Make a Halloween Terrarium

If you want a fun project for Halloween that will lend a spooky air to your décor, plant and decorate a terrarium. Created in decorative glass bowls and hanging globes and filled with small plants and accessories, these miniature gardens thrive indoors.

You may remember terrariums as popular in the 1960s and 1970s, but the truth is they date back to the early 19th century when they were a common sight in Victorian households. The ladies back then placed ferns under leaded glass and mounted them on ornate, wrought-iron stands.

“Today there are many more plant and accessory options for terrariums,” says Ted Mayeda, manager of M & M Nursery in Orange, Calif. He creates open-air terrariums with no lid and closed terrariums, decorating them for the various holidays and seasons. Here he shares his tips for creating an eye-catching terrarium.

Choose a container. Good terrarium options are large enough to allow room for creating a scene and have a big enough opening that you can fit your hands in for planting and adding accessories.

Prepare for planting. Add to the bottom of the container a ¼" layer of gravel, a ½" layer of charcoal, a ¼" layer of sphagnum moss, and a 4" layer of potting soil.

Plant selection. Use small plants that are 2 to 4 inches in height and width. Purchase plants that are slow-growing and adapted to terrarium culture. Good selections include miniature African violets, maidenhair fern, fig vine (Ficus repens), mosses like kyoto and selaginella, dwarf anthurium, Neanthe bella palm, pink polka-dot plant (hypoestes), and some types of ivy.

Plant. Place plants close together in the terrarium to create a pleasing scene. Pat the soil down gently around the plant roots.

Accessorize. Choose from small Halloween décor items like ghosts and goblins and black cats, or dress up existing accessories by adding items like witches hats and pumpkins. (Keep in mind that you can switch out the accessories as the holidays and seasons change.)

Locate your terrariumindoors in a bright location. Avoid putting the terrarium in direct sunlight, because it may become too hot and fry the plants.

Lidded terrarium care. Closed terrariums will become covered in a light condensation. If conditions become excessively moist at any point, take off the lid for a while until the interior dries by 50 percent or so. Many lidded terrariums require very little water because of the condensation. If the interior does dry out, Mayeda suggests watering with a turkey baster by dribbling the water in the interior.

Open terrarium care. Since they are exposed to the home’s dry air, open terrariums require watering once or twice a week with a turkey baster when they show signs of drying out. Avoid overwatering terrariums, which can lead to root rot.

Maintenance. Established terrariums require very little care. Trim growth every two to three months or when the plants start to outgrow their space. Avoid fertilizing, because doing so causes unwelcome growth.