Mini Gardens

Guest post by Jade Farrar, education officer at the Wollongong Botanic Garden (in partnership with Michael Connor, Wollongong Botanic Garden)

Guest post by Jade Farrar, education officer at the Wollongong Botanic Garden (in partnership with Michael Connor, Wollongong Botanic Garden).

The recent Seniors Week provided the Wollongong Botanic Garden the opportunity to host a handful of engaging workshops for members of the public. ‘Create a Terrarium’ was one of these workshops, which was thoroughly enjoyed by all participants. Participants had the opportunity to learn about the history of terrariums, types of terrariums and how to make and maintain their own mini-ecosystem.

There are a number of reasons why people choose to make a terrarium including:

– To bring a little of piece of nature indoors.

– They are great for people that lack a ‘green thumb’ as they are relatively self-sustaining.

– A great idea for a garden where space is limited

– They are simple and inexpensive to create and can be tailored to personal taste

– They make a beautiful personalised gift

The outcome of the workshop was a fabulous range of mini gardens in an assortment of different jars, and a great enthusiasm as to how participants would design their next terrarium!

This workshop can be catered to all age groups. Not only are terrariums a beautiful piece of home décor, they are also a fantastic learning tool. Terrariums are a mini self-sustaining ecosystem that can be used to teach about cycles in nature and the interconnectedness of the environment, providing an engaging and hands-on educational activity for children to create their own mini-world. Students have a fabulous time creating their own mini Jurassic Park or Fairy Garden.