The New Terrarium: Creating Beautiful Displays for Plants and Nature (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Kindra Clineff (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

If you live in the city but want to be close to nature . . .
If you call the countryside home but have no time to step outside . . .
If you are confined to an office fifty hours a week . . .
If your home needs the soothing touch of the natural world . . .

In The New Terrarium, Tovah Martin, one of America’s favorite gardeners, introduces you to the whimsical yet practical world of gardens under glass—a no-fuss way to bring snippets of nature indoors. Wherever you are, in whatever little time you have, terrariums are the perfect tool for nature lovers and gardeners everywhere.

With gorgeous photography, The New Terrarium reveals how this classic garden tool has been reimagined in a modern way. When encased in glass, plants thrive with almost no help from outside their little enclosed world, so you can host a plant almost anywhere—in your apartment where the air is dry or in your cubicle where there’s little natural light. Tucked inside something crystal and contained, the bounty of the forest or treasures from the beach or the meadow can merge seamlessly into your home or office environment. It’s amazing how some frothy fern fronds or colorful blossoms can transform a room by giving it a burst of vibrant green life.

With clear, simple step-by-step instructions and photographs to inspire and guide you along the way, Martin shares her years of experience growing and tending terrariums and shows how terrariums can enrich your life, including:

• different venues for cultivating your terrarium
• plants that flourish in these gardens under glass
• ideas and designs for creating your first terrarium
• how to care for and maintain the environment you’ve made

Martin has designed a unique range of imaginative terrarium projects, including ones that are suitable for children, enliven the seasons, incorporate plant propagation, and show off a nature collection. Whether you are a gardener or city-dwelling nature lover, The New Terrarium is the perfect way to spark your creativity, while helping you to bring your favorite plants into your home and giving them a place to thrive.

When nature is out of arm’s reach and you crave a little greenery, The New Terrarium can show you how to bring all the benefits of the outdoors close to you.

About the Author

TOVAH MARTIN is one of this country’s best-known garden writers and lecturers. She is the author of Tasha Tudor’s Garden, Tasha Tudor’s Heirloom Crafts, Garden Whimsy, A Time to Blossom, Heirloom Flowers, and View from a Sketchbook. A guest and contributor to the PBS television series Cultivating Life, she is also a contributor to Country Home, La Vie Claire, Nature’s Garden, Country Gardens, Garden Design, and Horticulture as well as many other publications. She lives in Roxbury, Connecticut.

Photographer KINDRA CLINEFF specializes in editorial, lifestyle, and travel photography. She regularly produces feature assignments for Nature’s Garden, Country Living, Coastal Living, and Yankee Magazine, and her images have appeared in numerous books and calendars. She lives in Topsfield, Massachusetts.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Clarkson Potter; First Edition edition (February 24, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307407314
• ISBN-13: 978-0307407313
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #40,643 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The New Terrarium, March 28, 2009

By	Diana L. Pederson "Book Reviewer" (Michigan) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The New Terrarium: Creating Beautiful Displays for Plants and Nature
The New Terrarium

What do you picture when talking about a terrarium? Do you have the memory I do of my summer vacations? We summered up at Green Lake for many years. Dad would cut firewood in the woods behind the cottage. Mother would walk back with us kids so we could explore the woods. She gathered moss, decayed wood, a few pine cones, and the tiny British Soldier fungi we found on downed logs. These were carefully protected on our trips home. Then, she'd carefully arrange these treasures in a brandy sniffer terrarium. It served as a vacation reminder until the next summer.

This childhood memory left me with a permanent yearning for a terrarium. Unfortunately, I didn't seem to acquire the knack of putting these together successfully. I've tried various containers including my current 20 gallon long aquariums purchased originally to over winter some carnivorous plants. I've even tried with so called no-fail plants and failed.

Last summer I heard a rumor of a new book on terrariums. It was ordered as soon as amazon.com started taking pre-publication orders. It finally arrived at the end of February. This is one of the few books I've started reading at 11:00 p.m. and stayed awake until I reached the back cover--at about 3:00 a.m.

Tovah Martin and Kindra Clineff (photographer). The New Terrarium. Clarkson Potter Publishers, New York, 2009.

Tovah Martin starts out by defining a "terrarium" and showing us how a simple terrarium can help to connect us with nature even when indoors. She states:

Terrariums can be implements in a makeover. When glass enclosures enter the scene, not only is gardening possible inside your home, it's downright glamorous. The ante is upped as far as aesthetics go. You've elevated houseplants to an art form. ... (page 23)

She discusses all the different terrariums possible in Part 2. This includes anything from a cold frame outside protecting tender plants to canning jars or even to a full size Wardian case inside. The emphasis is on finding some way to keep a plant, enclosed in glass, near your bed, dining table, living room, or that cubicle office, far from a window, where you spend your days.

Now that she has you craving a terrarium she provides instruction to complete the process. She discusses the different containers possible followed by ideas for where a terrarium might fit into your lifestyle. The information includes the basics of planting and maintaining your personal creation. Her ideas will challenge you because she doesn't limit potential plants to our traditional houseplants. She even suggests using some of our perennials such as Heuchera (coral bells). I really appreciate her emphasis on making the terrarium something that satisfies you--not something another person might want.

The final Parts (5 and 6) provide a discussion of suggested plants - ranging from moss to orchids - with a discussion of where they might do well in your home. Of course, emphasis is on matching the plant to your décor and your indoor climate and light conditions. Then she provides some project ideas.

I find the "extras" in this book as important as the main text. Her case study section walks you through creating several projects suitable for a child to those best suited for adults. Her resources include names and addresses for various garden centers, some online sources, and a listing of plant societies that may be interesting to you.

The pictures provided are almost sufficient to make owning this book valuable. When you combine the pictures with the text, you have a book that will send you shopping for some glass containers and plants. I wonder if this book might challenge garden shows - indoors and out - to add a "terrarium" section to their show catalogs.

Do I recommend this book? I don't know why an indoor gardener would want to be without it, if only for the project ideas. May I suggest you order this book from your favorite bookstore or from amazon.com? I am confident that you will enjoy it as much as I do.

om? I am confident that you will enjoy it as much as I do.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Useful and beautiful, March 21, 2009

By	A. Methvin "book lover" (beautiful Asheville, NC) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I checked this new book out from my library to see if I wanted to buy it later on down the road, and I do! The book is beautifully photographed, and it contains very useful information. When I am ready to to start making my terrariums, I will purchase the book. I particularly like the section on appropriate plants-this way I won't have to go to the nursery and wander around like a dumb-dumb! Terrariums are the new hot thing in crafting...so I plan to get started soon.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome Book, March 26, 2009

By	Corey Longstreth "clongstreth" (Athens, OH US of A) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This was a really helpful book that relayed a lot of information I did not know about terrariums, and the creation of a terrarium garden. I found a site that sells the terrarium but I needed to know information on what to put in the terrarium and this book did so. Great Book! If anyone is looking for terrariums check out www.terrariumsale.com that's where I found mine and they have a fast and helpful customer service.