Home & Garden Highlight: Terrariums

Fun, easy, and suitable for all lifestyles, terrariums are a great way to bring life into any space.  Listed below are books with information and step-by-step instructions for creating your very own miniature garden.

Recommended Reading

Terrarium: 33 Glass Gardens to Make Your Own , book cover

Terrarium: 33 Glass Gardens to Make Your Own by Anna Bauer

This comprehensive guide to the world of terrariums details every part of creating highly unusual and beautiful miniature indoor gardens. Easy to make, these 33 unique terrarium projects are inspired by ecosystems around the world, including a fern-filled Black Forest from Germany, a delicate bonsai garden from Kyushu in the south of Japan, and a tableau of olive and thyme from the shores of the Sea of Galilee in Israel. Lush photography and helpful insider tips and tricks round out this one-of-a-kind handbook. With a variety of projects and plenty of step-by-step instructions covering every element of crafting a terrarium, anyone can fashion a stunning piece of living art.



Tiny World Terrariums: A Step-by-Step Guide to Easily Contained Life , book cover

Tiny World Terrariums: A Step-by-Step Guide to Easily Contained Life by Michelle Inciarrano

Terrariums are a vibrant, unique way to inject a little greenery into any home. In Tiny World Terrariums, authors Katy and Michelle of Brooklyn’s celebrated Twig Terrariums offer step-by-step instructions for building your own, from selecting glass containers to layering soil and filtration to adding moss, succulents, and other plants. To give each terrarium a whimsical, personal touch, Katy and Michelle demonstrate how to use tiny figurines and toys to create to-scale scenes, such as a couple at their wedding, a CSI crime scene, and Central Park in springtime. Photos of gorgeous finished terrariums and detailed instructions will empower anyone—whether green-thumbed or not—to create their own Lilliputian worlds.



Creative Terrariums: 33 Modern Mini-Gardens for Your Home , book cover

Creative Terrariums: 33 Modern Mini-Gardens for Your Home by Enid Gonzalez

Modern apartment dwellers who want to enjoy green growing things often lack the space for a garden. But if you have any room at all you can create a beautiful terrarium! This book shows how to build and maintain unique mini-gardens full of lush, oxygen-boosting plants. Craft blogger Enid Gonzalez presents 31 cutting-edge, contemporary terrarium designs that will add a decorative organic presence to even the smallest room. Each imaginative project features inexpensive materials, common plants, and step-by-step building instructions. Creative Terrariums also includes expert advice for terrarium maintenance, making it the indispensable reference for this satisfying and sustainable hobby.



Miniature Terrariums: Tiny Glass Container Gardens Using Easy-to-Grow Plants and Inexpensive Glasswa, book cover

Miniature Terrariums: Tiny Glass Container Gardens Using Easy-to-Grow Plants and Inexpensive Glasswa by Fourwords

Terrarium gardening offers unlimited gardening possibilities, even when space is limited. Although terrariums have been around since Victorian times, Japanese garden design has perfected the art form with a modern and minimalist twist. The container gardening trend fits well with the small-space living concept refined in Japan and elsewhere.



Terrariums Reimagined: Mini Worlds Made in Creative Containers, book cover

Terrariums Reimagined: Mini Worlds Made in Creative Containers by Kat Geiger

Author Kat Geiger’s unique approach to designing mini gardens in glass makes it easy to turn imaginative ideas into stylish showpieces, blooming decor and fabulous gifts. This book provides everything you need to know about making terrariums, whether you’re a novice or an expert, including step-by-step photos, helpful gardening advice, and tips and tricks on how to find the perfect repurposed vessels for your creations.



Terrarium Craft: Create 50 Magical, Miniature Worlds , book cover

Terrarium Craft: Create 50 Magical, Miniature Worlds by Amy Bryant Aiello

Terrarium Craft features fifty original designs that you can re-create or use as inspiration for your own design. Each entry comes with clear step-by-step directions on how to assemble and care for your terrarium. You’ll also find helpful information about selecting a container, using appropriate materials, choosing the right plants, and maintaining your terrarium. (Hint: It’s easy! In fact, many terrariums are self-sustaining, requiring no maintenance whatsoever!)



Glass Gardens: Easy Terrariums, Aeriums, and Aquariums for Your Home or Office , book cover

Glass Gardens: Easy Terrariums, Aeriums, and Aquariums for Your Home or Office by Melanie Florence

Not everyone can be Martha Stewart, and luckily you don’t need to be to create beautiful terrariums to display in your space or to give as a gift. With simple instructions and a relaxed and pleasant tone, Glass Gardens speaks to the beginner terrarium-maker as a best friend would over a cup of coffee or tea. You won’t find any overly elaborate or complicated projects here! With just a few supplies and a small amount of time, you’ll have a gorgeous centerpiece to display or give away.

Learn how to create stunning, easy-to-maintain terrariums with cacti and succulents, as well as water terrariums (aquariums) with plants you can buy at your local pet store and air terrariums (aeriums), which are by far the easiest type of terrarium to create and keep alive.



Miniature Garden Grower , book cover

Miniature Garden Grower by Holly Farrell

This book from garden designer and writer Holly Farrell shows how to grow a variety of miniature gardens from scratch, using inexpensive, everyday equipment and materials. Projects include: one-pot gardens, terrariums, wildlife gardens, water gardens, herb gardens and vertical gardens. Heavily illustrated with diagrams and photographs, and packed with charts and tables, this book is a gardening book the whole family can enjoy.



Additional Reading

The Inspired Houseplant , book cover
Miniature Gardens , book cover
The New Terrarium , book cover
Bring the Outside in , book cover