Hermetospheres

Experiences with plant life in closed glass containers

Category: Successes

The perfect fern

This creeping fern, most likely Davallia parvula, meets all the criteria for a perfect hermetosphere plant: small size, slow growth, robustness and delicate beauty.
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Death and the hitchhiker fern

Sometimes, when things look bad, it pays to simply wait and see if things change for the better. I have already described an experience of this kind (Death and resurrection). There is a similar story to tell today. A 5l container inspired by the flora of Costa Rica was set up on April 2023 with…
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Follow-up: Gesneria cuneifolia

Almost six months ago, I reported first experiences with seed-grown Gesneria cuneifolia. Now, with first flowers appearing, it is time for a follow-up.
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“Climbing stag’s tongue with scaly stems”

This fern is not only visually very appealing, it also has other characteristics that make it an ideal plant for hermetospheres: small size, slow growth and a preference for a permanently warm and humid environment. The fact that it is widespread throughout tropical America indicates that it does not make any exceptional demands in order…
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The ‘good’ Begonia

It is only ten years since this plant was given a scientific name. Nevertheless, it is already popular with plant lovers, especially for its rosette of maroon to dark malachite-green bubbled leaves covered with magenta hairs and its bright white flowers. The special appearance of the plant was one of the reasons why the authors…
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Acclimation (5): Gesneria cuneifolia

Gesneriads (Gesneriaceae), a family of plants named in honour of the Zurich Renaissance naturalist Conrad Gessner (1516-1565), have been very popular as ornamental plants for a long time. Main aspects of the cultivation are covered by The Gesneriad Society. Although most gesneriads are perennial herbs or shrubs native to topical or subtropical regions, some species…
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A jungle in the making

One of the most fascinating aspects of hermetospheres is to see how plant communities develop over years in a confined space – with only minimal intervention. The picture below shows the current state of one of my first containers. How it became what it is today is this story. One of my first containers ever…
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Jewels of the closed terrarium?

Since the times of the ‘plant hunters’ of the colonial era, orchids have held a special fascination for plant lovers. Only a small proportion of tropical orchids live with roots anchored in the soil (terrestrial), far more live as epiphytes on other plants. They obtain moisture and nutrients from the precipitation water that runs down…
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Efficient light capture with downsized leaves?

The unequal growth of two leaves in a pair from a single branch node is called anisophylly. It occurs in several, non related groups of Angiosperms that have opposite leaves, like Gesneriaceae, Melastomataceae, Rubiaceae and Urticaceae and is therefore assumed to have evolved independently several times. But what is the competitive advantage of this trait…
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Avoid reflections

My standard method to take pictures is, both for containers as a whole and for details within: Place the light source, a camera flash light with remote control, directly on the lid of the container. This prevents the light source from being reflected on the surface of the glass and thus affecting the image. Today,…
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