March 2010
Reviewed
'Terrariums & Miniature Gardens' by Sunset Books
Reisl Lackinger
Staff Writer
With The Miniature Way March theme being "The Greening of Miniatures," how could I not find a book on Miniature gardens to review?
"Terrariums & Miniature Gardens" is an oldie from Sunset Books and I almost passed it by at the library, but with a copyright of April 1974 (exact month and year I was born), it seemed to be calling me. It is currently listed on Amazon for as low as one quarter plus shipping!
This is a great book for the miniaturist. It is very informative, going over the tools and how to use them, plant selection and how they grow, containers and possible placements and types of mini eco systems that could be created.
I love this book! Just flipping through it, a miniaturist could envision a lovely backyard for the dollhouse brimming over with live plants. All selected with the help of this book so that they look as if they belong to the miniature landscape. Or, make a beautiful little terrarium in an old brandy snifter to put in the kitchen window. It even has pages for getting the kids involved. Make a live, planted aquarium with or without fish or a vivarium. It's a really fun book and will have the mini makers raring to go hunt up some old bottles and glasses and put their green thumbs to work.
Chapters in the book are few - there are a scant 79 pages total - but it's packed full of easy to understand information. And it's written in a way that lets readers understand what they are being instructed to do. Not full of scientific lingo that leaves you scratching your head.
A quick rundown of the chapters:
Terrariums gives ideas on containers, getting the plants into tight fitting spots and tools that can be used to get the container garden planted. Most of the tools listed are already in a miniaturist's toolbox and if not, they could probably be fashioned from items found in the house or garage. I think a plus is that the chapter even explains how and why the plants thrive in the terrarium environment. While a tad boring, it will help you to keep the plants alive after the hard work of planting has been done.
Miniature Gardens goes into all the same instruction as the previous chapter, but geared towards open type gardens. The plus on this chapter? It instructs the reader how to make their own containers in addition to utilizing found ones. Another plus is that it teaches making your own clay pots for mini gardens. And what does a miniaturist love as much as their minis? Making them! There is even instruction on making a mini garden with a moat! Love it! The book is out to win the heart of miniaturists everywhere.
Plant Selection Guide is rather self explanatory. This chapter is loaded with plants, the type of care they need, containers that would be best for them, temperatures they thrive in, how to transplant and even how to root some of them. It also lists the common names along with the scientific names of the plants. The only part missing is a list of places to buy the plants, but considering the year the book was printed that probably would not have been much help anyways!
Inside the book you will also find a mini chapter on cacti and succulents. They show some adorable arrangements in containers that look perfect for a southwestern scene. Also, there is a small section on the type of pests these types of gardens can encounter and ways to get rid of and prevent them. Very nice as no one would want to look over at their pretty eye candy on their desk and see it infested.
This is a great book, full of ideas and instruction, but one small possible negative. No color photos. Ugh. Tons of photos, but every single one is black and white. I can't say it's so bad though because it was printed in 1974. A quick check and I don't find any more recent editions. The ideas, instruction and material talked about in this book make up for the lack of color. This, surprisingly, is the first book I have ever read that the lack of color photos did not turn me off. I barely noticed they were all black and white.
One point I would like to stress: don't let the year this book was printed scare you off. I have been disappointed time after time when buying old books. The material is usually outdated and useless, but I promise, the info in "Terrariums and Miniature Gardens" is timeless. Technology hasn't advanced plants so much since 1974 as we find happens with our clays and tools.
I give this one an A. I loved it and I think my fellow miniaturists will love it too.
Custom Dolls, Houses & Miniatures / CDHM