succulent terrarium | Planting Sequoias

I’m just gonna get it out there…

I’ve already killed one of the plants in my terrarium.

Now that it’s out in the open, we can move along to more fun things.

Like plastic animals.

The turtle I recently adopted from Massachusetts, but the little elephant and dinosaur were Kenny’s when he was a youngster. I had way too much fun going through his action figures to select the ones that would come home with me.

I picked these up from his parents’ house so I could disguise the gaping hole that was left in my terrarium after the recent plant death.

The elephant in the back, though he would look awesome and majestic in a terrarium habitat, is meant for a different crafty idea.

It’s sort of weird–all of the plants were thriving and I was quite proud of myself, but then one day I noticed a dead leaf on one of the plant. The next day, it was 5 dead leaves. The next day, the whole thing was a withered mess. I will spare you that picture.

But check out the height of the tallest plant–it’s totally grown!

See? Here’s the original terrarium pic. Yes, it was the finger-like one that died.

I miss those groping fingers…

…but am quite enjoying the company of those new disproportionate critters.

For one of my bridal showers before the wedding, my awesome mother-in-law got me a terrarium (possibly because I had been not-so-subtly lusting after hers).

To make a long story short: I killed it. Well, more specifically, I made it move to the garage because some fruit flies had taken up residence in it and would not leave, no matter how I threatened them.

A few weeks ago, I rehabbed the terrarium and bought this lovely succulent guy from the Fulton Street Farmer’s Market.

It stayed like this for a few weeks…and then an opportunity presented itself in the form of killing zombies for Home Depot coupons.

Not to mention that BFF bloggers Sherry and Katie (along with Carmel and Sarah) gave me a good kick in the rear with the Pinterest Challenge.

The goal is to “stop pinning and start doing.”

I’ve been dreaming about all of these succulent terrariums on Pinterest and it was time to make mine a reality.

First, I had to transplant this little bit of moss. In my mind, moss and succulents don’t go together, so I made this other little planter.

I can’t seem to kill this moss, no matter what I do–it’s the greatest. I plucked it from the woods while camping in early September, and it spent the next month in a Ziplock (I am a horrible plant parent) until I plopped it in the terrarium a few weeks ago.

Here’s the lineup of my Home Depot succulents which, after my $10 off coupon, cost me $.46.

Once I planted them, my terrarium looked like this. It still needed a bit of ground cover and a good wipedown of the glass.

Voila! I put down bark on half and stones on half and used Windex on the glass (for those who are interested in the deets).

But the terrarium was not quite finished. Look closely for a little creature that made himself right at home:

Even if I end up killing the succulents, I have high hopes that this little plastic turtle (in the center between the plants) will survive.

I keep forgetting he’s there, though, and the other day when I walked past the terrarium, I nearly jumped out of my skin because there was an ANIMAL in it.