Terrain Terrariums

There's a store about 45 minutes away from me called Terrain, and it's run by the same people who do Anthropologie and Urban Outfitters. If you like that stuff (and I DO), and you are a gardener (and I AM), you, like me, would just faint dead away when you saw the things they have for sale at this place. It's like home-and-garden porn.









And they specialize in terrarium supplies, which I happen to be slightly obsessed with. See my post about Z's terrariums at her family home. She scoffed when she heard that I had PAID to attend an entire workshop on the topic, but that I did.



It was taught by Tovah Martin, who has written a coffee table book called "The New Terrarium." While she was talking I had the distinct feeling that both she and I were of a different world than the people who were about to spend over $100 on their terrariums, and how in the world did we get here? But it was fun, and I managed to spend relatively little on my two terrariums.



Her basic recipe includes stones (for drainage), charcoal (to purify the water), container mix soil, and plants. Pretty simple. And to be honest, I think the only things that are necessary are the soil and the plants. It's a widely spread myth that putting stones at the bottom of a container helps with drainage, it doesn't.





The stones, charcoal, and soil came with the registration fee, and they had some fun little pieces of nature to add to the container, which I did, liberally. But the plants and the "glass vessels" were extra, and it was easy to get carried away (my friend spent about $75 on her terrarium). I made one terrarium while I was there, and then prepared another one for home . . .



. . . because I had this special guy to put in it! It's a pitcher plant (Sarracenia sp.), native to our region, that I got from the EPA's flower show exhibit for free! They are kind of difficult to grow indoors, but I'm going to try.



So the verdict is that Terrain is amazing for inspiration, but not so amazing on the wallet. Not that I won't go back.

Botanizing the Pine Barrens

M and I visited the Pine Barrens in Wharton State Forest in Central NJ recently and we saw carnivorous plants! Neither of us had ever actually seen carnivorous plants in the wild before so we spent a long time looking at them and taking pictures.

Here's a sundew growing by the side of a stream:




***Gotcha!***

And a pitcher plant growing about a foot away:



Look at those red veins and downward-pointed hairs. The texture is like the soft down of a baby's head.



There were also a huge number of highbush blueberry, mountain laurel, pines, oaks, wintergreen and teaberry. And ticks. Lots and lots of ticks. The trail we hiked on is called the Batona trail (BAck TO NAture). It's a 50 mile trail through the Pine Barrens and southern New Jersey. It's well marked but very narrow, so narrow that we were brushing past bushes most of the time, hence the ticks. But I definitely plan on going back in July when the blubes are ripe!

In California, February showers bring March flowers

I have one more final left, but in the spirit of the warm weather I want to share a few wildflower pics before I start to study for it. The following were taken last spring at the Reeves-Reed Arboretum in NJ where I worked as a children's environmental educator.

Trillium grandiflorum - Snowy White Trillium


Aquilegia canadensis - Columbine


Pulmonaria sp. - Lungwort, cultivar 'Reginald Kaye'


Helleborus foetidus - Stinking Hellebore - it's only called this because the leaves smell bad when you crush them, just like a skunk cabbage. That's a clever adaptation against herbivory; you wouldn't want to keep eating something if it started to smell like skunk as soon as you took a bite.


These two I took this week at the Conservatory:

This is the gorgeous flower of Sparaxis elegans, a South African bulb in the Iris family. The conservatory has a large collection of S African bulb plants and they have been blooming all month. They are all small and brightly colored, though S. elegans has by far the most interesting color combination.


Finally, a nice cactus flower. Cacti are so paradoxical; their flowers are all bright and delicate with lots of soft petals. I'm not sure exactly what cactus this is.