Using a glass cookie jar, I made this terrarium back in late December before the snow and freezing temps closed the window of opportunity of foraging in the woods, but I never got around to sharing it here. I guess better late than never, right?
Two types of moss, two types of lichen, two forms of fungi and a woodland sedge (Carex blanda) are the live features; a clustered white quartz crystal and a very real-looking newt (a toy from my son’s childhood) are the non-living parts.
Thanks to Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for hosting the In a Vase on Monday meme. Click the link to see what others are sharing as spring in the northern hemisphere, and autumn in the southern, unfolds.
Eliza Waters 
What a wonderful “vase” for this Monday 🙂
Thank you, Dale. Won’t be much longer before I can offer real vases from my garden again. 🙂
I don’t doubt that for a second 🙂
🙂
That is a very real looking newt. I was wondering. Anyway, sweet arrangement.
Thank you, Laurie. I figured I’d best let folks know right off. 😉 Toys can be very realistic these days.
I guess so. I enlarged the picture for a closer look and still couldn’t tell.
Very fun! My granddaughters would love this project.
It is a fun project for kids. You can buy little plants at box stores or forage like I did. For your climate, maybe an open shallow container with succulents (or a ‘friendly’ cactus or two) with decorative stones? It could be left outside, too. Easy care!
Yes! The girls love to plant succulents in containers…you’re right, for our dry climate a terrarium may not be appropriate.
A perfect vase for the weather now….damp, green and squishy. Bringing the woods indoors. I have wanted to do this but never got around to it.
Thanks, Donna. ‘Bringing the woods indoors’ was definitely my motivation. I miss it when it is all covered up with snow and ice. 🙂
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🙂
That is adorable! Love the lifelike newt to give me a jolt too 🤣
🙂 Thank you, Val. It was perfect for it, been hanging around for years waiting for another opportunity to shine.
So creative, Eliza!
Thank you, Sandy. A gardener without a garden to play in is a sad thing. 😉
Sure is!
That’s wonderful, Eliza! Your props were perfectly chosen too.
Thank you, Kris! 🙂
The quartz is interesting (I’ve had a life-long affinity for quartz…you wouldn’t believe the rocks & huge stones here)…the whitish funghi is nice & the sedge…is that the grassy? No creatures hitch-hiked? New meme: In a Cookie Jar on Monday!
Ha, cookie jar sans cookies. 😉 Yes, sedge is a grass. The fungi got old and was removed, but the sedge and moss have grown happily. No hitchhikers found, everything was pretty clean.
You’ve done a great job. I wonder how old the oldest of these is. The newt made me smile. I thought it was real for a moment.
Thank you, Susan. The moss was so pretty, I had to bring some of it in. It has grown tall since, but the fungi had to be discarded.
A fun idea and very attractive too 😊
Thank you, Belinda. 🙂
What a great terrarium! I had one, years ago, made from indoor plants in an unused fish tank. It worked well, until ants found it. 😉
Then it turned into an ant farm, lol! Thanks, Joanne. 🙂
It did! 🤣
What a fascinating terrarium and love the toy!🙂
🙂 Thanks!
A textural showcase, Eliza. Mosses are a curious part of nature and so appealing.
Thank you, Susie. It’s a fun little curiosity. I’ve not made one in decades.
You forgot to mention that the quartz crystal was found only a few miles away from all the other stuff you foraged. So it’s all local! Very neat!
Sweet!
Terrariums were such a cool fad in the 1970s. I have not seen one in quite a while.
Creative.
What a lovely idea Eliza! So little and yet so much to gaze on over the winter months. And I bet that moss is full of life almost invisible to the eye as well. It’s a jar full of real treasures!
What a great arrangement, and since I love mosses, lichen and fungi I may well be trying such an arrangement. Thanks for inspiring me.
What a great woodland terrarium. I would have never thought of that. Applause to your creative thinking.
Inspired! It’s like having a walk in the forest brought inside. I love it and the newt is a perfect touch.
Thank you, Barbara. Exactly my motivation… access to my summer woods. 😉
Your terrarium, with its little resident, brought to mind one of my readers, whose children have a pet named Dart. He’s not a newt but a gecko: but still! I think Dart would approve of your arrangement!
Ha, cute. I could imagine creating a world for some little critter. Thanks, Linda!
what a delightful little world!
Thank you, C. A little bit of the woods taken inside to enjoy in the winter.
Quite impressive and I thought that was a real newt! Well done.
Thank you, Monika. It is very realistic!
Oh I am so glad you chose to share this with us, Eliza, reminding people that it doesn’t have to be flowers that we feature on IAVOM. You must have enjoyed observing this terrarium throughout the winter – it’s such a great idea (and the lizard is so realistic!)
Thank you, Cathy… I lift the lid and it smells like earth! 🙂
Ooh, I really like that idea!
I’m glad you pointed out that the newt isn’t alive — I’d have thought otherwise, he’s so real-looking!
I didn’t want anyone to think I was holding wildlife hostage, lol!
A window into another world. 🙂
Truly! 🙂
I was wondering about that newt. It looks very much real and in place, it even matches the colors of one of the lichens (I think).
Yes, an old toy of my son’s that has been ‘living’ amongst my potted plants found a new home. She’s very happy. 😉
👍
Wonderful colors and textures. Is the sedge a good thing? It has lasted really well. I have seen some 50 year old terrariums.
Not sure if this one will last, but I’ll try. The sedge won’t get too large, but will probably want to spread. We have several species of sedge in our woods and there is a really annoying one that loves to colonize my garden called nut sedge… it drives me nuts (hehe)… the name actually refers to the seeds.
LOL, I have had nut sedge everywhere I have lived. Amazing.
Like a strange little forest or a pre-historic world!
Thanks, Andrea. It was a fun little project. 🙂
Sweet. We made these when I taught horticulture. One student got his hand stuck in his jar.
Oh, gosh, that must have put him off terrariums for life, lol!
He was a basketball player with big hands. We had to find a bigger jar. What a fiasco!
Loving the little newt peeping out.
Thanks, Jill. Just a bit of whimsy!
That’s very cool and I love the little lizard addition!
Thank you, Denise!