Posts by Alexander Whaley

I’ve cracked open more fogged, dying terrariums than I care to admit, and the container was the culprit almost every time. If your glass stays dripping wet, your plants lean toward the light, or...

I’ve watched more than one glass bowl of succulents collapse into mush before they ever threw roots. Friends bring me their terrariums with the same story: “They looked fine for a week, then...

I’ve built enough big terrariums to learn that the base layer decides whether the whole scene looks lush or patchy. Most readers tell me their terrarium floor turns into either a moss swamp or a...

I used to cram tall plants into tiny glass bowls, then wonder why everything stalled or rotted. After a few mushy ferns and a fogged-up jar, I learned that height comes from clever structure, not...

I love the quiet drama of a sealed glass world on a bookshelf. But the first year I kept closed terrariums, I treated them like snow globes I should never touch — and watched ferns melt, moss turn...

I kept stuffing ferns into whatever pretty jar I found and wondering why they fogged up, rotted, or just looked awkward. Once I matched the container shape to the right terrarium type, my builds...