The Cabinet
Every plate below is a vessel we have actually built and kept. The rail shows the most recent additions; the ledger underneath lists the whole cabinet with its measured specs.
closed · 32 cm · 75 days
A narrow-necked demijohn is the classic Victorian bottle garden and still the most demanding closed build you can attempt. The neck is your only access point, which means every layer must be…
closed · 20 cm · 90 days
This build takes four species normally grown submerged in an aquarium and grows them emersed, on a wet sand floor inside a sealed jar. It is the slowest build in the collection — 90 days bef…
closed · 20 cm · 60 days
Every sealed terrarium eventually accumulates dead plant matter, and in a sealed vessel that matter has nowhere to go. This build solves it biologically: a culture of springtails turns the j…
closed · 24 cm · 45 days
A tall apothecary jar with a glass stopper gives you something a mason jar cannot: vertical room. That changes the plant list entirely — you can build a stratified woodland floor rather than…
closed · 17 cm · 30 days
A screw-band mason jar is the cheapest reliable closed terrarium on earth, and it is unforgiving in exactly one way: you cannot reach inside it. That single constraint drives every decision …
Sortable by reading down: container form, settled height, light demand and days to establish.
| Vessel | Form | Size | Light | Settle | Level | Strata |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Three-Strata Bottle Garden: Planting Through a 4 cm Neck Sheet moss (Hypnum cupressiforme) · Mind-your-own-business (Soleirolia soleirolii) · Ivory fern (Pteris cretica 'Albolineata') | Closed | 32 cm 3 L |
Medium Sealed loop |
75 d | Advanced | |
| Culture Jar: A Slow-Growing Aquascape in Dry Air Novecento moss (Taxiphyllum barbieri, terrestrial form) · Bucephalandra (Bucephalandra pygmaea) · Christmas moss (Vesicularia montagnei) | Closed | 20 cm 2 L |
Low Sealed loop |
90 d | Advanced | |
| Microfauna Jar: A Closed Terrarium With a Cleanup Crew Sphagnum moss (Sphagnum palustre, live) · Oakleaf creeping fig (Ficus pumila quercifolia) · Round-leaved sundew (Drosera rotundifolia) | Closed | 20 cm 2.3 L |
Low Sealed loop |
60 d | Advanced | |
| Apothecary Woodland: A Low-Light Haircap Moss Floor Haircap moss (Polytrichum commune) · Wild violet (Viola sororia) · Liverwort (Marchantia polymorpha) | Closed | 24 cm 3.2 L |
Low Sealed loop |
45 d | Intermediate | |
| The Sealed Mason Jar: A 1.9 L Closed Moss Terrarium Cushion moss (Leucobryum glaucum) · Sheet moss (Hypnum cupressiforme) · Button fern (Pellaea rotundifolia) | Closed | 17 cm 1.9 L |
Medium Sealed loop |
30 d | Beginner |
These notes describe cultivation practice only. They are informational and are not horticultural, medical or investment advice; results depend on your own light, water and climate.
