Miniature world

My Terrarium. A Miniature Garden in a larger one.

Terrarium, a photo by Taking5 on Flickr.

Every time I go to the Singapore Garden Festival, I spend some time at the Bazaar area looking at the terraria on sale and wondering whether this is the year I will buy one. But my mother would discourage me, commenting unfavourably on the prices and saying that if I left it in her hands, she could produce a terrarium which was just as nice.

The high prices as well as my mother's comments put me off the purchase and I am glad that I held off now.

Of course, my mother never got round to making a terrarium for me. But her brother (my uncle) got into his terrarium phase and started putting a number of little gardens together. He made this charming little terrarium for me. I find it really quite fascinating - this tiny self-contained world of plants, soil, water and air. The plants happily photosynthesise, releasing their oxygen by day and their carbon dioxide by night. The water evaporates, condenses on the sides of the container and trickles back in. Tiny little mites are observed crawling on the leaves... I've decided to just let them be.

Best of all, I don't need to do anything to maintain it, aside from occasionally opening the container when the condensation is a little excessive or to remove a dead leaf (not that there are many).

To thank my uncle I bought him some replacement containers ... for him to create another garden to brighten someone else's day.