Spring Mini "Terrariums"

 The last remnants of the big snowstorm we had a few weeks ago is finally melting from my North-facing front lawn.  This is the spot in my yard that takes forever to melt.  Truth be told, it really has been an easy winter but, when that last patch of snow finally melts away I can actually think that Spring is on its way!  With that encouraging thought, it was time to bring the hope of spring inside the house.  What better way to think of spring than to buy some daffodil and/or hyacinth plants?  These beauties were the inspiration for me to design my springtime mini terrariums.

I found cocktail glasses, blue pebbles and Spanish moss at the Dollar Store and the daffodils and hyacinths at Trader Joe's, the start of the necessary materials!

 The first step to my mini terrariums was to add the pebbles to the bottom of the cocktail glasses.  The robin egg blue pebbles invoke the idea of spring, don't you think?

 Next I added a layer of Spanish moss.  The moss is supposed to keep the potting soil from sifting into the pebbles.  You can also add activated charcoal between the pebbles and the moss, if you would like.  The charcoal is supposed to keep the soil fresh and helps ward off germs and odors.  Since I didn't expect the daffodils to last very long, I decided to skip that step.  If I were making a larger, more traditional terrarium, I might have tried harder to find the activated charcoal.

 Next came the potting soil.  A regular old kitchen spoon works very well for this step.   

I took the daffodil and hyacinth bulbs out of the pots and gently placed them in the glass containers and added more soil around the base of the flower bulb.

Here you can see the layers of the terrarium; the blue pebbles,


Spanish moss and soil.

The finishing touch was tying green and blue ribbons around the top of the glasses.  As per usual, I thought the terrariums needed something "more" to finish off the look.  If I were to make these terrariums again, I might use wider ribbon next time.

I have taken liberty with the word terrarium because traditional terrariums usually have the plants inside their containers, whereas the plants in my terrariums are on top.  Traditional terrariums can even have a glass cover.  Mine are an edited version of the pure form.  Nonetheless, I think they would make great hostess gifts for Easter...just 
a thought :).

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