Tabletop nature

When I was a kid the last thing I wanted to do was gardening. Scratch that. The *very* last thing I wanted to do was yard work. I hated picking up sticks (making this ironic), weeding the garden, picking vegetables, planting plants, pruning, etc. So it's pretty funny, at least to my parents, that I have a more-than-slight interest in gardening now. I still don't like the work but I like the results.

I guess that's why this flickr set appealed to me. No maintenance, no ongoing mess, but a mellow, rewarding green. To make it work I raided my collection of old canning jars. I recruited my husband to locate some moss for me. A pretty mean feat considering the drought my area has seen in recent years. He brought home a box load that I've used in many other projects. At first I was upset that the moss still had red clay attached but as I created the appropriate layers in the jar I enjoyed that bit of striation more than I would have thought.

I added pebbles, potting mix, and moss. A bit of water and the tops went on. I haven't watered them since. They sit on our table and we've watched the individual mosslings grow over an inch tall in all their fuzzy glory. The glass has taken on a certain haze that makes the whole thing seem enchanted or dreamy. I guess they've been in place for 4 months now.

The kids helped me create a semi tererrium from an old cookie/cracker jar based on this how to. We put in a pebble stream bed, and a few indoor plants. The spider plant is really too big for the area but it was on hand and I like the prehistoric look it gives the tableau. This one has no lid and I water it as I remember to. The moss didn't fare as well in this open air setting. My 6yo, in particular, enjoys that the deer are looking out at us each evening.