From this I have decided that I am going to aim to young adults who have moved out of home to grow their own plant- in the form of a terrarium.
They may have just started a job or have gone to university, I think that this is a new market that plants don't really appeal to, and I think that it is important to grow plants and this audience doesn't usually find this interesting.
What is a Terrarium ? >>>>
Terrarium, simulating a dry habitat, for instance desert or savannah. A terrarium can also be formed to create a temperate woodland habitat, and even a jungle-like habitat. This can be created with pebbles, leaf litter and soil. By misting the terrarium, a natural water cycle occurs within the environment by condensation forming on the lid causing precipitation.
'Terrariums are a popular garden style because they require little maintenance to flourish, yet have an endlessly elegant look. The key to success is choosing the right plants. A great variety to start with is Golden Club Moss because it thrives in a low light, high moisture environment. Other great starter plants include water-retaining, light-loving succulents and cacti. They’re virtually indestructible and come in many colors, shapes and varieties.'
-http://www.bhg.com/blogs/everydaygardeners/2013/10/16/chasing-the-winter-blues-with-lively-greens/
It's easy to make a terrarium to grace your desk, dining room table, or other well-lit spot. Step-by-step instructions on how to plant a terrarium.
Perk Up Your Indoor
Space
Add
a little green to your indoor space with an eye-catching terrarium! Not only
are they a great oxygen booster, terrariums are easy to create and can be made
in a variety of sizes. Change the container to fit into any décor.
Materials
- Container
- Activated
charcoal pieces
- Potting
soil
- Gloves
- Terrarium
plant
- Sheet
moss
- Watering
can
- Trowel
Build the Base
Install
approximately 1-2 inches of charcoal at base of container.
Mix It Up
Combine remaining
charcoal with soil
either by hand or with trowel.
Add the Second Layer
Fill
your container one-fourth to one-third full with the charcoal-and-soil
mixture. Gently pack the soil every 2 inches to avoid large air pockets.
Add Greens
Carefully remove
your plants from their containers
and position them on top of the soil
to ensure proper spacing. Allow enough room between the plants for additional
soil.
Squash Air Pockets
Use
your hands to pack soil
in and around plants. Tuck plants deep enough into the soil to cover all plant
roots and to keep the plants from reaching too far above the top of the
container.
Top Dress
With
gloves, position moss on top of the soil
and between the plants.
Give Them a Drink
Water
plants and place container in a well-lit area with indirect light. Future watering
is dependent on the types of plants you have selected and the environment
they're growing in. Test the soil for moisture before pulling out the watering
can.
Further Care
Maintenance is
minimal once the plants are established. As they grow you may want to trim any
branches that grow out and over the top of your container.
Tips
• Keep it simple. Three plants is probably plenty. Or forget the plants and try just moss and stones.
• Stand a planted terrarium in a light position but not in direct sun.
• Wood, moss, stones or other natural objects are important to give context in among the plants. They can mimic a full-sized landscape but in miniature.
• Marten uses real fossils in his landscapes as they bring something genuinely old, beautiful but affordable into a modern house and won’t spoil among damp earth and plants.
• The growing medium, which should be very free-draining at the base, can be layered in textures. Add a little crumbled charcoal to keep the soil sweet.
• Terrarium gardeners soon learn how to adapt tools for working in confined spaces. Long tweezers without too much spring, tiny forks or trowels taped to bamboo canes, chopsticks, a length of hose and a funnel to add composts and grit, all are simple to obtain or make.
• Always keep plants which need special conditions together. Don’t try mixing drought-loving succulents with moisture-loving ferns, for example.
• Once plants have established they need little maintenance. In enclosed spaces the moisture should recycle. Trial and error will establish when plants need any extra water.
• Remove any dead or dying foliage immediately to reduce the chance of fungal diseases. Prevent foliage from touching the glass sides
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/gardeningadvice/9821545/Top-tips-for-keeping-a-terrarium.html
Best Plants for Terrariums...
http://www.bhg.com/gardening/houseplants/projects/top-plants-for-terrariums/#page=1
1. Moon Valley Friendship
Plant
'Moon Valley'
friendship plant provides delicate patterning with deeply textured craters and
valleys on two-toned leaves, which are tinted red on the underside. The fast-grower
tolerates low light and at its maximum reaches 12 inches tall and wide; it may
surprise with delicate pink flowers, too. This plant is a perfect size to
enclose in virtually any glass container that's fit for a terrarium, such as
cloches or jars. "I've even used butter dishes," Martin says.
Name:
Pilea involucrata 'Moon Valley'
Size: To 12 inches tall and wide
2. Variegated Spider Fern
(known as East Indian Holly Fern)
Variegated spider fern seems to glow in a terrarium, thanks to the
shine of its glossy leaves. A broad yellow center band on each leaf supplies
visual interest for the easy-growing fern, which tolerates low light and enjoys
the moist potting mix and high humidity found inside a terrarium. If it
outgrows your glass container, you can plant it in shade gardens
in Zones 6-9.
strong
Name: Arachnoides simplicior 'Variegata'
Size:
To 16 inches tall and wide
3. Starfish Plant
One of Martin's favorite plants is the star-shape Cryptanthus
bivittatus, also called starfish plant, which is a member of the bromeliad
family. The straplike leaves nearly glow with iridescent stripes, which range
from red to maroon, white, and deep green; the plant also has tiny flowers. The
leaf colors
of starfish plant change with the intensity of light, and its slow-growing
nature -- it reaches only about 6 inches at maturity -- makes it well-suited
for a terrarium. When filling your terrarium, follow Martin's lead and use
3/8-inch pebbles, horticultural charcoal, and potting soil. "In addition
to the plants, those are the only real ingredients that are essential to a
terrarium," Martin says.
Name: Cryptanthus bivittatus
Size:
To 6 inches tall and wide
4. Nerve Plant
Nerve plant is a tropical choice with distinctively patterned leaves
in burgundy and green. It thrives under the moist, warm air of a terrarium and
will only reach 12 inches when fully mature. To plant a nerve plant inside a
terrarium, Martin starts with about a 2-inch layer of pebbles mixed with a
tablespoon of charcoal; the latter acts as filtration to keep everything
"sweet" for terrarium plants.
Name: Fittonia verschaffeltii
var. argyroneura
Size: To 12 inches tall and wide
Its foliage has little color variation, but the textural ripples or
wrinkles on the leaves of Peperomia caperata 'Variegata' provide welcome
contrast to terrarium plants that may be patterned with color. The plant stays
6 inches tall and likes the low but regular light and moist conditions under
the glass of a terrarium. Divide it for a friend -- or another terrarium -- by
taking a leaf cutting. Ensure success for your terrarium by layering in 2 to 3
inches of potting soil, Martin says, and insert plants into that. Martin avoids
landscape fabric between the layers. "I try to create something more like
nature and less like control," she says.
Name: Peperomia
caperata 'Variegata'
Size: To 6 inches tall and wide
6. Golden Clubmoss
Even though Selaginella kraussiana 'Aurea', or golden
clubmoss, stays compact in height -- just up to 6 inches -- it likes to spread.
In fact, it can reach 2 feet across, so keep it trimmed inside a terrarium. The
light green foliage works wonders to brighten darker-color plants. Keep the
soil moist but not wet. In warmer Zones, it also can be used in shade gardens
as a ground cover.
Name: Selaginella kraussiana 'Aurea'
Size:
To 6 inches tall and 2 feet wide
7. Aquamarine
Tiny variegation
dots the small, silvery-blue, rounded leaves of Pilea glauca
'Aquamarine', a terrarium plant that loves high humidity and low light. Use its
low-growing, densely matted, creeping pattern as a good base for other plants
in your terrarium, or take it outside in warm weather for hanging pots or containers as an edger. It stays small -- only 12 inches tall
-- making it easy to tuck in terrariums.
Name: Pilea glauca
'Aquamarine'
Size: To 12 inches tall and wide
8. Air Plant
Hardy only in Zones
9-11, Tillandsia stricta, or air plant, is an interesting choice for a
terrarium. Stunning, funnellike blue, purple, or pink flowers top its slender,
pale green leaves, making the plant a natural terrarium choice for both color
and texture. "Variegation and chartreuse foliage really stand out,"
Martin says. Other good textural plants include ferns and mosses.
Name: Tillandsia
stricta
Size: To 8 inches tall and wide
9. Minimus Aureus
Tiny Acorus gramineus 'Minimus Aureus' rewards under a
terrarium with grassy, striking golden foliage. "It's amazing how little
maintenance terrariums require," Martin says. "They're so apropos for
people that work in an office cubicle. They won't take a big chunk of time.
Usually for weeks on end, I don't water mine." She does, however, open up
her terrariums every so often to air them out, making sure there is still
condensation on the glass. If there isn't, Martin waters very lightly.
Name:
Acorus gramineus 'Minimus Aureus'
Size: To 14 inches tall and 6
inches wide
10. Black Mondo Grass
Black mondo grass, familiar to gardeners in Zones 6-9, sends up
shoots of strappy leaves that turn from green to black, with delicate flowers
appearing in spring. At maturity it reaches 15 inches tall so it works best for
larger terrarium containers. Martin keeps this and other
terrarium plants healthy by never misting them. "It's so humid in there, they
don't need misting," Martin says. She also doesn't fertilize in order to
keep the plants small. When planting terrariums, she makes sure to firmly put
the plants in the soil. "You have to plant in terrariums like you plant in
a garden," she says.
Name: Ophiopogon planiscapus
'Nigrescens'
Size: To 15 inches tall and 12 inches wide
11. Asplenium Bulbiferum
One of the bigger terrarium-suitable plants is the graceful arching
fern Asplenium bulbiferum, which can reach 2 feet tall and 4 feet wide
so needs to be regularly cut back. The diffused light inside a terrarium is
perfect for this plant, also known as mother fern, as well as shade lovers,
including Fittonia, creeping fig, dwarf coleus, and dwarf orchids.
Name:
Asplenium bulbiferum
Size: To 2 feet tall and 4 feet wide
12. Strawberry Begonia
Its lovely burgundy-red vertical stalks and flowers lend Saxifraga
stolonifera the nickname strawberry begonia. While the plant rapidly
matures, it only reaches a height of 8 inches. Even when the wispy flowers
aren't in bloom, the heart-shape foliage offers a two-tone pattern of green and
deep red. To propagate for containers or other terrariums, simply snip
off one of the runners. If well-tended, the plant will last a long time, as do
many other terrarium bloomers. "I have many terrariums that are at least
five years old," Martin says.
Name: Saxifraga stolonifera
Size:
To 8 inches tall and 6 inches wide
Containers
A terrarium can be made virtually out of any glass shape
'but [a terrarium] can be created from any watertight clear glass container such as a fish bowl, aquarium, large jar, jug or wine-making demi-john. Narrow-mouthed vessels will be harder to plant, but enjoy higher humidity and need less watering, while more open containers are suitable for drought-tolerant succulents and will be less susceptible to infestation and disease.
Whatever your container and planting, the first step is to provide a drainage layer, up to a quarter of the total height of the glass, to ensure that the plants' roots don't rot in standing water. Make sure all materials, gravel and rocks, are sterile by rinsing in boiling water; if your soil is not ready-sterilized, heat it in an oven to 200F (95C). Remember that bacteria and disease will thrive in the terrarium as well as the plants.'
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/3354700/Return-of-the-terrarium.html
Ken Martin
Hermetica
Small
= little, minute, tiny, slight, mini, miniature, minuscule, diminutive, petite, teeny, puny, pint-sized(informal), pocket-sized, undersized, teeny-weeny, Lilliputian, teensy-weensy, pygmy or pigmy
Garden
=grounds, park, plot, patch, lawn, allotment, yard , forest park
=back yard
,
bed
,
field
, greenhouse
, nursery, patio
, terrace, conservatory
, enclosure,
hothouse ,
oasis
,
patch, plot
, cold frame
Eden
=Arcadia,Garden of Eden, Promised Land, Shangri-la, garden, heaven, heaven
on earth, utopia
Globe
=earth, sphere, apple, ball, balloon,
big blue marble,
map,
orb,
planet,
rondure,
round,
spheroid,
terrene,
world
Realm
noun. area of responsibility or rule
=branch,
compass, country, department, dimension, domain, dominion, empire, expanse, extent, field, ground, kingdom, land, monarchy, neck of the
woods, neighborhood,
orbit, place, principality, province, purview, radius, range, reach, region, scope, sphere, state, stomping grounds, sweep, territory, turf, world, zone