People Who Live in Little, Tiny Glass Houses...

Tovah Martin terrarium

I was at Terrain the other day and there were about 15 women making terrariums. It was the prelude to a booksigning by Tovah Martin, the author of "The New Terrarium."

When I was a kid, on my walk to elementary school I walked by a small white house with a garage that was converted into a greenhouse of sorts. Mr. and Mrs. Schmidlap lived there. They grew cacti and hens and chicks and my friend Angie and I would stop there after school and would often come home with the fruits of their labors.

Smith and Hawken

They created little terrariums which fascinated me even more than the cactus flowers. I am enamored of them and they were the only things at this year's Philadelphia Flower Show that mildly interested me. Sadly, I do not have a green thumb. But the beauty of these also lies in their easy care ways.

Kindra Clineff

All they require is a little dirt, some moss, pebbles perhaps, miniature plants... et voila: your own tiny secret garden. I wonder if I can find some rotting miniature columns and mini broken statues? Even just placing a cloche over an orchid or an African violet turns it into something special.

I made these while I was fooling around at Terrain. The oneon the right doesn't even have anything living inside it. I didn't buy the one on the left because after I added everything up it came to about $100. Apparently, Terrain doesn't understand there's a recession going on.