Imagine beautiful species of fish in the glass jar. In much the same way, plants can also be grown inside the bottle. As showpiece, they enhance the décor of your drawing room. That’s bottle- garden for you! “Bottle gardens — or terrariums — are miniature, self contained eco-systems. Once created, these closed environs can go for month unattended without even adding water,” explains Radhika Anand, a resident of Faridabad in Haryana, who has mastered the art of bottling up gardens in small glass containers.

“The plants transpire moisture through their leaves, which then condenses on the glass, and flows back to the soil. This ‘rain effect’ allows the terrarium to go on for weeks without watering,” she says. Growing of plants inside a glass container is comparatively a new concept. Besides serving as decorative pieces, these containers can also help in the growing of plants like mint and coriander needed in home kitchens as day-to-day cooking ingredients. With the growing urbanization and the view of natural surroundings getting scarce day by day, this concept also proves helpful for plant lovers to view nature’s beauty right inside their homes. Some common plants used for creating these gardens are Poinsettia Aphelandra, Bougainvillea, Money plant, Wandering Jew, Fittonia, Peperomia, Cynthia, Drasena, Succulent, Sedum and so on. Some exotic plants like lvy and Nana also go into these bottled gardens. It took Radhika two years to understand the concept of terrariums as she had to experiment with a lot of permutations and combinations before arriving at the perfect method to create these gardens. There are two types of terrariums — open and closed ones. Open terrariums are bigger in size and can be placed in balconies, whereas closed ones are smaller and are usually kept indoors.

Almost any glass bottle, jar, jug, or fish tank can be used as a terrarium, says Radhika. The life of these creations can extend from six months to a year, after which the plants are replaced with new ones. No seed or sapling but a full grown plant is used for terrariums. One can use these terrariums effectively in the kitchen as mini kitchen gardens too. In fact, these bottled gardens can be a boon for the kitchen, if several herbs like basil, mint, and coriander are grown, according to the culinary needs. “Whatever you need while cooking, you can just open a bottle, pick and pinch it in your recipe, there and then,” advises Radhika. Terrariums are also used for decorative purposes. Closed ones can be used as tables while the open ones that are smaller in size can be kept on shelves or tables. For the upkeep of these terrariums, Radhika’s paradoxical advice is, “Neglect is the best method of care. They need only a little sunlight (never expose the bottle gardens to the sun for too long) and nothing else from the outside.”

Once placed right, terrariums require low maintenance and minimum fuss. For all the plant lovers eager to give shape to a bottle garden of their own, Radhika details the following steps :