Episode 149: terrarium tips and National Collections

Terrariums are fun to create, but you must choose your plants carefully. Photograph: Amy Gizienski on Flickr.

Transcript

Episode 149

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Jane: 2, 4, 6, 8, who do we appreciate? Houseplants! Yes, it's Jane Perrone here with On The Ledge, celebrating houseplants since 2017. In the show today we find out how you could become the custodian of two important house plant genera and I offer up a clutch of top tips about terrariums.

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Jane: Thanks to all of you who said how much you enjoyed the CAM and guttation episode of last week with Polly Schiffman. More leaf botany episodes are on their way after my two-week break. Just a reminder that there's no show 24th or 31st July. I'll be back on 7th August with my 150th episode of On The Ledge. Thank you also to Marcus who got in touch to tell me about how much he appreciated the Hilton Carter and Tyler Thrasher episodes and Marcus is just starting to study horticulture formally for the first time, at the age of 41, but finds that, as a black man, he's often the only one in the room. Marcus said: "Thank you for validating my choice of career. For the first time in my life I'm following my passions." I don't think I need to validate your choice of career. I think you've done a pretty darn good job of doing that yourself, Marcus, but thank you for supporting the show and listening while you're driving and while you're at work. Apparently my voice is relaxing. It's actually given me an idea, this email, Marcus. Everyone slightly takes a nervous intake of breath at this point! I've decided that because everyone thinks that my voice is so relaxing, I've picked a book from the 1800s about indoor gardening and I'm going to read some of it in an episode coming up and it's an exercise in relaxation, how everyone finds it, whether it's something you might want to fall asleep to, or de-stress to of an evening, so we'll give that a try after I'm back from my break. Listen out for that because it's going to be fun.

Thank you to JoyfulPlantMom, in the US, for leaving a review for On The Ledge on Apple Podcasts, and to Jan for becoming a Ledge-End by signing up for Patreon and to Amanda who upped her pledge to become a Super Fan. Amanda, your exclusive postcard should be winging its way to you right now. I've also finally worked out how to set up a US version of my merch shop, so if you have been holding back on getting an On The Ledge T-shirt, or mouse mat, or button badge because it was a bit expensive to ship from Europe, now is your opportunity! If you visit my website janeperrone.com and click on the shop link in the top right hand corner, when you go there you should now be offered the opportunity to head to the US version of the site, with prices in US dollars and shipping priced accordingly. Some of you have already taken advantage of this to get yourself a lovely T-shirt or hoodie, or even a dog bandana. Basically, there's two versions of the show logo, either the monochrome or the bi-colour greens and there's also the Jane and Wolfie illustration which you can get on many items too. Do check that out if you're interested in supporting the show via a little bit of a treat for yourself. If you're not following me on Instagram, head on over there. I'm j.l.perrone and there you can see my regular IGTV videos #PerronesPlants where I talk about different plants from my collection and waffle on for five minutes about them and it's just a way of seeing my smiling face and getting a bit more content from a houseplant person such as myself.

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Jane: If you are a regular listener to the show you will know that I have visited various national collections of houseplants. For example, the Peperomia collection of Sally Williams and Mercy Morris' Spider Plant collection Chlorophytum comosum, but what are these national collections and what do they do? I got a press release this week from the charity Plant Heritage, who run the national collection scheme here in the UK, telling me that they were on the hunt for national collection holders for some missing genera. Among those missing genera were two that we, as houseplant lovers, know all about and that's Hoya and Tradescantia. So, I thought I would give Plant Heritage a call and find out a little bit more about what being a national collection holder involves.

Vicki: My name is Vicki Cooke and I'm the Conservation Manager here at Plant Heritage.

Jane: I have an audience of global proportions, so lots of people perhaps aren't fully aware of what Plant Heritage here in the UK is, or what you do. Can you give us a potted history of Plant Heritage?

Vicki: Plant Heritage was founded in the 1970s and its aims then were to ensure that the incredible diversity of cultivated plants that we have in this country remain available for generations to come. So, we've got a really strong history in the UK of plants and gardens, from the plant hunters and all the plant breeders, the grand estates and the enthusiastic British public, we're a nation of gardeners. So, we've got this hugely diverse garden flora but there's but there's no mechanism otherwise that was realised in the '70s to stop us losing any of the good plants.

Jane: One of the delightful things about these national collections that you mention is that there's people all over the country who are really passionate about a particular species or genus who are taking care of these plants and recording their collections and making sure that they stay around forever, which is fantastic. You don't have all of the different genera that we grow in our houses and gardens covered and this is where we've got this press release the other day from you about your missing genera. I was very excited / worried to see that two of them are genera that are very much favourites of mine. Can you tell me about what you're doing to try to sort out these missing genera and the Tradescantia and the Hoya genus in particular?

Vicki: Although we've got 650 plant collections all around the country, that in no way covers all of the different plant groups that we grow in the UK. The role of the national collections are to collect more or less all that you can of that particular genus or plant group, document it, develop it, conserve it for the future and also research it and become an authority on that plant group. Every year we try and identify the top 10 most interesting plant groups that we would like to see somebody step forward for and become a national collection holder for. Two of them happen to be Hoya and Tradescantia this year.

Jane: Fantastic, I cannot believe that no-one has the Hoya national collection and I'm slightly disturbed by this fact because the temptation to apply is great but I don't think I've got the skills. What's involved in having a national collection or applying for one?

Vicki: The first thing is to have a passion for your plant group. I think that goes without question. The first thing to do would be to get in touch and we can give you some advice and guidance on how to get started. It might be that you don't have very many plants to start with and we can give you some guidance on how to focus the scope of a collection. So, some plant groups are huge and you might not have space for all of them but we can give you some advice by maybe collecting all the cultivars of a particular species of that group or everything that was introduced by a certain breeder or person. Then the next thing is to start collecting and documenting and making sure that you've got good labelling systems and records are in order then, yes, you can make an application to have a national plant collection.

Jane: It sounds easy but how many plants are we talking about? How many different Hoya species have you identified that might come under this Hoya national collection, is it many?

Vicki: It's difficult to say because there's about 18 species and cultivars that are currently in the RHS plant finder which is what we use as a general ad-hoc guide to what is currently available. I've no doubt there are plenty more available with specialists around the country. It would be interesting to see for some of these more tropical plant groups what currently is in cultivation in the UK and what you could find out. Sometimes people have started thinking: "This looks like a nice small plant group, I'll collect that" but the more you start digging, the more you realise how much is out there.

Jane: The record-keeping part of it strikes fear into my heart! What kind of records are you expected to keep and are you expected to keep more than one specimen of each type of plant?

Vicki: We would like to see three specimens of each plant which gives you a bit of a back-up should you lose one or two. The records we're asking you to keep are very base level: what is the name of this plant? Where did you get it from? How long have you had it? Those kind of things. With that, you can start collecting information such as cultural habits, what do I need to grow this plant or how easy is it to propagate, or is it actually the right name that it was sold to me as? Quite often, there's a lot of question marks over some of the names of plants that come through the trade. So you end up by building up this collection, you build up the knowledge about the plants as well, which is just as important as the actual plants themselves.

Jane: Are you expected to have a stream of visitors coming in, Covid notwithstanding, to examine your national collection?

Vicki: We've got local coordinators in each area and they are our boots on the ground who might help you set up the collection, visit your site and check everything is growing well. One of the requirements of a national collection is that you are open to the public. That is interpreted in many different ways. Some are in public gardens and that's nice and easy, but others have national collections in their homes and they might have an open day once a year or an appointment system, in more normal years of course.

Jane: Are there any other things that national collection holders need to know in terms of do you need insurance, do you have to pay, are there any other little things that we need to be aware of?

Vicki: You have to be a member of Plant Heritage, an individual membership is about £36 and you get insurance through us for opening your house, or for any open days to do with Plant Heritage national collections, so that's all arranged.

Jane: This sounds like a great project for a listener! Do you find that you get lots of feedback from national collection holders that they start and they think this is going to be really simple - I've got 20 plants to collect - then the deeper they go, the more they end up with a giant collection as a result of getting into their particular genus?

Vicki: Absolutely! You can tell that it grabs people and the obsession starts and that's it! You're off and suddenly your house is completely taken over with hundreds of plants of your choice, but that's part of the joy of the collection! If you find it's getting too unwieldy, then there's always, you can re-scope the collection to just take a certain species of it and all the cultivars of that. There's always a chance to keep it manageable.

Jane: I want to know if you have a national collection holder for Saxifraga stolonifera and its cultivars because that's the one I think I could handle. I reckon I could do that!

Vicki: I don't think we do! Alright, I'm going to hold you to that, Jane!

Jane: I was thinking about Hoya but I just ran through my head the numbers of different Hoya species and cultivars that I'm aware of and I just thought gosh, having three of each of those, I don't think I could do it. I think maybe, just maybe, particularly because Saxifraga stolonifera can live inside or out, maybe I could pull off the national collection of species and the cultivars of that. I'm considering it anyway, you've encouraged me further in my obsession with that particular species!

Vicki: Excellent, well we have it on record!

Jane: It's lovely to have your expertise, Vicki. I'm really hoping, as a result of this, a couple of listeners will come forward and the Tradescantia and Hoya genera will be covered as a result because it would be lovely to have an On The Ledge listener doing that work for you, so fingers crossed. What's the best place to go and find out more information about Plant Heritage?

Vicki: Visit our website www.PlantHeritage.org.uk that's got details of how you can start a national collection, a bit more about the missing genera and how you can get in touch with us.

Jane: Brilliant, thanks so much, Vicki.

Vicki: No problem, thank you.

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Jane: Let's hear from On The Ledge's other supporter this week, The Fiddle Leaf Fig Plant Resource Center. If you want to help your Fiddle Leaf Fig live its best life, check out the Fiddle Leaf Fig Plant Resource Center's products, which are especially tailored to meet the needs of your plant, including root rot treatment, fertiliser and rooting hormones. Visit fiddleleaffigplant.com for tons of resources, tricks and tips to help your fig recover from leaf drop, put on new growth and really start to thrive. Check out their free, 30-minute care webinar that demystifies looking after these iconic plants, from watering to repotting. Still got questions? The Fiddle Leaf Fig Plant Resource Center can help! Join their Facebook group of more than 20,000 Fig lovers, ready and waiting to share advice. Find out more at fiddleleaffigplant.com

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Jane: If you think you might be the perfect person to nurture a national collection, then do check out the show notes at janeperrone.com for information and links about Plant Heritage and their national collections.

Now it's time for Question of the Week! This one came from the youngest listener I've ever heard from. Meg is aged 11. Thank you for getting in touch, Meg. Meg told me: "I'm very inexperienced. I'm only 11. I only got my first houseplant three years ago. Recently, I've gotten very interested in terrariums and I've decided to try and make one. I've done lots of research about moisture, watering plant types and containers. I wanted to ask you your top tips for creating a terrarium?" Even though my very first episode was about terrariums back in February 2017, it's not something I've covered that many times in the podcast since, so, high time that I gave some terrarium tips. I will put a link in the show notes to a question I answered a while back about plants for terrariums and in that episode I do specifically mention some good small plants for terrariums, so that is also definitely worth a listen. There's so much more to terrariums than the plants.

Meg, I think the very first one I had was a phytonia in a round, glass goldfish bowl-shaped container with a cork lid. The biggest one that I had was a fish tank that was a good three or four foot long that my dad got from god knows where and I had that in my room. Because I didn't really know what I was doing, I just used soil from the garden and I ended up with lots of earth worms crawling around the bottom. I wish I had a photo of it somewhere. I need to ask my mum to have a hunt through the photographs and see! If I ever dig out a photo of that, I will share that with you. That was how I started, working very small containers and eventually ended up with this very large fish tank full of plants which did work really well, even though I was doing lots of things wrong.

What I'm trying to say is that there are as many different ways of making terrariums as there are terrarium makers, I guess. One of the things that does get my goat quite often when I'm looking at pictures of terrariums online, and on social media particularly, is that there are so many terrariums pictured that are filled with succulents and cacti. While it's possible to make a successful terrarium for succulents and cacti, particularly if it's an unlidded terrarium, in other words the air humidity is a bit lower, I think on the whole, it's not something I would ever recommend. Why? Because succulents and cacti grow in places where the last thing they have is a place where there's nowhere for water to escape. So, even if it rains quite a lot in a succulent's native land the water will just be able to drain away really quickly because the plant's growing in a very free draining setting, whether that's a crack in the earth or very sandy soil or some other way that they are basically never allowed to have wet roots. It's very, very hard in a terrarium setting, to reproduce that because there's always the danger of watering too much and these plants don't like high air humidity. If you've got a forest cactus, that's something you could potentially grow in a terrarium. Why not experiment, have a go, but on the whole you end up with cacti and succulents in terrariums usually never being watered which means that they're just too dry and they sit there and do absolutely nothing or they turn to mush because there's too much moisture about. Choice of plants is crucial. Do go back and listen to the episode where I talk about specific small plants for terrariums because the other mistake people make is taking plants that are going to get quite large and planting them up in a terrarium and thinking they can leave them there for several years. Yes, you can put a baby Parlour Palm and Peperomia Raindrop and a baby Boston Fern in a small jar and they might be all right for a few months, but within a few months they will just be bursting out of that space and very, very unhappy, you're making work for yourself, really. There are loads of much smaller plants now that do really well in terrariums and if you listen to my James Wong episode he talks about this as well. Look out for these small plants that will do so much better in a terrarium setting.

Getting back to basics, what about the actual container itself? Well, the world is your oyster in many respects - anything that's clear, glass or plastic, makes a good container. Back in the '70s when carboys were popular, those giant, globular, glass containers - I don't know what they used to hold, storage vessels of some kind - used to be used for houseplants. They were often a pale green colour, but really you want clear glass for terrariums. It doesn't block as much light as any coloured glass would, so it really is the best choice. Trying to find glass that's not too wavy or distorted because, again, it'll stop you from seeing the plants properly and it'll also stop more light from reaching them. You could use a jam jar, a large jar that's had pickles in it, a sweet jar. Lots of times when you see pictures of terrariums in books they have quite small openings, you really are making your life difficult by choosing a container with a really small opening because it just makes planting it up and maintaining your terrarium really quite difficult. So certainly when you start out, try to find a wide-mouthed container. The world is your oyster. If you've got an old fashioned gold fish bowl-shaped glass item, there's so many things, look around your kitchen, check out junk shops, thrift stores, charity shops and you should be able to find something that works.

When it comes to the ingredients to go into your terrarium, the substrate, that just means the stuff at the bottom of the tank that the plants grow in, there are so many different choices in this respect. What I would say is you need some kind of drainage layer at the bottom. When I say drainage, the water is not going anywhere, it's just going to sit there, but you want something to make sure that the plant's roots are not sitting directly in water. Often people use a layer of pebbles, expanded clay pebbles or grit - any of these things can work really well.

Try to make it something that's vaguely decorative - bear in mind it's going to be visible from outside the pot - so some nice-coloured pebbles, or aquarium gravel in a funky colour, can look great. The other thing that people sometimes do, is separate off that layer from the soil layer above. You can do this with some kind of micro mesh, you can buy various plastic meshes that you can cut to fit the base of your terrarium and then just slot that on the top of your drainage layer so that the soil doesn't get mixed in with the drainage. In extremes you could use something really, really simple like an old pair of black tights would be absolutely fine. It doesn't have to be anything particularly fancy, it just needs to be something that the water can pass through and something that's hopefully not going to draw a lot of attention to itself and it's just going to sit there quietly and do its job of keeping the soil where it needs to be and letting moisture through.

One of the other things that people often add is charcoal. The kind of charcoal you're looking for is what's called activated charcoal and if you have an aquarium shop near you, this is where to go to get activated charcoal. It comes in little pellets and it's incredibly porous and it can take impurities out of the soil and you can either mix it in with the soil or you could have it as a layer above the drainage layer, the grit or the pebbles or whatever, but below the net divider, either will work. I've seen lots of successful aquariums work without using activated charcoal so it's not essential, but it's one of those things that people like to add, so if you can get hold of some, it's certainly not going to do your terrarium any harm to include it.

The soil itself, you can use general houseplant compost that's suitable for the plants that you're including. I would always add a little bit of extra drainage material in the form of something like perlite or grit just to make sure that it doesn't get too claggy in there. There are many, many different formulas for terrarium soil. Again, try things out. There is absolutely no harm in experimenting with what works for you. One thing that's worth saying about perlite: I've mentioned, I think, in the show recently, that I've been trying out a more sustainable alternative to perlite which is made of rice husks with varying success. I would say that it doesn't last as long as perlite, which is basically going to last forever. The rice husks do start to break down after a few months, so I'm not sure I'd recommend them as a viable alternative to perlite. One thing you can use though, particularly if you're struggling to get hold of perlite, I wouldn't like to say this is hugely more sustainable than perlite, but if you can get hold of chicken grit or bird grit from your local pet shop, this is usually a great alternative to perlite and absolutely fine to use in potting mixes where you want to improve the drainage. Just don't do what I did and use soil from the garden because this tends not to work tremendously well depending on what kind of soil you've got - you may find it's heavy clay, too sandy, lots of things can go wrong there. Also, you might bring in with you things like slug and snail eggs, which obviously you do not want in your terrarium because they will hatch out and munch away at everything.

Some people recommend sterilising the soil that you're putting into the terrarium by zapping it in the microwave. Make sure it's moist if you're going to do this because the microwave works on moisture. If you don't make it moist, then explosions may occur. I don't bother doing this. There's lots of life in soil that you don't want to get rid of, so providing that you're using good quality houseplant compost, I don't think you're going to have a problem. If you do end up with any creatures in your terrarium they're probably going to be springtails and these actually are a great clean-up crew for a terrarium. Some people deliberately put these in because they will clear up any organic matter that comes off plants and so on, and stop things going mouldy. You can even add this stuff as an extra, but springtails aren't usually a problem. If you don't know what springtails look like, oftentimes, if you lift up a plant pot out of its pot and look at the bottom of a cache pot, you'll find these tiny little insects the size of a dot which might be moving around. They are very often springtails and they don't do any harm to your plants and they can actually be helpful, so yay for springtails.

One other thing worth saying, you can have a terrarium which has got the plant still in its pots. So, if you're big into carnivorous plants, for example, you could have an old fish tank and have your carnivorous plants sitting in their pots in a tray of water because, as we know, carnivorous plants on the whole like to be sat in water in a boggy place. You could just have the terrarium or fish tank around them, just increasing humidity, but not actually have them planted into the substrate, but have them in individual pots and you can do the same with any plant if you've got a big enough glass container of some kind. You don't need to plant it up - you can just have plants in pots and that sometimes actually makes it easier to maintain. You will obviously need to water, possibly a little bit more often, and keep an eye on your plants, but hopefully, if it is a big container that's got good accessibility, that shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Then we're talking about, once you've got your plants in, what you can add to the top and what you can add in addition. Moss is a really popular thing and sometimes you can - legendarily James Wong got his moss for one of his terrariums off a garage roof - so perhaps out in your garden or in the locale that you are in, unless it's very wild and precious - please don't take moss from woodland and things. If you're in an urban environment and you see some nice moss, you can, of course, take that and just beware of bringing in any eggs or beasties on there that you don't want in your terrarium.

You can also get a little bit quirky here. There's a whole world of terrarium accessories out there. In our family, we quite like using Lego mini figures in little scenes for terraria. It's quite fun! So you don't have to go out and buy a lot of expensive stuff, but see what you've got around the house. What could you repurpose? It might be some little ornaments, anything you like. The world is your oyster, go wild, add lots of interesting things to your terrarium scene and make it fun, which is what it's all about.

Make sure the substrate is damp. Before you put it in there, give everything a bit of a mist. You may find you need to take the lid off for a little bit and let a bit of excess moisture escape, if you're finding that there's lots and lots of condensation on the sides. This will vary, you may find that, time to time, the lid needs to come off and go back on again. You may need to mist and eventually, after a year or more, your terrarium may need replanting, depending on how quick the plants have been to grow. So, it's not entirely no-maintenance, but it's certainly low-maintenance.

So, I hope that helps, Meg, and you've got lots of great tips for your next terrarium project! I'd love to see your terrarium pictures, everybody. I know that some of you are really amazing at making cool terrariums, so do send me your pictures and share them in the Facebook group, Houseplant Fans of On The Ledge.

If you've got a question, drop me a line ontheledgepodcast@gmail.com and do remember to include some pictures, info about where you are, how long you've had your plant and so on, because that gives me the best chance of giving you an accurate answer.

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Jane: Thanks for joining me this week. I will be back with another episode three weeks hence, so keep going, and keep growing. Bye!

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Jane: The music you heard in this episode was Roll Jordan Roll by The Joy Drops and After The Flames by Josh Woodward. The advertising music was by the Heftone Banjo Orchestra with the tracks Dill Pickles and Whistling Rufus. All tracks are licensed under Creative Commons, visit janeperrone.com for details.

Subscribe to On The Ledge via Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Player FM, Stitcher, Overcast, RadioPublic and YouTube.

In this episode, I find out how you could become the guardian of a major houseplant genus, and answer a listener question about making terrariums.

Just a reminder that I am taking a two-week break, so the next episode, number 159, will be out on August 7. Do check out my Instagram where I am @j.l.perrone - including my regular IGTV series #PerronesPlants.

American listeners can now order OTL merch from my US-based shop! Check it out now for your chance to buy gorgeous T-shirts, hoodies and more boasting the OTL logo. It’s a great way to support the show and secure yourself a treat! UK and European listeners - visit the European shop here!

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Question of the week

Listener Meg (is she my youngest listener at 11?) got in touch to ask for some tips on terrariums. Here’s my sage advice…

Check your terrarium soil regularly to make sure it isn’t drying out. Photograph: Jane Perrone.

• Any clear plastic or glass container can be used, just make sure the glass isn’t patterned so maximum light can come in, and you can see the plants!

• You don’t have to spend a fortune on containers: scout out suitable terrariums in thrift stores, charity shops and junk shops, or check your kitchen or shed - sweet jars, coffee jugs and old fish tanks can all be pressed into service.

• Narrow-necked containers can be used, but they make planting and ongoing care more tricky.

• Avoid planting cacti and succulents in terrariums - they like sharp drainage and dry air, two things that terrariums don’t provide!

• Choose plants that are small and slow-growing. Check out this Q&A from an earlier episode for more ideas. (Also check out my very first episode - which was on terrariums!)

• When it comes to substrates - the stuff your plants grow in - there are many different formulas. The base layer should be something that works as a drainage layer, eg pebbles, grit, expanded clay pebbles (leca) or aquarium gravel.

• Cut out some plastic netting or similar to place on top of the drainage layer below the soil so that the soil can’t get mixed in with the drainage. (You could even use an old pair of tights!)

• Activated charcoal pellets (available from aquarium hobby shops) is a useful additive to help keep the substrate ‘sweet’: it’s very porous so helps to absorb impurities. Mix it into the potting mix or add as a layer above the drainage layer but below the netting.

• Ordinary houseplant potting mix should be fine, but add some extra drainage materials such as perlite or grit ( you can use poultry grit if horticultural grit or perlite is hard to get hold of).

• Make sure the substrate is damp before you start planting, and mist your terrarium plants if they start to look on the dry side.

• You can use lots of different items to decorate your terrarium, from small ornaments to Lego minifigures. Use your imagination!

• If your terrarium’s sides are full of condensation, remove the lid for a few hours until it clears.

• Don’t worry if you end up with springtails in your terrarium, these isopods won’t bother your plants and will help to clear up any decomposing material.

Want to ask me a question? Email ontheledgepodcast@gmail.com. The more information you can include, the better - pictures of your plant, details of your location and how long you have had the plant are always useful to help solve your issue!

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CREDITS

This week's show featured the tracks Roll Jordan Roll by the Joy Drops and After The Flames by Josh Woodward. Ad music is  Dill Pickles and Whistling Rufus, both by the Heftone Banjo Orchestra. 

Logo design by Jacqueline Colley.