How to Make a Mini Wetland Terrarium With Moss & Ferns

Use this tutorial to make a miniature terrarium with plants in a jar. Includes list of recommended miniature plants and supplies.

For more on growing tiny plants, also see The Best Plants for Miniature Gardens.

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Miniature Terrariums

This selection from Miniature Terrariums: Tiny Glass Container Gardens Using Easy-to-Grow Plants and Inexpensive Glassware by Fourwords is used with permission by Tuttle Publishing who also provided a review copy of this book.

This book, Miniature Terrariums, is full of ideas for creating the perfect little garden using repurposed glass containers—a lab flask, a wine glass, a mason jar, or an inexpensive glass box or hanging bulb.

In the book you will learn how to create:

• Moss and fern terrariums—bushy, soft, and verdant
• Air plant terrariums—great for hanging in your bedroom or kitchen
• Terrariums with succulents—including some that change color with the seasons
• Captivating combinations of flowering plants, dry zone plants, mosses, epiphytes, and other mixes

Included are tips for selecting your containers and arranging your soils, stones, and plants so that your tiny garden stays healthy and beautiful in its glass home for many years to come.

Make a Wetland Terrarium

This mixed terrarium brings together plants from the three different habitats (wetland, tree-dwellers, and arid zone plants) using Haworthia, moss, and fern.

The trick to maintaining this type of terrarium is to use the bottom layer of gravel to judge the timing for watering.

Layout

Plants to Use

A – Pteris

B – Haworthia umbraticola

C – Haworthia viscosa

D – Paphiopedilum

E – Hypnaceae

You will Need

• Jar – 3 Quart or your choice of size
• White silicate soil
• Pumice (medium grain) – F in diagram above
• Potting Mix
• Granular medium based on charcoal and porous ceramic material – G in diagram above

Instructions

1   Place a small amount of white silicate soil into the container, then cover with a layer of pumice to form a base.

2   Decide how high to position plants and pour potting mix into container.

3   Decide where the front of the terrarium will be. With the exception of moss, secure all plants with granular medium, working from the tallest plants first.

4   Use tweezers to adjust the overall composition.

5   Finish by laying down moss.

Tips

• Keep out of direct sun. If growing outdoors, place in a bright but shaded place.
• If growing indoors, place near a window in a spot that is well ventilated and receives light as bright as that filtered through a lace curtain.
• With the exception of succulents, use a spray bottle to make sure plants get plenty of water and do not dry out.

Miniature Terrariums | Amazon

There are dozens more miniature terrarium projects in the book plus tips for choosing supplies and terrarium assembly.

~Melissa the Empress of Dirt ♛