What happens when a miniature gardener and a glass artist get together? Wonderful glass terrariums that can fit, or hang, almost anywhere, what else would you expect?

Barbara Sanderson is well known throughout the garden community here in Seattle. Her true talent is coming up with different ways to bring art glass into the garden.

Her work is very colorful with glass garden fountains, huge flower heads and wonderful, organic spikes that look great clumped all together in a big fern or a fountain, and they light up at night, too.

But all her work was about putting the glass in the garden. What about putting the garden in the glass?

I guess it was only a natural progression of our relationship, the merging of the two, mini gardening and glass. I asked her about terrariums one day and the results are just darling, very versatile; I think you can even call them sculpture if you wanted to.

The clear glass bulbous shapes of these terrariums must mimic something inside us because I find them quite endearing. The way they sit, or hang, is very natural, so much so that you forget that it is hard, cold glass - they just look soft and pretty. With the plant gently hanging out of the lip of the terrarium, it just makes you stop, and notice, and smile, too.

There are two different styles that Barbara has created: one that sits and one that hangs. If you're hanging it, plant the terrarium with the soil in the bottom half. If it is the tabletop version, smooth out the soil to cover the whole "bottom" of the bottle. Use a skewer or a fork taped to a stick, or butter knife, as your mini trowel to make sure the plants roots are safely tucked into the soil.

These glass terrariums suit a variety of plants so there are no more excuses to avoid getting a little green into your life. There are small indoor, and outdoor, succulents that you can use if you don’t want to be too hands on- the succulents are very low maintenance.

The picture above shows the terrarium planted up with an outdoor succulent. This example would be placed on a table, or, if it's the hanging version, hung under an eave of the house, or on a covered porch, anywhere rainwater can't get in.

And there are moisture-loving plants that would love to live in there too. These are a little more maintenance, as you would have to monitor the moisture level so it would remain somewhat consistent.

Choose the place where you would like to hang your glass terrarium first, then go and find the plants that suit light situation. Your plant choice will dictate the soil type as moisture-loving plants will want to have more peat in the mix than the succulents.

You can find more of Barbara's work at the West Seattle Nursery’s booth at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show next month. Or, contact her through her website at:http://www.glassgardensnw.com ~ (206) 579-4185.

Visit Janit's Web site; http://www.TwoGreenThumbs.com. Her online store is http://www.shop.TwoGreenThumbs.com. info@TwoGreenThumbs.com, 206-352-0494.