I haven't put soil in these yet - just horticultural charcoal and pebbles. When I find out which plants do best in the humidity of the tanks, I'll use landscape cloth between the pebbles and some soil. I need to find more minature plants before deciding on just where I want to plant things.
I'm watching all the terrariums posted here to get ideas for filling mine. For now, I'm enjoying the plants as
much as I did the fish. I think the plants are not as demanding !
Louise
That'll look really good Louise when it's done!
Please post pics when it done! :)
Steve
I just converted a 30-gallon tank from aquarium to terrarium 3 or 4 weeks ago, and it's been really fun. It's much less work than the fish were. I got so carried away with that one that I used two big glass jars I had and made two desktop ones. I need to hit the thrift shops and find more of the big glass jars. They are the size of cookie jars.
Yours look really nice so far. I put spagham moss in front of my dirt and so on along the front of the tank to hide the layers and then put some over the dirt between the plants. I like the look.
Good luck with yours.
I plan to look around tomorrow for other plants that may work. My ideas seem to be changing from day to day about what foilage will
look best. I have the cloth, soil and the spaghnam already - just
still in the planning stages for the layout.
I learn a lot from all of the postings in this forum. I'm glad Lorry was
able to spearhead the effort to get it on DG.
Thanks for both of your replies -
Louise
I haven't set mine up yet but have along history of killing off tropical fish, so I hope you are right 1gardengram!
Louise yours look great!
aprilwillis,
Thanks ! I have placed even more plants in it now -
some that I received from Lorry. I keep rearranging them and will put the cloth over the rocks and plant them in a
soil less medium soon. I had fish in the tanks until I had
2 back surgeries and the fish didn't survive the neglect.
The last fish I had was an oscar that I bought when it was 2 1/2" long. He finally grew (fast) to the size of my hand. The plants are much easier to care for than the fish were ! The tanks are in my teaching room - I teach piano and have for 28 years and love it.
Where in Texas is Missouri City? Close to what larger town? What do you have in your terrarium?
The picture below is a bed of coleus and lilies in my front yard.
Louise
Beautiful picture.
I haven't started my terrarium yet, I am getting ready to go out of town and will be gone for a couple of weeks so will start it in earnest when I get back.
Missouri City is near....drum roll please, Houston...ok sort of a let down, not really the garden of eden, but it's what I got., lots of hummidity and brutal sun in the summer.
This is a photo of my Orchid Vine, Bauhinia Corymbosa, planted last year as a mere twig and this year it is over the fence and has many buds on the other side of the fence.
April
April,
I have a son who lives in Spring which is just on the edge
of Houston - been there for almost 30 years. That town
is just tooooo large for me to drive comfortably in. So
many cars and so many lanes and cars going soooooo
fast ! I'm just a small town girl at heart, I guess.
The bloom on the vine is very pretty. I wonder if it would
grow well here in zone 7b/8a? Is the other plant a tree or a fern? It looks so graceful. I see that you use bamboo for stakes. That is what I plan to use to stake the dahlias that Poochella and Daisyruffles sent to me. I have 32 planted in one huge bed with Stargazer and Oriental lilies on the ends.
Texarkana is in the extreme northeastern corner of Texas and the Stateline with Arkansas is just 1 1/2 blocks from me.
Louise
Louise
According to plantfiles this vine is good to 8a, if in doubt I would put it in a protected, full sun area and mulch heavily.
The other plalnt is a Jacaranda that I grew from seed several years ago. I have 2 planted in the ground, they are tender so not sure how they would do in a real cold snap. Mine haven't flowered but they have lovely purple flowers. I love the foliage, it is delicate. Another tree/shrub w/ simillar foliae is Pride of Barbados. They are somewhat tender but here are root hardy- they bloom all warm season and either have all yellow, red/orange & yellow, all yellow w/ red stamons or rarely all pink flowers depending on cultivar.
I use both bamboo and plastic stakes, depends on what I have on hand or what I can easily get. I prefer the bamboo just for asthetics.
I love to visit Spring and even though it is as close as it is, they have a slightly less tropical environment than we do here.
I love Dahlias but they don't do as well here.
April
April,
Do you ever get seed from either of your plants in your last Dmail? If so, I would love to try to grow them. If not, can you tell me where to find seeds?
thanks,
Louise
Louise
The Jacaranda have not bloomed for me- I have one in the front and one in the back yard. Usually seeds are pretty readily available and this tree is SUPER easy to germinate and grow. I think I bought these seeds from...I will get back to you on that one.
As far as the Orchid Vine, my experience w/ all Bauhinia is that they readily produce lots of seed. On the vine, from the 1st group of flowers there are 2 rather large seedpods that are not ready to remove yet. Dmail your address and I will be happy to send you seed and any specific information that I have on that vine.
April
This is one place where I purchased seed, they have a negative review on the Garden Watchdog, but I have used them 2 different years and never had a problem:
http://www.driftwoodgardens.com/index.html
April,
Thanks for the link for the seeds.
My address for sending the seeds is in the address exchange but here it is for your convenience:
Louise Murrah
204 West 32nd St.
Texarkana, TX 75503-3755
I can send a SASBE if you would rather do that. If so,
what size does it need to be?
thanks,
Louise
Louise
not a problem, I will get them to you.
April
Hi Lou! I will be posting some pics of my terrarium soon! Happy New Year!
Thanks for the update. Please list the plants you included. I've changed the plants in the top tank and now have a prayer plant in the center, a tropical with pink leaves/green veins and one with white leaves/green veins. They have almost filled the top tank. There also five small green bromeliads that were sent from a DG member. Those are supposed to have a red center when they get larger. I don't have a picture yet but will post one soon.
I choose to try succulents and cacti in the bottom tank. I've lost two so far but have six under the light and seem to be doing OK.
I may switch the tanks and put fish in the smaller tank again.
Keep in touch,
Louise
