Urban Gardening: Designing Creative Space
I recently suffered an unnatural disaster: my urban terrarium garden came crashing down to an unfortunate end on the ceramic tile floor. I had just left for work, when standing at the elevator I heard what sounded like an entire set of china fall on a hard floor. I assumed it was my neighbors and got into the elevator and went to work. When I came home, I was stunned to walk in to a less colorful, familiar but certainly uninspiring kitchen. I read the note on the counter that told me of the terrible event as my refuge plants sat in sad containers. Mister had cleaned up the entire mess of what must have been a sea of multi colored broken glass, before I got home. He didn’t text me of the disaster because he knew it would ruin my day. We vowed to rebuild!
I had been collecting plants and things over the past three years, with finds from the Philadelphia Horticulture Show. A theme of “under the sea” in green and purple had emerged, so I started to call it my “Octopus’s Garden“.
The garden became another creative element in my life, adding things and watching plants grow. Especially when things in my own life don’t seem to be growing, my garden reminds me that there is growth and life going on that we don’t see until it’s time. I highly recommend growing an indoor garden of your own design. Just, please, make sure and counter-sink those curtain rods before you hang a labyrinthine glass globe village from it.
I have always been fascinated by things hanging from the ceiling, especially on multiple planes that give depth to a space. I was inspired by several things I saw at garden shows over the years and in Interior magazines, now was an opportunity to redesign. I set about reordering what I could, including the above water gardens from Vermont Nature Creations. I then started trolling Amazon for more glass globes like the ones I saw at PHS this past spring.
I had some great luck with the ‘jellyfish’ Tillandsia air plants I got last spring so I ordered a large pack of fifteen from Hinterland Trading. I thought they’d look like floating sea creatures in glass bubbles over my thinking corner.
Then, I became obsessed with succulents, they seem to be everywhere. Succulents have such great coloring, diverse shapes and they can regenerate like a star fish. How cool would it be to make a few new friends. I ordered a pack of 20 small ones from Amazon which arrived in perfect condition, each one different than the other.
It became clear that all the dirt and the succulent plants were a bit heavy for the curtain rods to hold many globes, even after being reinforced. So I got some large glass bowls and planted several in a cluster together.
I also had a turtle planter I named Lonesome George who has thus far been unsuccessful in rearing a plant. The plant in the above photo didn’t survive with Lonesome George so Mister added his Battle Beast action figure and together they defend as garden guardians.
The bowls of succulents and cacti made a beautiful compliment in the Zen Room under the Klimt print with the ceramics from Spain.
Also in the Zen Room are these ceramic animal head planters we found in Savannah. I planted Lemon Thyme in them to add to my cooking from ‘thyme to time’. Speaking of herb garden, each summer I plant one on my balcony so I can make pesto and get more creative in the kitchen.
Some how the garden on the 19th floor balcony still needed a little something in the way of outdoor decor. Fish in the Garden is exactly what my outdoor garden needed. I ordered several small fishies to swim all summer long in the sun with my herbs.
I grew Sweet Basil and Purple Basil to make pesto, Mexican Tarragon to pair with cheese and prosciutto, and Mint for summer Mojitos. I’ve had a blast making new dishes from them and experimenting with pesto concoctions.
There are many inspiring benefits to having a small indoor or outdoor garden. It doesn’t have to take a lot of your time to tend to it. If you choose the right plants, they will thrive in your creative space as much as you do. Be sure to choose plants that prefer your lighting conditions and have low maintenance needs. Having plants in your life creates a beautiful environment full of dept and color as well as provide health benefits such as cleaner air, and if edible; antioxidants.
