COVER STORY .

Nano Gardening

Terrarium by Lord Whimsy


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Published: Dec 2, 2009

Neal Santos

Victor Allen Crawford III, perhaps better known as the erudite Lord Breaulove Swells Whimsy, lives his life in miniature. "The emblems I tack to the walls tend toward the small, improvised, humane, modest, open, quiet, light, poised, generous, delicate, introspective, humorous, elegant and organic," he says on his blog, lord-whimsy.livejournal.com. "I try to cultivate these little worlds wherever I can, be it this journal, a terrarium, my home, or my person." His terrariums — tiny plant habitats enclosed by glass globes — make for lush gifts. They require very little attention once constructed and offer immediate enjoyment with minimum toil.

The most crucial part of crafting a terrarium is selecting its tenants. "Most terrarium gardeners favor the tried and true, slow-growing indoor tropical plants that favor low light, but trying something new or unusual is sometimes very rewarding," says Whimsy. "Native plants and mosses can be marvelous choices. Some don't even need to be plants: Lichens are also very beautiful, and require little or no care." Whimsy also notes that the plants you place together in the terrarium must thrive in a similar environment, and you should never collect plants from the wild.

1 Pick a glass container (a jar, bottle, brandy snifter) to suit your plants. Be sure it has a removable lid to control ventilation and moisture. Ideally, the container will be plain. "The vessel tends to be fairly simple in form, so as not to upstage the inhabitants," says Whimsy. "A clean, organic form is ideal, but more geometric vessels make a strong counterpoint to plants with very dramatic forms like desert succulents."

2 Clean your glass container with a mild bleach solution to rid it of any fungi spores and bacteria.

3 Add a bit of river stone or gravel on the bottom. Top this with a coffee filter or a piece of cheesecloth to prevent the soil from settling among the stone.

4 Place a dash of activated charcoal (you can pick this up at pet shops) to help purify the air and water.

5 Add potting soil suitable for the species of plants you're using. (Do not use fertilizer, otherwise the plants will quickly outgrow the container.)

6 Add your plants in a pleasing arrangement, preferably without any of the plant's foliage touching the sides, as condensation will encourage fungi and rot.

7 Place in natural light suitable for your plants. You can find more information on how to do this, as well as the proper soil for your terrarium, in Simon & Schuster's Guide to House Plants (Fireside, $24.95) or The New Terrarium (Clarkson Potter, $25).

8 Resist the urge to fill your terrarium with a glut of cheesy figurines. "Spin the terrarium," says Whimsy, "and remove the first piece of tchotchke that catches your eye."

(a_amorosi@citypaper.net)