The third planting arrangement mentioned, terrariums or Wardian cases, is a completely different approach to house-plant culture. Back in the middle of the nineteenth century an English botanist by the name of Nathaniel Ward discovered by mistake that many wood plants will grow and posper with little or no care if kept in a sealed container. Terrariums growing moss, ferns and lichens can provide a woodland in miniature for your home, and almost any glass container can be used, from a fish bowl to a cocktail glass.
From the point of view of home decoration, the difficulty with terrariums is that :
1) the plants that will grow in them are relatively few
2) because they are enclosed they don’t add the same kind of color to a room as do potted plants.
It doesn’t matter if you have room for just one or two plants, or if you can grow a veritable flower garden indoors, the pleasures that come from growing plants are tremendous. And the pleasures are not just your own, they are shared by everyone who visits your home and sees them. Maybe we’re prejudiced, but we can’t think of a hobby anywhere nearly as rewarding.