Open Halloween Terrarium
The Most Frightful Halloween Decoration with a Creepy Graveyard
Tips for creating plant-powered indoor Halloween decor.
As the air turns crisp and leaves take on their vibrant autumn hues, it can only mean one thing – Halloween is creeping ever closer. Though the jack-o'-lantern is the traditional symbol of this spooky holiday, there's another type of ghoulishly delightful decoration, a Halloween terrarium, to add a touch of eerie enchantment to your home. This miniature, macabre landscape is a fun and creative DIY project that will delight guests and send shivers down their spines. In this article, we'll guide you through the steps to craft your very own indoor Halloween terrarium decoration, allowing you to showcase your spooky spirit with style.
Materials Needed:
1 cylinder vase, approximately 8 inches high and 10 inches wide
1 Lemon button fern (Nephrolepis cordifolia ‘Duffii’) and 1 White Splash polka dot plant (Hypoestes phyllostacha ‘White Splash’), 2-inch pot size. If those are not available, any 2” tropical, humidity-loving plants will work
Potting soil
Expanded organic clay pebbles for hydroponic gardening
Fake or real branch tips, with no leaves
1 piece of dry floral foam, to anchor the branch tips
Natural slate stone pieces, 1/2 to 1 inch in size
Natural looking stones and rocks, either found or purchased
Small plastic pumpkins, approximately 1/2 to 1 inch tall and wide
Mini-pinecones
Live terrarium mosses, such as mood moss, cushion moss, and/or sheet moss.
Preserved reindeer moss, natural and light green colors
Fake spider webbing
1 plastic spider, approximately 1-2 inches in length
15-30 dried Brazilian daisy flowers, natural color
Don’t be afraid to unleash your creative spirit and use these materials and instructions as inspiration for creating your own plant-inspired Halloween terrarium. Use up any dried or preserved floral supplies or small novelty Halloween decorations you may already have on hand!
Get the components ready:
Clean the glass vase in hot, soapy water and dry with a towel. If needed, use a glass cleaner to remove any streaks.
Create a spooky looking tree by anchoring the branch tips in the piece of dry floral foam. Make sure the tips don’t extend past the edge of the glass vase.
Practice first. It’s always a good idea to have a plan before you start. Roughly position your components inside the vase, playing around with the arrangement until you like the way it looks.
Steps to assemble the terrarium:
1. Create a ring of moss, approximately 2 inches high, around the inside of the container. Make sure the green live edge of the moss faces outwards.
2. Position the piece of dry foam with embedded branch tips in the center of the moss ring. Create a thin drainage layer by adding some clay pebbles to the empty area between the foam and moss.
3. Cover the dry foam and clay pebbles with potting soil, taking care not to get the moss dirty. A flexible paper cup is helpful for guiding the dirt into position.
4. Place larger rocks in the container, on top of the dirt.
5. Carefully create holes in the soil and gently position the terrarium plants, ensuring the roots are covered with dirt.
6. Cover the soil with moss. To size the moss, trim with scissors.
7. Create a graveyard by inserting pieces of slate, vertically, into the moss.
8. Decorate the terrarium with stones, reindeer moss, pumpkins, pinecones, and dried flowers. Using a food tweezer simplifies the process of arranging these decorative elements. Use the decorative elements to cover any visible plant roots or patches of dirt.
9. String spider webbing across the branches and place the spider in the center.
10. Take a final look at all the elements and adjust as needed, keeping in mind the terrarium will be viewed from all the way around. Use glass cleaner and a paper towel to wipe away fingerprints and smudges of dirt.
How do I take care of the plants inside my terrarium?
The lemon button fern (Nephrolepis cordifolia ‘Duffii’) is a petite and charming variety of fern that is popular in the world of indoor gardening. It has delicate vibrant green fronds which emit a lemony scent when touched. These ferns require a humid environment and indirect light to thrive, making them well-suited for terrariums.
The ‘White Splash’ polka dot plant (Hypoestes phyllostachya ‘White Splash’) has distinctive dark green foliage with contrasting white splotches, resembling a polka dot pattern. These colorful plants are a popular choice for indoor decoration, providing a visually appealing contrast to other leaf shapes, colors and textures.
Lemon button fern, polka dot plant, and live mosses all thrive in bright, indirect light. They prefer consistent moisture, so it's important to keep the soil evenly moist but not waterlogged.
Every 5-7 days, check the moisture level of the soil and water when the soil feels dry. Water the plants at the base, aiming for the root zone. Use a watering can with a narrow spout or a succulent watering bottle to control the flow and prevent water from splashing onto the glass.
If you notice the moss drying out or the terrarium becoming too dry, mist the moss and the soil lightly with a spray bottle.
This type of arrangement is intended as a seasonal decoration - something to be enjoyed during the weeks leading up to Halloween. When Halloween is over, transplant the lemon button fern and polka dot plant into small pots with drainage holes, and use the moss in another terrarium or dish garden.
