An Antique Terrarium For My House

Posted on | November 7, 2011 | 17 Comments

Do you remember the beautiful antique terrarium I picked up last fall? It’s been sitting in my bedroom collecting dust. The stand had been turned into Greg’s clothing rack, so sad.

Over the weekend I took a trip up to Snug Harbor Farm in Kennebunk to gather plants to finally fill it. I decided I’m tired of waiting for the “fun” house projects till the renovation is complete. A beautiful terrarium can live amongst paint cans and tools? Yes, a bit unconventional but really fun.

My terrarium has a removable glass pitched roof. I liked the idea of having a a tall, dramatic focal plant and then smaller plants and mosses in different textures and shades. When I was choosing plants I didn’t factor in enough room for planes of just moss. I would recommend bringing the actually terrarium with you; so you don’t buy too many. Just like in the composition of an abstract painting you need resting spots for the eye. Plus, you need room for plants to grow. I imagined my terrarium to be a fern patch found in the woods of New Hampshire.

Below how I made my terrarium plus, a list of plants I choose with the help of the wonderful staff at Snug Harbor Farm. All of the plants below prefer cooler conditions with low sunlight.

Mother fern
East Indian Holly Fern arachniodes simplicior
Birdnest fern
Jerrissa (tree like)
Button fern
Sellaginella “krassiara area’ yellow spikemoss
Baby tears
French staghorn (wish I could have used this but it didn’t fit; needs to stay a little dryer then the rest)
Myrtle
Cushion spikemoss
Variegated Creeping fig
Dwarf pilea
Variegated acorus gramineus (spiky grass)

All the plants I choose for my project.

Scatter rocks in the bottom of the terrarium.

Cut a screen to fit the base and place over the rocks.

Scatter a layer of soil in the bottom. As I added plants I added more soil creating higher and lower areas.

I made the composition with a center element and smaller plants around. Here I’m playing around with different center elements. I thought the Jerrissa would be really beautiful but it was too tall even after a little haircut.

I ended use a fern as my center element and smaller ferns and moss in different textures.

Give the terrarium a look from the side to make sure you have some nice height with some room for growth.

I didn’t use all the plants I purchased. I planted them in small terra cotta urns I picked up Snug Harbor Farm.

Every room has been a victim of the renovation. Why not have a beautiful terrarium?

Category: diy, garden

Book: Making The Most of Shade

Posted on | October 19, 2011 | 12 Comments

This summer I really struggled with my garden. In the Spring it started off with a boom! I was afraid I had too many plants in my border but as summer waned on I realized I had far less afternoon sun then the year before. My plants chugged along offering a few blooms but none of my high summer plants got as big and lush as I hoped. In late August they received a significant trampling from the insulation guys and I gave up.

I think I need help. I’ve come to the realization that I won’t have the cottage garden of my dreams overflowing with peonies, echinacea and hollyhocks. The learning curve for this house and garden is steep which at the moment is terribly frustrating. Can’t something just grow and be beautiful so I can move onto something else to pour my money into?

I picked up Making the Most of Shade (Rodale), by Larry Hodgson, in hopes of gaining more insight. For me it’s been hard to envision a shady border on an urban size lot. When I think of shade; I imagine woods and wetlands. I only have one tree but my corner is canopied in shade by my neighbor’s trees.

The book focuses on perennials offering a two page discussion on each plant’s profile, growing tips, problems and solutions, top performing varieties and garden notes. Under Aruncus ‘Goat’s Beard’ Larry offers this note:

One of nicest hedges I’ve ever seen was composed not of shrubs but of goat’s beard planted in row in front of a farmhouse. The hedge was full and as dense as any shrub could be and coiffed with beautiful feathery white blooms. When I stopped to take a picture, the owner came out and we talked a bit. It turned out the owner had unsuccessfully tried twice to grow a “traditional” hedge, once of arborvitae and the other time of lilacs, but snow shoved onto the plants from a passing snowplow kept tearing off branches, and they never filled in properly. With goat’s beard, though, the entire hedge sprouts anew from underground each spring, eliminating damage from the snowplow.

Sounds like a familiar problem? I have the same issue in my front garden bed. I’ve tried endless summer hydrangeas and then boxwoods which I plan on yanking next Spring to move to containers because of the snowplows and potential dog pee problem. I’m not sure goat’s beard will be the right fit but I think using a perennial would offer me the advantage of it dying back in the winter.

A beautiful “hedge” of goat’s beard found on Macgarden’s blog.

Category: books, garden

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