Beach Scene Terrarium

In “New England Under Glass,” Tovah Martin took everything we love about the New England landscape and captured it in a series of lovely terrariums.

Materials to Make a Beach Scene Terrarium

• Open glass container
• 3/8-inch pebbles (for base drainage)
• Horticultural charcoal
• Potting soil
• Bonsai juniper
• Play sand (the type used for sandboxes)
• Small blue pebbles, peastone, or beach glass (for the water)
• Smooth, medium- and large-size river rocks (for the water and beach)
• Preserved reindeer moss (for seaweed)
• Small Tillandsia (air plants)
• Small seashells and mini-starfish
• Wooden coffee stirrers, cut into 2-inch lengths (for the fence)
• Small tree branches, cut into 2-inch sections and split in half with pruning shears (for the steps)

Instructions to Make a Beach Scene Terrarium

1. Wearing gloves, lay 1 to 1-1/2 inches of pebbles into the base of the glass container.
2. Add 1 tablespoon of horticultural charcoal to the bottom layer and mix it with the pebbles.
3. Add 2 inches of potting soil and firm it lightly.
4. Dig a hole in the potting soil, insert the juniper, and firm it into place. Water the juniper lightly.
5. Add the play sand, creating dunes by shaping small hills. Rather than bury the juniper stem, make the sand shallow around it.
6. Create a section of water using the blue stones.
7. Using larger stones, create boulders and texture in the water.
8. Add preserved reindeer moss to look like seaweed.
9. Lay some air plants right on the sand surface.
10. Scatter seashells and mini-starfish around.
11. Stick the coffee-stirrer pieces into the sand to make a fence.
12. Use small branch pieces to make steps in the sand.
13. Water the juniper every 10 days or so. Submerge the air plants in water for 2 to 3 hours every two weeks; then let dry completely.

Tovah Martin

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