What Is A Terrarium?
So first up, what is a terrarium? This might seem like a simple enough question, but the better you understand the answer, the easier caring for your terrarium is going to be.
Like many great things, the terrarium was invented by accident. Whilst working on an experiment, a botanist left a plant in a sealed jar. A few days later he made an observation: condensation had formed on the glass, and the plant looked healthy. And so the terrarium was born.
The invention spread like wildfire through Victorian Europe, giving people the chance to maintain all sorts of exotic plants. And in recent years, the terrarium has made a huge comeback.
So. It’s basically a sealed glass container, filled with plants and soil. Sounds simple enough, right?
But in their simplicity lies their genius.
Terrariums create a unique environment for their plants. The glass lets light and heat in, but the sealed container stops water vapour from escaping. So the water condenses and is reabsorbed by the plants, forming a self-contained ecosystem. In other words, your plants recycle their own water, maintaining themselves with little upkeep required.
