- [Announcer] J. Schwanke's Life In Bloom is brought to you by: Albertsons Companies.

With additional support from the following companies: The Ball Horticultural Company.

Cal Flowers.

Design Master Color Tool.

Golden Flowers.

Sunshine Bouquet.

The RibbonRoll.com (soft music) - Today on Life in Bloom we're explore life under glass with terrariums.

My sister Cindy joins me show her mad terrarium skills.

I'll enjoy a refresher lesson in macrame, and also my terrarium inspiration with dessert and cocktail recipes.

(soft music) I'm J. Schwanke, welcome to Life In Bloom.

A green thumb is nothing more than a reflection of dirt underneath your fingernails.

Many people might believe that terrariums are great for people with a black thumb, but I believe these mini ecosystems are easy to care for, and a great accent in everyone's home.

Terrariums are for everyone.

These tiny ecosystems can be self-sustaining.

They're fun, whimsical, and hearken back to a time when the imagination ran free.

The terrarium is a mini world that invites us to enter and explore.

They're easy to create for yourself, or my favorite to give as a gift.

Today on Life In Bloom we'll explore ways to bring some of this whimsy and wonder into your everyday life.

(soft music) Today I'm with my sister in our family greenhouse, Greens Greenhouse in Freemont, Nebraska.

Now whenever I talk about terrariums I say that you are the queen of terrariums, and taught me how to make cool terrariums, and you made some for us to start, so let's talk about these first.

- Well, they're fabulous bowls with lids, which that is a fun way to grow things when you can get that actual climate control going on in there when you make it just like a little rainforest in there.

I like to pretend that I'm very, very small, and I'm walking around in a rainforest.

That's why I try to make little steps in there so you can almost ... - I try and think about that, but it doesn't work out that well.

- It's tricky to get them in there, especially when you're working with your big hands down in a little small place, but.

- It's like a little landscape inside there with the cork and the stairs.

- It is.

- When it starts to fog up, and you were worried about it fogging up just a little bit for the camera, but when it fogs up that's really good, 'cause that's what the plants like.

- They love it in there.

- It's like a little greenhouse, which okay so why does that one not have a lid on it?

- Because this is made of succulents, and these would really prefer being grown in the desert although misting would be wonderful, they like the desert does form dew every single time in the morning - Right - And they really live off of the dew - That's so pretty, I mean this is what I think about when I think about my sister's terrariums.

You naturally gravitated to the plants, why was Cindy the plant lady?

Why was she in charge of plants?

- I think it was to get away, I really do plants don't talk back, and plants are wonderful and it's a living thing.

It's really the greenhouses that make me a good grower 'cause I myself am not a good grower.

But the greenhouse atmosphere, I think anybody can grow anything in a greenhouse.

It's a perfect atmosphere for things to grow.

- So we have one of the recycled glass containers, and tell me what you do.

- We put rock in the bottom for drainage, it's very important that you put something so that if you would by any chance over water you have a place for you're water to sit down in there and not be on the roots, and they would be very unhappy.

- So how much do you know how to add?

- Well it should be at least a good inch in the bottom.

And then we add soil.

- Okay - And this is a good potting soil mixture, it is kind of lite, and holds moisture nicely and it's always the trick when you're when you are with your terrarium you don't want your soil to be too wet, because you don't want it to end up being over watered in the roots, and we just like to kind of create - So now you're landscaping.

- Yes we are, creating a mountain - Okay - And the bark helps hold your mountain back there - Now I grabbed the big piece, 'cause we talked about the big piece - Where it comes from exactly.

- Look at that!

And so we used to get a big pallet of just this all stacked on there.

- Huge bail.

- And it's cut off the tree, and it grows in a circular fashion and then, this is what they make corks out of for wine bottles.

- It is.

- Yeah - It just gives us a nice little cliff going on in there.

- That's so cool too, 'cause now you've got all that area there with that soil inside it, that's behind that little wall.

So it's like a retaining wall.

- It is, it is very much like a retaining wall.

- Okay - And then we go to put our plants in.

(calming music) - Now some of these plants, honestly I don't know what that one is.

It looks like it's almost like a huckleberry or something like that.

- You know what - This is a Podocarpus - When I was a little kid you used to call a plant a "thigh-o" and if I don't know what it is, I always say "oh it's a 'thigh-o'" - It's a "thigh-o" there you go!

(laughs) (calming music) Pink splash is always fun to give it a little bit of color going on to.

- Yeah - And, this is when you start gettin' a little tricky, when your hand is kind of in the way, of what's all going on here.

People tell me you should be wearing gloves, and you shouldn't be wearing your rings, but I think that's what hands are for.

Grandpa Green always said, - Not pretty hands.

- That, "A green thumb is nothing more than the reflection of dirt underneath your fingernails."

So, we're not supposed to wear gloves, we're just not it's just 'cause there's so much feel about it.

- [J] Being in a family business is not easy.

- It's never easy.

No it isn't.

- [J] But - You bring the personal element in unfortunately - [J] Right - Instead of acting like business.

- [J] But what's your favorite part about it being a family business?

- You do get close to people that maybe you normally wouldn't have gotten close to.

- [J] Right.

- If I really think about it, it would be my Aunt Alice and I don't know if I can say it without crying.

- [J] It's okay, you loved her she was awesome.

- She was, she's the one that kept me in line.

- [J] Yeah, she kept us together.

- And she was very quick to, when I would overstep my ground, she was very quick to throw a pom-pom at me, all of a sudden a daisy pom-pom would come flying across the room and it would hit me in the head and she'd just give me this look that's always taught me that there's so many things you need to let go of and I think that she taught me how to live life really.

- [J] Great.

- And I don't think I would have had that relationship if we didn't work together all the time.

I think flowers can speak for you.

When you can't find the words, the flowers can.

And so I think that's what flowers mean most to me, is grandpa always told me that we don't sell flowers we sell feelings and so that's something that's always been in bedded in my brain and so when each customer comes in I do want to help them incorporate their feelings in flowers and that's my job.

Broken pots are something around a greenhouse that you have thousands of and I always save the ones that are the nicest thickness.

- Okay so it's a pretty piece.

- Pretty piece to start with, and then you just wack it.

- Oh okay!

So you're trying 'em.

- Trying to make them kind of all ...

Perfect!

- Was that good?

- That was really a good one, - 'Cause they're kinda curved - You don't know what's gonna happen.

- Oh 'cause then it might be like that.

- Yeah, you just never know so we make a real mess usually - See those aren't good then.

- Well they're a little bit small, but we can make a little small stairway.

The trick to making your stairway work, is you do have to have a true hill to build it into.

- Oh okay.

- And so, I was gonna use some of your smaller pieces here but if you start at the bottom and it also would be best if we had watered this in first, because then you're not working with the - The dry soil.

- The dry soil kinda fluffing up on you as you go.

Then we do have these are actually from my landscaping I just when they throw the rock down for me I go and pick some back up again.

- You've got all sorts of stuff, you have sand, you have cork, you have vermiculite.

- I always think that a little white sand is kind of important because that way it looks like you've got a little beach going on there that hopefully that's where the water began (gasps) - Oh!

- It's kind of nice to think of yourself on a sandy beach too.

- I love that.

- To give it just a little bit more flavor.

Sometimes I do a little path of vermiculite too, that's leading off to that, or can come from the stairs.

- Wow.

- So that there's a little bit of a rocky feel before you hit to the sand.

- So we'd water it in.

- We would definitely water it it, probably before we did the steps just because we wouldn't want to mud out our steps.

- That's so awesome.

- You bet.

- See it's prettier, and you know what I think the other thing is, I think that my sister makes them with love.

- I do, I do.

- Everything you make is with that love.

(calming music) - You might wonder where to get the different supplies that you need for terrariums.

There's all sorts of different places that sell little miniature plants.

The smaller the plant the better.

If you're making a small terrarium, obviously you're gonna want small plants.

If you're making bigger terrariums you can use bigger sizes.

Ferns are popular, because they love the moisture.

Another plant that's great where there's high moisture, is baby tears this does so well inside a terrarium and you can have an area that's almost just a complete carpet of green.

Even herbs do well.

Rosemary, and you can trim off those.

There's other accessories too.

We have sand or gravel, even colored rocks.

Using those inside our terrarium allows us to designate different areas and create texture.

One of my favorites, is pieces of clay.

These are broken clay pots, and they can be used to divide a terrarium, or create little stair steps.

Another thing is how we water our plants.

A turkey baster comes in handy for watering our terrarium plants.

Because then we can direct the flow exactly where we want it and water each individual plant, as they need it.

When we've placed a lid on our terrarium it will start to form condensation inside so if we have all sorts of different plants, that like that same environment it will do well if we just keep it closed.

When there's too much condensation inside, and you want it to dry out, you can just take the lid off.

It's super easy.

Plants like Tillandsia, or air ferns are great for people who want little care with their terrarium.

With this little geodesic dome, we have one opening and we can go in and mist once a week.

The care is that simple.

Or say we have a plant like this palm, that wants a little more moisture.

I've added some rocks to this plate, and then we can pour some water, into those rocks we can cover it with a cloche and we've created, instantaneously humidity and a greenhouse effect for that plant.

If humidity is a real challenge for you, you can use succulents as well.

An open terrarium that has great air movement, is a great place to place succulents.

We can use sand, gravel and drift wood with those and we've got a desert like environment.

Choosing a terrarium with an ecosystem, that's compatible to your living space is key to your success.

Terrarium another way to enjoy life in bloom.

(blissful music) - We all like to make time to entertain.

And it's fun, to have a little arrangement that's also themed, when you're entertaining friends.

So here's some quick ideas, for terrarium inspired arrangements that you can use to decorate your table.

Lets take this little piece of slate.

An air fern, can lay on top of it.

Those could be at each place setting, and then everyone has a keepsake to take home.

Or, this is a recycled candle holder.

I cleaned it out (rocks clink in glass) and a succulent can be tucked inside there.

(rocks clink in glass) Add some water, and we can cut a Gerber Daisy short and tuck it down inside there, that's a fun idea to place on a table.

And it's an easy center piece.

This brandy snifter, with some water and a single orchid blossom makes an elegant place setting, or center piece.

I always like to check the bar for some fun glasses.

We've got a wine glass, a champagne flute, and this is a little votive that looks like a clay pot.

Look how quickly we can take a purple daisy pom-pom and place a button pom-pom on top.

Or a spider mum.

I like the little Fuji chrysanthemums and we can fit that right down inside our champagne flute and invert it upside down, like a little terrarium.

I love garden roses and using an old technique we'll just take our thumb, and reflex back some of the petals.

Makes the rose look more open.

Has a wonderful fragrance.

And we'll cut the stem off short so that we can set it on a table, and place our wine glass over the top.

We've got our terrarium inspired flower right inside our wine glass.

If we need something on a bigger scale, this is an easy one.

I've taken a sphere of flower foam, and soaked it in flower food water.

We'll cut it in half, and place that on the middle of our plate.

We can tuck in flowers, into that flower foam.

(blissful music) And then, we can place our garden cloche right over the top.

What a great way to incorporate garden flowers, into a centerpiece that's inspired by terrariums.

(happy tune) So this is a fun dessert, that's fitting of a terrarium.

We are making it in a trifle bowl, which is similar to a terrarium, and this is a fun dessert because we simply layer the different elements into the trifle bowl and we can see what they look like along the edge.

So we're gonna start with some pound cake, that we've cut up into cubes.

(glass clinks) we'll add that in the bottom.

And have a nice little layer of that.

We've created our own whipping cream, by using whipping cream and blending it along with sugar and lavender elixir, so that it has a lavender flavor.

We'll add this, on top of our pound cake.

So we've covered all of our pound cake.

Now we'll add our blackberries and I wanna make sure that my blackberries show along the edge, so I'm gonna arrange them as we go in there.

And the rest of them can go in the middle.

Then more whip cream.

Then, we'll add our blueberries.

And then we'll add a pretty dollop up on top.

And we'll sprinkle some lavender blossoms.

So a lavender, blueberry, blackberry trifle.

Almost like a little terrarium there's a whole little dessert world inside this container.

(blissful music) (calming music) Today on Life in Bloom, I've invited my friend April Frost over she's the macrame expert, and she's going to help us make a macrame for our terrarium So April, I have always been fascinated by macrame because my sisters did it, and in our flower shop when I was a little kid we had people who did it full time, because it was important stuff in the 60's and 70's people loved it right?

Tell us a little bit about how you became the macrame expert.

- Absolutely, so I actually started my business making felt flowers, which you'll see right there.

And then as I got a little more in to my craft, I came across macrame and I fell in love instantly.

So what I did after I started my felt flowers is I got the idea to combine felt flowers with macrame so this is kind of an example of some of my earlier work.

- I love it, so I say that everything is better with flowers so macrame is better with felt flowers.

And then this one, is more intricate.

They seem like they take a lot of time, do they take a lot of time?

- They take, something like this would probably take me two hours or so to complete from beginning to end so the knot tying is actually the fun part.

That's the part that seems to fly by without any like, there's nothing else going on in the world 'cause I'm just lost in the knot tying.

It's the measuring and the cutting of the rope that takes, it seems to me, like forever.

But then you get to the fun part which is the tying the knots.

- So just like flower arranging, prep time is a little bit harder.

- Yeah - And the fun part is when you're actually doing it.

- Right, yeah.

- Now tell me about this one.

- So this one, I used a couple of knots you start with a simple knot up here this ones called a larks head knot.

And then on the sides here I did square knots down to the bottom here and then these are all actually clove hitch knots.

So these are actually separate, on the side here from the middle, so they don't connect until all of these clove hitch knots tie them together down here at the bottom.

- Wow.

- Yeah, and then this rope down here is, it used to be all twisted into the regular rope that you see like up here.

- Got it.

- And then you just unravel to make it look pretty.

- Well these are beautiful so the reason I invited you was, I wanted a macrame for this terrarium and so I'm hoping that you can create that for us today.

- I would love to do that J.

(calm music) I have two knots left in this sennit, let's see what you've got.

- Okay - So these are my center ones.

- Yes - And then I bring this behind?

- In behind and up through here.

- Oh hold on, see this is why you're the expert.

I am the flower expert, alright so this one goes in front.

- Yes, hey you got it.

- I think I have it.

- Bringing it back, alright pull it up nice and tight.

- I can see where this would be like, really therapeutic.

- Oh absolutely.

- And would be fun to do.

(calming music) I have a terrarium.

- Alright - That we can put inside here.

- Let's do it.

- I love the little lidded numbers because if it gets too humid inside there then we can pop it off, but it's great.

- Isn't that combination gorgeous?

- I know right, and it's such a throwback but at the same time, it's new for us all over again and I just love having plants in the house and the macrame makes it seem so homey.

(laughs) Well thanks so much for joining us I appreciate it.

- Thank you, J it's been a pleasure.

(upbeat music) (ice rattles) (whimsical music) - We hope you've been captivated, by the whimsy and wonder of terrariums.

For Life and Bloom, I'm J. Schwanke See you next time.

- So I'll start it off that way, but then you and I will be talking about it.

- [Director] And any time you're uncomfortable just smile.

(laughs) Everyone looks better when they smile.

- That's right, it's true.

- [J] Yolanda is behind you.

- She's fabulous, she is a fabulous specimen.

Yolanda has been with us for, we think about 35 years.

She came to us in a little tiny box and if you look way down in the center of all these crazy roots that are going on here, there is a little tiny box that she came with and a pretty little bloom, helping me take care of things one day said she needs a name, she's been with us too long she needs a name.

And so she named her Yolanda.

- [Narrator] J. Schwanke's Life in Bloom, is filmed in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

(calm music) - [Announcer] J. Schwanke's Life In Bloom is brought to you by: Albertsons Companies.

With additional support from the following companies: The Ball Horticultural Company.

Cal Flowers.

Design Master Color Tool.

Golden Flowers.

Sunshine Bouquet.

The RibbonRoll.com Closed caption funding provided by Chrysal.

For everything flowers, recipes, projects and more information, visit Ubloom.com (bright tune)