Pastimes

A favorite winter pastime of mine?

Swan Island Dahlias, Johnny's Seeds, Burpee Seeds.

Seed catalogs. I love looking through seed catalogs. I really begin around the end of October with bulb catalogs then move on to other plants in January and February. :)

I thought I would share because these three catalogs are my very own. My first catalogs! I always looked at my mother's and grandmother's, but this year I received personal copies. It was pretty exciting... !

Terrarium!

A friend passed along a jar (originally for stuffed green olives) after she didn't have a lot of luck using it as a terrarium. I decided to give it a shot and if it really worked for me I'd make her one too. :) 

The JAR.

The supplies.

Supplies include a jar, plants, cutters, gloves, decorative rock, pumice for drainage, and charcoal for filtration.

Layer 1: pumice

Layer 2: charcoal

Layer 3: soil

The TERRARIUM!

I do have to admit I gathered the plants from the forest. I wanted a native, woodland feel and plants that could thrive in a closed terrarium. Where better to find those plants than in an Oregon forest? :)

Here's a better look inside:

I even made a much smaller terrarium. We'll see how well it fairs.

Plants included in my large terrarium are:

Latin Name	Common Name
Claytonia sibirica	Siberian Miner's Lettuce, Candy Flower
Goodyera oblongifolia	Rattlesnake-Plantain
Hypogymia inactiva	Forking Bone
Isothecium myosuroides	Cat-Tail Moss
Polypodium Glycyrrhiza	Licorice Fern
Viola adunca	Early Blue Violet

Why, yes! I did take the time to identify my moss and my lichen. Thank you very much for noticing. :) It was with help from my Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast. (And yes, I underlined that because it is a book title. My elementary school librarian would be proud.)

Disclaimer (or a "just-for-your-information"): None of these species are listed as being "rare" according to the Oregon Flora Project, or the US Forest Service (pertaining to Oregon) for that matter. I did not take more than a 1.5-foot by 1.5-foot area's worth of plant material anyway. Some of what is in the supply picture is also bits of fallen branches. If you were looking to take quite a bit more than I did or wanted to sell the plant material, you could get a permit from the US Forest Service.