In 1830 the Englishman Nathaniel Ward made an interesting discovery. He found that in a closed container of glass, where there is no circulation of air and water, plants can grow for a long time. This discovery quickly became practical and people began to create mini-gardens in a bottle.
Perhaps, this is the most budgetary way to acquire a flower garden, because all have a suitable glass container. To create a garden in such a container, there must be a peculiar moist microclimate, as well as diffused light. Choose plants with this factor in mind.
How to make a garden in a bottle?
To make a garden in a bottle with their own hands will be needed:
- Glass container. A large glass on the leg, a glass vase, a pot-bellied bottle with a narrow neck, an old aquarium, a jar of unusual shape will do.
- Drainage. Sold in the store already ready. Please note, the smaller the capacity, the drainage is shallower.
- Charcoal. This is important for closed containers, for open containers it is not necessary. Tablets of activated charcoal are suitable.
- Priming. You can buy ready in the flower shop. The earth is filled only by 1/5 of the capacity.
- A pair of sheets of paper, a knife, a fork, a spoon, a stick, a spool of thread. They will help fill the vessel with a narrow neck.
- Decor items. At your choice, you can take dry and clean sand, shell stones, branches, a plastic cup for a pond, a knitted mesh, driftwood, ceramic frogs, moss, ordinary pebbles and the like.
First, put a drain on the bottom of a clean glass container. A layer of 5 cm will save roots from decay and help plants breathe. The conceived landscape will help to realize a different height of the drainage layer.
When the bottle has a narrow neck, fold a sheet of paper into the mouthpiece and guide it to where drainage or soil should lie. On the drain is laid a layer of charcoal, which acts as an antiseptic. Put coal on the coal. If necessary, put the spool on the stick to crush the ground.
Next, armed with a spoon and fork, plant the plants. Spoon a dredge in the ground, use a fork to lower the plant into a container and plant. Earth again around. So all selected plants are planted. After that decorate your garden in a bottle to taste.
It remains only to pour it. There should be very little water. It is enough to wash the glass a little and wet the surface. Leave the container for a while at rest.
If the garden is closed with a lid, please note that immediately the container can fog. Keep the lid open until the condensation disappears. After that, close tightly, because again it will have to open not soon. In a closed capacity, the garden will grow remarkably well without outside help.
Plants for a garden in a bottle
Remember, more than 3-4 plants are not planted in one garden in a bottle. The list of plants that are grown in terrariums or bottles is rather limited. You can not plant fast growing plants here. Flowering plants can be used, but it is difficult to remove faded flowers. To leave them too it is impossible, decomposing, they become a source of various illnesses.
We advise planting only plants with a small root system or without it at all.
For a garden in a bottle,
- Ayr is a cereal Variegata. This evergreen herb is easy to grow with a lack of moisture. The mottled leaves grow to 25 cm.
- Begonia royal with small leaves. It grows to 15 cm in height, looks good in the center.
- The cryptanthus is bromeliad. It is a beautiful herbaceous, steppeless plant 8 cm high. Its small white flowers look very attractive.
- Dracena Sander. It grows rather slowly up to 30 cm.
- Ferns. Particularly suited are the adianum Ruddy, ptyris xiphoid, round-leaved pelella.
- Fittonium Vershaffelta has large olive-green leaves with red veins. Fittonium silver-lily has silvery-white veins on the emerald background. These plants are small, up to 7.5 cm in height.
- Ivy Little Diamond, Tre Coupe, Spetchley.
- Maranta is a low-protein. It has spotted foliage, creeping stems. Height up to 20 cm.
- Pellionium. Has creeping reddish stems. Height 7.5 cm.