In my last post I talked about purchasing a selection of succulents to use in my first terrarium. Luckily I already had a ceramic dish at home, complete with dirt where an old plant had been housed.
Prepping the Environment
Before placing my new succulents inside the dish, I emptied the existing dirt into another container and put it aside.
Since this bowl didn’t have a drainage hole, I filled up the bottom with a layer of pebbles. If you read A Succulent Story Part 1 you know this helps water drain away from the plants.
Pebbles can be purchased rather cheaply. I bought these at the Dollar Tree. The bag contained enough pebbles to fill up the bottom of this bowl, decorate my terrarium, and fill up the bottom of another pan. Great deal!
Moving Day
Once I placed the pebbles inside the dish, it was time to start planting my succulents.
I covered the pebbles with a layer of dirt, took one of the succulents out of its original container and placed it inside the bowl. Holding this first succulent with one hand I began placing dirt around it until it was stabilized. I repeated this process with each plant.
Finishing Touches
Once all five of my new succulents were securely placed inside the bowl, I filled in the spaces between each plant with moss. Again, moss can be purchased, but if you have it readily available that’s one less expense.
In addition to using some of the leftover pebbles to decorate the terrarium, I used a stylish rock (can rocks be stylish?) that my aunt brought me back from her trip to New Zealand. You can see how it perfectly complements my arrangement.
Progress Report
Since I made this terrarium about a week ago, I’m happy to report that all of my plants seem to be doing well. Two of my clearance plants seem to be particularly happy with their new surroundings – the Pachyveria Royal Flush (right) and the Echeveria Chroma Hybrid (top). I’m especially pleased with how the Echeveria Chroma is doing. In the last few days I have noticed it is beginning to get taller!
In my next post I’ll be talking about succulent propagation! In the meantime I’m really hoping that works!
Do you have any cool tips on creating terrariums?