Terrarium Love at Cylburn Arboretum

On Sunday morning between flower deliveries, I headed over to Cylburn for an amazing morning of terrarium building. Tovah Martin, the author of The New Terrarium was on hand to teach and guide us.  I knew Tovah and I were kindred spirits when early on in her presentation she said “You think you’re here today to make a terrarium, you’re wrong. You’re here to change the world!”. Way to think big!

Tovah was an inspiring speaker who is intensely passionate about her work. She spoke of the positive impact terrariums can have on people that are experiencing nature deficit disorder (which is most of us, whether we know it or not!). She also was very clear that terrariums are an expression of your own creativity and artistic mojo (her words!).

After about an hour of instruction and history on terrariums, we got started.

We started with gravel and charcoal mixed together to encourage good drainage. Next came about 1-2 inches of African Violet potting soil. 

Then came the plants. There were mosses and begonias and all sorts of other goodies. One thing that Tovah said, that I thought was interesting was NOT to use succulents in terrariums. She said while you often see them in photos in terrariums, they don’t live very long and aren’t suitable for the terrarium’s environment.

I chose my plants, dug them good and then covered them with some moss and other found items like acorns, bark and twigs.

Finally, I gave it a little water and popped the top on. I’ll open it up in a few weeks to give it some air and a little more water. Other than that, it maintains itself.

Tovah was no nonsense in her message. She made the class take an oath to share what we learned with others. Be on the lookout for LoCoFlo terrarium making classes in 2012!