Guide to Terrariums
Maintaining tropical plants inside the home can be tricky. Many of the most delicate, beautiful indoor plants require high levels of humidity which can often be difficult to achieve in the everyday home. Their regular maintenance schedule can be tough to fit into our busy lives – and that’s before even checking if they’re safe for our fury friends!
One solution? A terrarium.
Now technically speaking, a terrarium is an enclosed or sealed glass container (or similar) which creates its own self-sustaining eco-system. Coming from the latin terra [earth] and arium [place] – the cycle of water rising and falling within the receptacle make these ‘earth places’ almost entirely self-functioning.
We tend to use the term more broadly, essentially encompassing any miniature garden we have created in a glass capsule. When most people think 'terrarium' they think 'plant in glass' - so that is how we shall proceed.
At Two Green Men, we've broken it down into three types of terrariums:
Enclosed Terrariums
"the full terrarium experience"Remember learning the water cycle at school? That’s right. Through the magic of photosynthesis & respirations, a closed terrarium creates an isolated ecosystem within a seal-able, transparent container that requires little maintenance to survive. Both the plants & soil in the terrarium give off water vapour, which condenses on the sides and top of the glass – falling back onto the plant & soil to be used again. Science!
Enclosed Terrarium Care Guide
Open-Air Terrariums
These closely resemble the enclosed terrariums, however, have an open cut top and usually don’t come with a lid. Often coming in the form of a fish bowl or glass tumbler, these creations still create great levels of humidity for your plants to thrive, they just need a little bit of extra love (& water) because they aren’t creating their own rain cycle.
Open-Air Terrarium Care Guide
Desert Terrariums
Miniature gardens full of succulents, cacti, living stones & other drought seeking plants. They don’t require the humidity of an airtight, enclosed terrarium – and most of the moisture they need is stored in their leaves – meaning very little watering or maintenance is required.