Growing a Garden of Cacti and Succulents!

As you know, I have been obsessed with the whole terrarium thing lately.  I don't think I have to re-explain that one.  I have literally been all over the internet at the couple of surrounding towns trying to find places to go that will sell succulents to buy and cool looking cacti.  There are a couple of places close to me that are supposed to carry some awesome succulents so I cannot wait to get there to try some but for now these great ones from Lowes are going to have to do.  

Since my last post, I visited Lowes again to check out the selection.  Upon first walking in, I didn't see anything and I got worried because I thought the succulents and cacti had gone 'out of season' or something.  I carried on looking though and found a HUGE section of amazing looking ones inside!  I was so happy because they were even better looking ones than last time so I took FULL advantage.

As you can see here, the top cactus is a beautifully vibrant orange.  I thought this was perfect for the fall coming up.  I don't know why I feel the necessity to match the color with the season but as you will soon see, I didn't do that for everything.  Orange is my favorite color though so when I saw this one, I just could not pass it up.  On the left, that succulent is apparently called 'E.T.'s Fingers.'  I thought that was so hilarious and I just generally LOVED the look and color of them.  Take a closer look:

How stunning is this orange?  Absolutely beautiful:

Tbqh, I don't know what this next succulent is called and I completely forgot to look it up.  I love the speckled look of it though because it brings something different and it's not as 'traditional looking:'

Another thing I wanted to mention is that as you can tell, I decided to put these in mason jars.  They look absolutely adorable!  This was not my original plan though as I had wanted to put them in one long glass, rectangular shaped planter.  (Not sure if you know what I'm talking about so let me insert a picture).  This one is from Crate&Barrel and looks a little darker than normal glass, I would want normal glass, but I think it just looks this way because of how it was photographed.  I mainly wanted you to understand the shape I wanted.  I really wanted to line up the plants because I love that look.  I was unfortunately unable to find literally ANYTHING like this anywhere near me and I'm not keen on order glassware online.  Really sucks but I decided to go with mason jars for the ones I've planted so far and I don't hate it!  We will see what happens with the others I have left to plant...

How STUNNING is this color?  Amazing!  This is what I mean about not always matching the colors with the seasons.  I don't always and this is a perfect example of it.  I couldn't pass up the color and the name of this specific one is 'Gymnocalycium mihanovichii Hibotan.'  A mouthful for sure!

This one is so interesting!  I saw it and HAD TO HAVE IT as soon as I saw it.  It is a Cactus Strawflower called 'Golden Barrel/Echinocactus grusonii.'  These names though!

Not sure if you were able to see on the 'Still to plant' photo but I got the E.T.'s Fingers for $1!  I was so excited about it.  Although these plants are pretty inexpensive, it never hurts to see whats on the sale planter, they usually have a bunch of things over there!  Not to mention, you might get inspiration for making something else!  After all, I did go from making a terrarium to putting random cacti in mason jars and I am NOT MAD AT IT thank you very much, lol!  

Have you done this?  I can't wait to see what I actually decide to do with the other plants that I haven't sorted out yet.  Hopefully one of the planters that I want actually shows up somewhere around me.  If you have any suggestions on where I can get one, please let me know!  Send me a tweet or leave me a comment and thank you so much for reading as always!  Talk to you soon.  -Brit.  

Terrariums Rock!

OH MY GOODNESS EVERYONE.  Stop the presses.  I cannot tell a lie, I have been dying to make a terrarium for the longest time now.  And I didn't want to make it based off of anyone else's tutorial, I wanted to make my own.  The only thing I googled in my pursuit of making these was just to see if there was anything that I HAD TO include (for the health, growth and development of the plants).  

This post is going to be definitely picture heavy because I want to inspire you guys to make your own, not tell you how to make it.  I'll offer some pointers but there really isn't one way to make these and thats the beauty of it all!  My original intention was to make my own and I want it to be the same for you.  

Here are some of the plants that I bought form my local Lowe's store.  I decided to go there because I know they have a HUGE garden center so I figured they would have at least a small section of succulents and definitely some other things that I could include and that I was going to need.  

These cacti are gorgeous.  The colors are so wonderful and vibrant.  I wasn't thinking seasonally about the hues at all but these are gorgeous for the bright aspects of summer but also warm to bring in fall.  

Here are the succulents, a random palm plant and two others that I am not sure the names of.  I wish I had saved the containers that they came in, sadly I threw them away.  Next time I head back to pick up some more I will make sure to tell you all!  I am definitely planning on going back to get things to make another one for my best friend.  She recently got her first place thats her very own and I figured this would be a PERFECT housewarming present for her!  Plus, she knows how obsessed I am, she's been listening to me talk about terrariums for the past month, so she's probably expecting one at this point.  

Sorry for the blur of this photo but I just wanted to show you that I picked some stones from my backyard to put in this terrarium.  I think its absolutely ridiculous to think that I would have to buy stones from the store.  Even if you don't have stones in your backyard, walk a little bit down the road and I would almost guarantee that you'll find some.  That's the beauty of this, you can find materials anywhere as you will see with the sand I also included in one of the terrariums I made.

I was basically in awe when I found this Miracle Grow potting mix that was specifically for cactus, palm and citrus.  Although I obviously wont be putting any citrus in my terrarium, I can feel free to experiment planting some if I wanted to.  On the other side of things, I have exactly what I need for the cactus and palm to last as along as possible!

As I referenced above, you can go out into the natural habitat and get the resources that you need to make it your own!  I am super lucky enough to live on the water and I am thankful for that.  We have a mini private beach below and I got some of the sand from there to include in the bottom of my terrarium.  When I was thinking out and planning how I wanted it to look, sand was a necessity.  

Here are the sand and the potting soil mixed together for the first layer.  

Here's the finish product from a birds eye view of the first terrarium I made!  What do you think?

How gorgeous is this palm plant?  When I saw it on the shelf I knew it was a bit too big and probably going to be a challenge, but I wanted to get my hands on it anyway.  I actually was so proud when I found a way to make it work.  When I was shopping around for my second jar to use, this one was perfect to house the palm plant.  

I really hope you guys got inspired by my terrariums!  I seriously think this is the most calm, cathartic project to do!  I did it over the Labor Day weekend and it was just so fun.  You are totally open to do whatever you want with it and make it your own.  I absolutely love how both of them came out.  Just for some takeaways: I would definitely like to make one of a different shape next time, especially dealing with a bigger plant like the palm plant so it doesn't look so much like it's pushing that red cactus plant.  I still love the way it looks, but that's just the way I would approach it next time.  Also, I LOVE how the soil looks piled a little bit higher in the second terrarium with the red cactus.  Next time I think I'll use some sand and maybe layer it differently to get a similar look.

Let me know what you think!  Have you guys done this before?  Send me some photos on Twitter or leave a comment below.  Also, if you live in the South/Central New Jersey are and know where to get some awesome succulents, let me know!  I have Googled a little and found some places to check out but I want to know if my fellow Jerseyans have any suggestions.  Thanks for reading!  -Brit.

EDIT 9/28/14:

Check out my latest terrarium post!