Eli on Earth: Grow a terrarium, for green inside and out

With summer headed toward  East Lansing, we will be seeing more and more green outdoors. If you want to add a touch of green to the indoors - without extensive care - terrariums are a great way to add a low maintenance garden to any space.

Don’t let your black thumb steer you away from trying a terrarium. There are plants that even the most inexperienced gardeners won’t be able to kill.

While most traditional plants require watering varying from every day to every couple of days, plants under the umbrella of “succulents” require only a watering a week (and sometimes even less frequently). Succulents are very similar to cacti in the way that they take in water. Their original desert and steppe habitat requires them to minimize their water intake due to the dry conditions. This means their biology enables them to take in and use tiny quantities of rain, or even heavy dew – it also means less watering for you.

Terrariums can be created based on the types of plants you like and the amount of maintenance you are willing to put into them. You can choose air plants and succulents, mosses combined with more water-consuming plants like arachnoides simplicior ‘variegata’ (a fern like plant), or pilea involucrata or ‘moon plant’. While succulents and cacti general prefer warm arid areas, they can thrive in most temperatures and some are even cold tolerant.

The key to growing succulents in a terrarium is lots of drainage. While most gardeners would recommend making sure there is a hole in the bottom of your container, there are ways to make something like a glass container work for your succulents by creating drainage in other ways.

Below are some steps to make your own succulent garden that works for your personal space:

1. Your first step is to decide what kind of plants you want to use for your arrangement. Air plants and succulents are going to require an open top, while plants that aren’t as prone to root-rot, like the ‘moon-plant,’ can be in closed containers for long periods of time. I am going to use a variety of succulents for my demonstration arrangement.

2. Your second step is going to be picking a container for your arrangement, as well as the materials you’ll use to layer the container with. In my case, I’m going to use a glass container with a fairly big opening for a table centerpiece. You can also find containers that more or less enclose the plants in the container.

3. After picking your plants and your container, you then get to layer up the soil. I’m going to be layering sand, stones, sphagnum moss, and soil.

4. After layering up the soil, you are now ready to plant! I planted Cotyledon tomentosa ("Bear's Paw),"Faucaria Tigrina ("Tiger's Jaw" or "Shark's Jaw"), Sedum Adolphii ("Firestorm"), and variations of Hen and Chick-type succulents, which grow offsets. After planting you can add decorative rocks, pebbles, or sand, though it will make it harder to tell if your plant needs watering because the top layer of soil is covered up. You can still shift the soil using your fingers to check underneath the pebbles, or if you want the top layer to stay pristine, you can use a glass container so you can easily see the soil through its side.

5. You can then add different trinkets, if you like. For this terrarium I simply added a couple of seashells. You can add favorite stones or small figurines, really anything that’s waterproof. There are plenty of “fairy garden” accessories you can find online and in stores, and when in doubt, a dinosaur figurine terrarium is always a good choice.

Voila! You have now created a personalized terrarium or potting to place indoors or out. Terrariums are a great way to add some green to your home and they double as a fun project anyone can do, regardless of gardening skills. Happy planting!