Or you could make a totally New England winterscape in a similar way with NOTHING actually alive, and white sand or salt as the "snow". Some pretty branching twigs, a mini fence, a dollhouse birdbath... lots of possibilities...

Those are lovely terraniums, but they seem mighty expensive, considering you have to assemble them yourself and probably won't be quite as good at getting them so exactly attractive as the creator.

I wonder what kind of sand they use that's so pearly white, because tiny cactii can be picked up at local garden centres for barely any money and they're almost indestructible, so could probably create one at home on the cheap.

Maybe it's the glass vase-thingies that are pricey? They are really lovely. But yeah, that's a lot of money...

These are really cute! But I agree, too expensive.

'you could also take a cue from their use of color and form in designing your own tabletop desert scape. '

yeah, good idea! I just bought a terrarium like this (and the guy at the store planted it for me) for about $27. I imagine if you splurged a little bit on air plants (about $20 at most plant stores), bought some white sand from a craft store (the kind of sand used in sand art or whatever it's called), and spent a few dollars on rocks you could certainly put one of these together for less than $75. I'm not sure on the container, but finding an amorphous glass vase is not all that difficult.

i'll admit though, those succulents in the photos are pretty unique. I shop at a pretty decent plant store here in DC and I have not seen many plants as colorful as those. you'd probably have to shop around quite a bit.

i am loving all the attention terrariums are getting. i love them myself. and plants in general. but i'll say once again: these can be made for far cheaper, $30 will make you a very nice terrarium, and that includes everything you need.

i guess my other point is that i don't understand why terrariums are being made with plants that can't survive in them. they are obviously created by people with only aesthetics in mind. virtually none of the plants above will live very long in a terrarium. and mixing plants with different water requirements in a terrarium is a huge no no.

all that said these are very pretty.

oh, i love the colours ... btw I started a moss terrarium after seeing them here and it is alive and well on my window sill! also, my guests can't believe how non-boring moss can be.

i love nature but
i have never been a fan of terrariums. i think they're tacky and weird.
whatever happened to the beautiful, simple potted plant with a cute pot?

I kind of like them. I remember having one when I was a kid. You don't see terrariums very often anymore.