How to Create a No-Fuss Garden

If You Prefer a Varied Landscape 

Flowering and foliage plants make a stunning display when arranged inside a Wardian case―a glass-paned terrarium with a hinged vent on top.
 
 What you’ll need: A roomy Wardian case; pebbles or aquarium gravel; activated aquarium charcoal; potting mix; sheet moss; a mister with distilled water; and at least five plants. Real Simple used a parlor palm seedling, a ‘Red Splash’ polka dot, a lady’s slipper orchid, a ‘Pink Starlight’ earth star, a Pearcea, and miniature ivy. Also consider a heart fern, a mosaic plant, a dwarf begonia, creeping fig, and baby’s tears.
 
 How to set it up: Arrange pebbles or gravel, charcoal, and potting mix (see previous slide). Position the plants and lay down sheet moss as desired. Mist the moss and the sides of the container to remove any soil. Cover, but leave the vent open for a day or two to let moisture escape.
 
 Pick a vessel. Slant-roof Wardian case (20 inches high, 14 inches wide, 9 inches deep), $138, Classic Country, 866-980-2211.
 
 

Add moss. To ground the arrangement visually, lay sheet moss on top of the soil.

 

Create drama. A gorgeous orchid is this terrarium’s center of attention. Surround it with plants that won’t steal its thunder.

 View from all angles. Place tall plants in the back and shorter ones in the foreground. If the terrarium will be seen from all sides, position tall plants in the middle.

 Tip: Buy terrarium plants without leaving the house. Check out logees.com, and glasshouseworks.com.