishbowl, cracker jar with metal lid,
cider jug, 5-gallon water bottle...

Additional Resources:

You do not have to live near Portland to appreciate the beautiful terrariums profiled on this site.

Here's another cool source for new jars.

And here is The Jar Store!

Here's a foolproof guide to making a terrarium in one hour.

Here is a gallery of terrarium photos by one creator.

Are you a visual learner? Here are instructional videos by Wes Major.

Mid-size rainforest terrariums (for commercial/public spaces).

More terarriums on a blog.

No time to visit these links now? Then just CLICK HERE and bookmark the category "terrariums" that I've saved for you on My Delicious.

And don't forget to visit Melissa Kline's Reflections: The Terrarium Project blog post.

All the best,

Janice Phelps Williams

http://www.appalachianmorning.blogspot.com/

Refrigerator pickles!

Ah, those little seeds I planted in tiny pots in my garage in late April are paying off.... the first few cucumbers were ready to pick and pick them I did. Traipsing through the weeds, pathetic tomato plant, past the summer squash with their flamboyant flowers and the basil gone wild... About 2.5 lbs of cukes. Only one matched the photo on the seed packet. The others ranged from squat to bulbous to something resembling Madonna's 1980s bra. Still, once Mark sliced them up they all looked fine. We weren't being graded after all.

We used a recipe that was in the Columbus Dispatch a week or so ago and Mark took this photo last night.

This morning...voila!...pickles and a bran muffin for breakfast! Then, out to water the...ahem...garden for what is supposed to feel like the hottest day of the year. There, several pickling cucumbers hovered under leaves, wondering where their more stout littermates went to. Ah ha ha!

April 16, a bittersweet day

6:30 a.m.: I've had the TV on softly in the background for about a half an hour now as I've been checking up on Facebook friends and the Lucky Press LLC FAN page. (If you are not a fan of Lucky Press LLC, please consider joining. We have great books, wonderful authors, and are trying to compete against the "big guys" in publishing...)

ANYway... not one word on CNN yet about this being the third anniversary of the Virginia Tech shootings. Through my work I've gotten to know more about this event than I normally would, but even those with no connection whatsoever felt the shock and heartbreak and outrage of the murders that day. My heart is with the families of those who died in such an unfair, violent, public manner. Public tragedy seems to bring with it particular comforts and unique cruelty. Let's add to the comfort side of the scales in whatever way seems appropriate to us on this day.

So, as my mind is a bit sad, I am also happy with what is happening outside of our house. SPRING! Trees are blossoming, voilets are popping up, the green, soft, lush grass has returned, the magnolia tree is blooming.

The lilacs smell fantastic--when I step outside all the scents and color of the season run up to greet me as if to say "Hello! Did you miss us?!"

There are trees in our yard that I've yet to identify (I'm an artist, not a botanist...how I appreciate those who can ID trees, flowers and bird calls!) but one in particular seems like it might be a honeysuckle tree. The white clusters of flowers smell like honeysuckle!

And the tender violets have come forth out of the hard clay soil over a rocky cliff on which our property sits. How strong they are to make their way after the frigid winter we had, through the hard soil, to face the perils of our three dogs not to mention hungry deer. The potential of these pretty flowers was there all winter long. There when the ice froze on the big trees in the forest behind our house, their limbs cracking, moaning, and falling with a crashing sigh onto the snow and dead leaves and arrowheads I imagine are buried there. There's a lesson in this somewhere...

I am excited about my Appalachian foothills garden. The tilling of the soil takes place next week. The sprouts I started in my garage are REALLY tall, the thermometer read 78 degrees on our porch yesterday and I'm getting bored with crocheting sweaters--all I want to do is get my hands dirty!

Tyler (our Pekingese) and I made our way down the big hill and into the edge of the woods yesterday. This is a nice time for it as green ground cover is all over the place, covering up the dead leaves, yet the trees are still bare enough that I can see pretty far into the woods. Tyler loves it! I am always surprised at how many fallen trees there are (I feel like I should "do" something with them, but -- another lesson -- Mother Nature already has a way to incorporate tree trunks into her grand plan). Tyler becomes a jumping, running, smiling, rabbit-like creature and this, during our walks, is when he finds his inner dog. I took him to Philadelphia with me one time. Put him on a leash and walked him down a busy sidewalk. He hated it. Take him into the woods, off leash, doggie whistle in my hand, and he is in absolute heaven. His heaven will include all the smells of the forest, I'm sure.

As Spring comes to your neck of the woods, take time to leave the computer, leave the couch, turn off the TV, put down that book and go outside. Look, breathe in, take some photos, let your eyes wander...find something new and wonderful. Be filled with the renewing spirit embedded in our beautiful earth.