Inspired by my aunt’s succulent tea cups, I decided to look into building succulent terrariums.

My last attempt at making a cacti terrarium ended in all of the succulents dying and the cacti are now about 2′ tall which is good, but the death of the succulents made me wary about trying this on my own. After some Google research, I saw that most people were using smaller succulents, and grouping them together in glass bowls, orbs, and another glass containers. I looked up “hanging orb” and came upon these candleholders from CB2. They looked like the perfect container for a tiny succulent terrarium.
I took my mom to the Cactus Center in Pasadena where we picked up a bunch of succulents. The pricing wasn’t bad and they had a huge selection of stuff. I could’ve stayed there all day picking plants, but I didn’t. I brought home 12 different succulents and I was in luck, because my shipment of orbs had arrived not an hour after I returned home!
Putting together these terrariums was a bit tricky. Some of the succulents have rather long roots. I had to position these strategically inside the 5″ orb. There was also the difficult in placement.. but, after trying twice on the first orb, I got the hang of it and made one for Jeanette (mother’s day gift) and another just to have hanging out in my room. I’ve got more succulents, but no more orbs, I think I may need to order more!
