Posts by Alexander Whaley

I’ve built more terrariums than I can count, and the first time I crammed desert cacti under a sealed cloche, I cooked them with stagnant, wet air. If your glass stays fogged, your cacti rot —...

The first time my air plant terrarium stank, I assumed the glass needed a wipe. Two days later the smell was worse, and the Tillandsia tips were browning. I learned the hard way that every odor...

I learned quickly that not every succulent forgives cramped glass. My first shoebox-sized terrarium looked tidy for two months, then several plants stretched, sulked, and split their rosettes trying...

I’ve built more succulent terrariums than I care to admit, and my first month with each one always tells the truth. The glass fogs, leaves wrinkle or swell, and a little fungus gnat tries to move...

I’ve built terrariums that looked like tiny jungles on day one and turned into brown soup by week three. The problem wasn’t my glass or my soil — it was plant combos that fought each other in...

I’ve watched more than one pretty succulent terrarium slide into mush because I treated it like a houseplant in a pot. If you’ve seen leaves turn translucent, smelled a sour funk, or spotted...