Glass terrarium for modern apartment
Glass plant terrarium is a small decorative element with a petite garden inside. Plants used for it don’t require a lot of attention, so it is good for busy people or those who don’t know anything about the art of floriculture. You can use a large number of growers which can be put in a glass container on the tables, shelves, bedsides and other surfaces with limited space. It adds natural beauty and gives a touch of tranquility to any apartment.
Glass terrariums for plants are rather popular among city-dwellers as they give an opportunity to keep a piece of beauty in modern apartment with minimal efforts. They have become a great alternative to the traditional flower pots, which may not fit into the modern or hi-tech design.
If you live in a spacious flat, you can install a large glass plant terrarium. It will look luxurious and the “green corner” of your room will surely impress your guests. There many designs of glass containers of different sizes and you can choose any you like.
After that you should think about its positioning. Even the most undemanding herb may wilt if it is placed in an inappropriate corner of your apartment. But don’t worry: it is not as hard as it seems to be. A few articles in the Internet on this subject will help you to sort things out.
Glass containers for terrariums should be deep enough for the roots of plants. You can simply take an old aquarium for fish or create the one specially designed for plants. You may use some needless vases, tureens or lanterns. They will perfectly serve as an open container, but in this case you will have to water the plants more often.
Use some decorative elements to give the composition the complete look. It may be something contrasting, like a decoration in the form of heart, nice stone or shell. If you’re a fan of naturalness, you may decorate it only with natural objects without artificial details.
Before placing plants and other elements, glass containers for plant terrariums require preliminary cleaning and washing. After that, mix shingle with gravel to make the drainage. Place some moss: it will prevent the land from shedding down through the rocks and will absorb excess moisture. Tamp the soil to make the surface smooth. And only after all of these steps, you may put the plant into your terrarium.
It is also important to choose the right plants for hanging glass terrarium. Decide which plants you like most. Select several herbs with similar characteristics, which can grow together. Classical terrarium options are ferns, moss, succulents, cactuses and others. But if you are not experienced in this field, ask for the help of florist. He will give you a professional advice and will choose the most suitable design for your terrarium.
Advices for choosing closed terrarium plants
The process of choosing closed terrarium plants has its peculiarities and difficulties. Nowadays, in many Western countries, glass flower beds which look like aquarium are becoming more and more popular. They may be in the form of a ball, a bell, a cube, a truncated pyramid or a parallelepiped.
It is easy to maintain a certain humidity and constant temperature in it. Sometimes these live pictures are made with the help of bottles, cans and flasks. If you have patience and want to create an original mini-greenhouse, you can try to make it with your own hands.
In a closed container, there are no drafts and it is easy to maintain high humidity. It allows you to grow delicate plants and create a magnificent miniature landscape. In such containers people usually grow miniature plants for closed terrariums.
With careful selection of a suitable temperature you can grow subtropical and even tropical herbs that are difficult to keep at home. Most of them almost don’t require watering. Excessive humidity is much more dangerous for them. But with a modern design of container it should not be a problem for you.
The best plants for a closed terrarium are Pila Cadieux, Selaginella, kriptanus and pelleya. Selaginella is just perfect for growing in terrariums, because it has extremely small size and requires very high humidity (without a glass container, it is unlikely to survive in apartment). Succulents are also may be used: aloe, agave, Echeveria and others.
It is better to choose shade-tolerant plants for a closed terrarium. The reason for that is glass container which doesn’t let sunrays get to the vegetable life. Of course, you may place it on the windowsill, but the amount of sunlight will still not be enough. So, choose the plant according to the form of terrarium, its size and positioning.
Small terrarium plants will perfectly suit modern and cozy apartment. Many of them are almost works of art – with the plot, characters and figures with tiny replicas of objects. Such a thing may seem to be very complicated in execution, but it is not right.
Of course, small herbs and decorative figures are hard to make and place, but almost anyone can cope with this task. The main thing is to have the desire to make a masterpiece for your flat.
In order to choose the plants suitable for small terrariums, watch some videos and read specialized magazines. It will help you to understand the general rules and ideas of how to choose the vegetable life for you terrarium.
Typically, between the flowering and decorative foliage plants, people make a choice in favor of the latter. Today many flower shops offer a great choice of miniature growers that are ideal for containers of any sizes.
The best plants for small closed terrariums are ferns and ivy, and some ornamental species of moss. For example, reindeer moss serves as a bright and unusual color spots, contrasting with the rest of the green mass. When selecting herbs, note that they must all have similar needs for lighting and the frequency of watering.
You can also use a variety of branches and stones for a more interesting design. To create a masterpiece with a plot you can make a bench, add figures of people, animals, and small copies of some items.
Maintain optimal level of humidity in the terrarium, preventing acidification or drying of the substrate. If you think that the flowers need more water, pour them, but do it moderately. Don’t forget that the excess water in the cage causes the development of fungal diseases, mildew and rotting of plants.
Large terrarium containers: massive and spacious
If you have decided to get exotic pets, you should also think about getting large terrarium containers. It may be a turtle, a lizard or anything else, but in any case it will require a cozy place for sleep and living. They are living creatures so they deserve care and comfort.
Personal space is an integral part of their existence and you can’t ignore this fact. Try to create an inartificial environment, as close to the natural one as possible.
One of the advantages of large glass containers for terrariums is that they are spacious, so there is a lot of place for making an interesting composition. You may use not only plants, but also some decorative elements, artificial figurines and other items that will fit into to the overall picture.
Those who are too busy to make a home for their pets with own hands, may get a large terrarium containers uk in pet shops. They may be of different sizes and forms, with already installed decorations or without them. Getting a ready kit is time-saving, but once you decided to have a pet, you should be ready to devote a part of your time for his needs.
Sometimes it is hard to find extra large terrarium containers, so you can make a diy one. For its manufacturing, the materials like glass, wood or plexiglas seem to be the most suitable. You should also know that it is better to choose natural materials for the construction of terrariums.
Artificial materials may give off toxic substances in case of elevated temperature, so it may damage your pet. For making frameless glass vivarium you should use only special glue, which is not toxic to animals. For example, it may be a silicone adhesive. Vivarium made of plexiglas can be glued using organic solvents such as dichloromethane or chloroform.
Plant terrarium kit: carnivorous growers
Plant terrarium kit may consist of various kinds of herbs and growers. Most of them are innocuous and beautiful, but there are also carnivorous species that don’t mind tasting insects. All carnivorous growers are located in areas where the soil is poor in nutrients. These elegant plants secrete digestive juices, dissolved their prey and during this process get the needed amount of nutrients.
If it is your first experience of growing herbs, it is better to begin with a plant terrarium starter kit. It includes undemanding growers that don’t require specific treatment. It’s easy to take care of it and even if you make some mistakes like excessive watering, the herb isn’t going to wither and die.
This is extremely important as the main function of this kit is to give you the necessary experience in gardening and teach you the basics. In future you will be able to choose other, more exotic kinds of growers.
Let’s imagine you have necessary experience and can afford to try something exotic for your carnivorous plant terrarium kit. Carnivorous growers can be found all over the world, so the requirements for their growth mainly depend on the region which they came from. Read several books about it to clearly understand the herbs and the peculiarities of taking care of them.
For example, you may choose nepenthes. It is a tropical herb and it will require high humidity, lots of water and light. It is not ideal for “beginners” in gardening.
The ideal carnivorous plant terrarium kit temperate is in range from 15ºC to 30°C. A beautiful coloring of carnivorous growers will be much brighter if it receives a few hours of direct sunlight every day, but some species will also grow quite well in the shade. And again, everything depends on the species of plants and peculiarities of their growth.
Glass terrarium kit may be used for keeping both plants and such exotic animals like reptiles. While choosing you should pay attention to the material used for its production, its form and decorations placed inside. Some artificial figurines may look nice, but have harmful effect on the heath of inhabitants.
Depending on the purpose of its use, the container will have different size and shape. If you are going to plant growers in it, it may be a small glass globe terrarium kit. But if it will serve as a home for a reptile, it should be spacious and meet some requirements: temperature, humidity, lighting and so on.
Glass terrarium kit
If you have a lizard or a turtle, you may order an exo terra rainforest reptile glass terrarium kit. It may have original design, but also it may turn out to be rather expensive. Most widespread shapes of such containers are:
- Vertical – for the animals, leading arboreal lifestyle (different types of iguanas, chameleons, anoles, certain types of snakes, etc.);
- The horizontal version – it is needed for reptiles, living mainly in the earth (lizards, geckos, tortoises, skinks, agama and some types of snakes);
- Cubic – it will fit almost everyone, including reptiles inhabiting deep in the ground, in burrows;
- Aqua – for animals with mostly water way of life (aquatic turtles, caimans).
You may also create a desert reptile glass terrarium kit with your own hands. Firstly you should decide what exactly it will look like. It is better to start with making a plan. Shape and size of future terrarium is chosen depending on the size and number of animals that will be living in it.
The main requirements to all materials are the following: they must not be toxic, don’t have an antifungal component, withstand heat and high humidity and be resistant to UV light.
Wardian case terrarium: uniqueness and refinement
The design of wardian case terrarium was created many years ago. It is considered to be the forerunner of the terrarium, aquarium and other containers for plants and exotic animals. Being invented in the 19th century, it is still popular among gardeners and just ordinary people who like having terrariums with plants or animals. Of course, it has undergone many changes, but the general design remains the same.
The main characteristic feature of the antique wardian case terrarium was that all of its walls were made of complete glass and the topside could be opened. It allowed ventilating the container when the plants or animals living inside it required this. The frame was mainly made of metal, but nowadays you can also find the container with a plastic base.
H potter plant terrarium wardian case is becoming more and more popular among gardeners. It looks truly fantastic and extravagant. You may place it on the table in a living room to show off. Your guests will surely pay attention to it and appreciate your creativity, subtlety and the sense of beauty.
The choice of wardian case terrarium plants requires special approach. It will not be enough to find beautiful and undemanding plants. On the contrary, exotic and difficult-to-care plants will be more suitable. Moreover, they should not only be bright and admiring, but have an interesting history or fable, which will emphasize their uniqueness and refinement.
If you have no experience and don’t know how to combine different plants, you may ask for the help of professionals. But if you are interested in floristics, you can make an interesting combination of various exotic herbs and growers, which will have same watering and lighting requirements.
It is important as they should not only look well together, but also coexist in common environment.
Hanging terrarium plants: unique and impressive
Hanging terrarium plants is truly unique and extraordinary option for apartment with any design style. It may be a country house or modern one, baroque or hi-tech: hanging terrarium will perfectly fit into any of them. Some people think that such suspended design is unsteady and it may fall at any time.
But if you place it in the right position and use a sturdy basis, there will be no problems with it.
It is not necessarily should be a large hanging air plant terrarium. There are many designs and forms of containers of any sizes. Choose a compact one: it will be an optimal decision for a hanging design.
After choosing the container design move to the next step: choosing plants for hanging terrarium. They may be artificial or natural. Artificial plastic plants are beautiful decorations for any terrarium. They simulate live growers, but don’t require watering or transplanting. Diseases can’t damage them and they will serve you for many years. Moreover, they are safe for animals that live inside the container and are easy to clean.
If you don’t feel like placing artificial decorations in the container, but still don’t know what to plant in a hanging terrarium, follow some general tips for beginners. Firstly, try to choose those growers that won’t outgrow the size of the container.
Secondly, if you are a newbie, start with something cheap and easy to grow. Undemanding herbs will be good for the start, and then with time you will be able to take care of some exotic plants which require special treatment.
It is also advised to choose shadow-tolerant herbs as the glass walls of container may reduce the amount of sunlight. If you put the herb that loves the light into the darkness, it will be subjected to stress and may die. Also you can read very beautiful ideas for your home or garden in my another posts.
