first orchid blossom and bloomin' moss

Weeks later, the first orchid blossom has opened!  Well, mostly.  The top two petals haven't quite opened up but I had to share the photo.  One more blossom is fat and almost open, plus the rest of the sprig that's still probably another week or two away.  There should be flowers open now for several more months.

Also, my terrarium has already started to thrive.  Some of the clusters are getting long and shaggy, others are are growing little red pin-pricks of "flowers".  Right click and select "view image" to see it close up to get a closer view.  I'm really happy with this little terrarium, it makes me happy to see it when I'm at the kitchen sink.

my little terrarium

Months ago I got it in my head to put together a little terrarium for the kitchen window.  I got the idea from the website Etsy (an amazing website of hand-made and vintage stuff) and thought to myself, why pay money for that when I could make one myself?

All it takes to start is a decent-sized jar, I got this one from an Op-Shop for a few bucks.  I was very happy to find one with a nice glass lid.  Then you just fill it with a little bit of dirt, rocks, or sand, whatever looks prettiest.  I recommend putting it on a bit of a slant to make it easier to see.  Then have a look around your garden for some moss - check a shady corner of your lawn or the cracks in your driveway.  Lay it on the soil, filling in to cover the whole surface, and give it a little bit of water.  Once you put the lid on, you shouldn't have to water it again for months.

Many terrariums come with little plants in them but I quickly learned that doesn't really work.  This is a photo of my first go: I chose some moss from my lawn that had a few little oxalis in it.  They were so tiny, I thought they'd be perfect for a terrarium.  But within a few weeks they'd done this - grew long and lanky and filled the whole thing.  Now some people might think this looks cool but I just thought it looked ugly.  So this weekend I finally got around to starting over.

This time I decided to use some pebbles as well as soil, and just stick with the moss.  If you look around you might find there are actually several different types of moss about, I think I found three.  It doesn't look like much in this photo (I hadn't watered it yet and the moss was very parched).  But already I can see some of the moss putting up little tiny "flowers".  They're not proper flowers but they look like little crane bills.  When they get bigger I'll try to get a photo.

What I really need next is a little ornament to attract the eye, like a little red mushroom, a tiny birdbath, or (the thing that first caught my eye on Etsy) a tiny person pushing a lawnmower.