Oh Terrariums, How I Love You!
fantastical terrarium creations at the Vallarta Botanical Gardens
Posted by: Kate Bryant on Jan 14, 2011 at 06:00AM
3 Comments
One of Robert’s counter displays: this one includes a moist terrarium (far right) with humidity-loving plants; a still-life shell and stone terrarium (center) and a terrarium habitat with a live, active tarantula creeping about in it (far left).
View Slideshow » Illustration:Only a thin layer of glass between this tarantula and visitors!
View Slideshow » Illustration:One of many handsome display tables in the open-air main building
View Slideshow » Illustration:Close-up view of venus fly trap plants in a tall, closed, cake-stand terrarium. Venus fly traps require bright light to thrive, although a closed glass terrarium + direct sunlight can = overheating. Perhaps Robert lifts the tops off the terrariums from time to time, allowing jungle breezes to refresh the air.
View Slideshow » Illustration:Another glass cake stand terrarium
View Slideshow » Illustration:A better view inside, with the top lifted off
View Slideshow » Illustration:Robert Price, founder and curator of the Puerto Vallarta Botanical Gardens – also natural history and plant buff and terrarium maker
View Slideshow » Illustration:The “natural history museum” wall and case outside the restrooms at the PV Botanical Garden – a great way to keep the gents occupied while the ladies avail themselves of the facilities!
Another happy discovery I made at the Puerto Vallarta Botanical Gardens – fun terrariums made by the garden’s founder and curator, Robert Price. My photographs do not do them justice! Hopefully you can see beyond the abysmal light and reflective glass to gain a glimpse into the interior of these magical creations populated not only by Vallarta area plants, stone, and shells but also giant, colorful living beetles and spiders. One terrarium contained an enormous, hairy, and beautiful creeping tarantula. Like Mexico’s sometimes rickety city buses and 8-foot high sidewalks without handrails, terrariums containing tarantulas are certainly not something you are likely to find in an American shop!
There are so many kinds of terrariums out there – a rudimentary on-line search will bring up an astonishing array of styles and components, including kitchy figurines and toys, miniature beer cans, plastic plants and garishly colored sands and rocks. But for me, the loveliest terrariums somehow manage to distill nature, allowing people an opportunity to see and relate to the natural world in an intimate way. Thanks to months of close work with Amy Bryant-Aiello for our upcoming book Terrarium Craft, I admit I’ve become a little prejudiced: I’m less fond of fussy, kitschy styles and more partial to earthy, subtly-colored terrariums made from natural – and even local, when possible – materials including plants, mosses, lichens, bark, and insects. Not only are natural terrariums aesthetically delightful and a joy to make; they can also help us all develop a closer relationship to the natural world. And that is a good thing.
Enjoy!
Tags: Slideshow Plant People terrariums
Can’t wait to read your book, Kate!
Thanks Lauren! I’m excited to see it myself…
What’s so cool about Terrarium Containers is that they are easy to take care of since you don’t need to water them that often. Also as a beginner you can often get them pre-planted and built.