
Correctly Placing and Caring For Your Terrarium Plants
So, first thing's first... What kind of plants do you have in your terrarium?
If you've got an open terrarium, sporting cacti, succulents go ahead and visit my individual care pages for those plants. You can fine them here:
- Caring for Your Cacti
- Caring for Your Succulents
- Height & Foliage
- Feature Plants
- Mid-level Bushy Plants & Foliage
- Mosses and Groundcover

General Terrarium Care
Spin your container as you water it for even coverage
Don't fertilise your terrarium
The vast majority of terrarium set ups should do just fne in a normal household room with window.
Height & Foliage
- Palms
- Peace Lily
- Arrowheads
- Ferns
- Spider Plants
Feature Plants
- Calathea
- Arrowheads
- Begonias
- Cryptanthus
- Upright Pilea Plants
I try to include at least one feature plant in my designs - something striking that catches the eye. There's a bit of crossover here as a number of the bushy, mid-level plants are also feature plants in their own right. Especially the nerve and polka dot plants, with their showy foliage.
Whatever your showstopper is you'll have to adhere to the individual needs of the plant. In the meantime, keep following the terrarium best practice guidance above.
Mid-level Bushy Plants & Foliage
- Nerve Plants
- Polka Dot Plants
- Ficus Pumila
- Ivy
- Rose of Jerico
- Mini Grape
There arent too many rules to follow when it comes to planting this lovely selection of plants. They look great together and all favour similar soil conditions.
The only exception to this is the polkadot plant, which prefers slightly drier soil and does not like getting its leaves wet. Try placing this plant just a smidge apart from the others - enough so that you can avoid wetting its leaves when watering, if possible. If you water the other plants around it the polka dot should be able to draw the moisture it needs, whilst still allowing the soil surface to remain a little drier than the rest of your terrarium.
Mosses and Groundcover
- Baby Tears
- Sheet Moss
- Cushion Moss
- Spike Moss
- Crawling Pilea Plants