25 Ideas for Tabletop Gardens and Terrariums
As the weather changes and the flowers start to wane outside, it’s a great time to focus on bringing natural beauty indoors. I’ve gathered some beautiful and unique ideas for creating your own tabletop gardens. For those with less time to water, may I suggest trying one of the succulent or cacti gardens. Regardless of the plants you use, I love the wide variety of creative containers used for these mini-environments.
Tabletop Gardens and Terrariums Ideas
Let’s get started with some beautiful tutorials for planting a tabletop garden:
1. Easy Terrarium in Minutes!
Like me, Emily considered herself a serial plant killer, until she planted some easy terrariums in just minutes!
source: How Does She
2. Make Your Own & Save Hundreds of Dollars
Have you seen the price of terrariums in stores and florists? Wow. Brittany breaks down all of the steps so we can create our own for a fraction of the price.
source: Pretty Handy Girl
3. Tabletop Garden in Glass Vases
Glass containers make perfect vessels for table top terrariums. You not only see the succulents, the layers of soil and rock add wonderful visual interest too.
Source: Thrifty Ninja
4. Margarita Glass Cactus Garden
It’s five o’clock somewhere! For something unique and festive, how about margarita glasses? Since they’re shallow, succulents are the perfect choice.
source: Crafty Chica
5. Round Globe Terrarium
Kate has a few terrariums in her home. The tipped round globe is a quirky and stylish home to a variety of succulents.
source: Centsational Girl
6. Beachy Terrarium
To bring the beach to her, Kate topped the soil with sand and adding some seashells and driftwood.
source: Centsational Girl
7. Mason Jar Terrariums
Wait, pull those mason jars out of the recycling! Why not plant some pretties in one, or three?
source: SAS Interiors
8. Tabletop Cactus Garden
Another wonderful plant for tabletop gardens are cacti. Loads of color and texture make them wonderful to gaze upon.
source: Inspired by Charm
9. Easter Terrarium
What a lovely natural centerpiece this would make for Easter! The dangling egg and a couple of tiny blossoms add a little touch of Spring.
source: Terrain
10. Create a Water Garden
Water Gardens are a stunning idea for tabletop displays. Megan created this lovely centerpiece that will take her all the way through winter (and beyond!)
source: RadMegan
11. Faux Weathered Clay Pots
Instead of glass, these terra cotta clay pots are a beautiful vessel for your tabletop garden. Simply “weather” them with a little white paint to soften the look and highlight the pot’s texture.
Source: Yellow Bliss Road
12. Plant a Garden in Something Unexpected
Sara created a succulent garden for her patio in an outdoor ceiling light fixture. What a great example of upcycling and proof that you can use all sorts of containers for a terrarium.
Source: Mom Endeavors
13. Old Light Fixture Terrarium
Liz Marie saved this old light fixture from the dumpster, added some moss and a little nest. Thus creating a charming no-fuss terrarium!
source: Liz Marie Blog
14. Bell Cloche Terrarium
Brittany created a tabletop garden with this lovely cloche, adding color and sparkle with crushed glass.
source: Pretty Handy Girl
15. Create a Wire Cloche for a Succulent Garden
For an unexpected twist, create a cloche out of chicken wire and a serving tray. Isn’t this fun?
source: DIY Show Off
16. Kitchen Fairy Garden
A fairy kneeling on a jello mold. A fence of butter knives. These are just a couple of the vintage kitchen items Charlene incorporated into her adorable herb garden.
source: Organized Clutter
17. Miniature Tabletop Fairy Garden
Melissa planted this sweet fairy garden using creeping plants to edge a rock ‘stream’.
source: The Inspired Room
18. Bird Feeder Planter
It doesn’t have to say planter to be a planter. This adorable chair planter was originally a bird feeder. Chris scooped it up and turned it into a beautiful floral centerpiece.
source: Just a Girl
19. House-Shaped Planter
Beth at Home Stories A to Z built her own little house for planting succulents. Adorable! It gives a whole new meaning to “house plants”. 😉
source: Home Stories A to Z
20. Succulent Centerpiece Using Birch Logs
Birch logs and succulents might seem to be an unlikely pairing but together they make an unusual and stunning centerpiece.
source: Sawdust & Embryos
21. Industrial Tiered Tabletop Garden
By using hardware store items, Beckie created a fabulous juxtaposition of greenery and industrial chic. The tiers add just enough height to fill vertical space or stand alone.
source: Infarrantly Creative
22. Create Fun & Unique Centerpieces
Succulents in tin cans were the perfect pairing for a graduation party — a boy’s graduation party, I should say.
Source: Cottage in the Oaks
23. Tiny Terrarium in Light Bulbs
These tiny terrariums make great favors for weddings and parties. Just make sure to keep one for yourself!
source: A Subtle Revelry
24. Plant a “Faux” Garden
Gather some moss, pinecones, and other organics to create a completely care-free terrarium.
source: McLaughlin Designs
25. Beach Bound
If a woodland terrarium isn’t to your lichen :-). How about another “no kill” terrarium that brings the sound of the ocean to your table top?
source: At the Picket Fence courtesy of Finding Home
If you saw something you want to add to Pinterest, please be a responsible pinner and pin from the original source. Thanks so much for stopping by today. I hope you found some inspiration in these lovely tabletop gardens. Have you planted any yourself? What kind of plants did you use, in what sort of container? I’d love to know!
These are great! Thanks for the inspiration =)
you have a great blog and creative ideas.. love it… 🙂
We love this idea, it can change with the season and the size of the area you have to fill.
Thanks for including my kitchen fairy garden in your round up!
Hi Colleen! Hi Brittany! Awesome round up. I’m honored to be included! There’s no such thing as too many, right? 😉
I LOVE terrariums. I don’t have any yet though ( unless the fern in the cute tiny blue pot perched inside my giant yellow lantern counts?), but I agree that Fall is the time to whip one up!
XO
Pretty creative. The lightbulbs and tin cans have to be my favorite. Great ideas! Thank you for sharing from 3girls1apple.com
You know, an advantage to terrariums like this is if you have kitties like me who are habitual plant chewers. I can’t really have any plants about that she doesn’t investigate and bite/chew. She isn’t always eating them but she really likes to bite things. She would have a field day with the water garden which is a shame because I adore that.
I may not be able to live without the fairy garden though. Maybe I can make a few as gifts and live vicariously through my friends and family who don’t have dustructo kitties?
That’s a good point about kitties, Laurie. And I’m with you, I’m in love with the fairy garden! I could just get lost in it. 🙂
Beautiful round-up of terrariums! We have one on our back porch and I love how easy it is to maintain!
Thank you, Katie! I’m glad to hear that they’re easy. Just what I need!
Love these terrariums – thanks so much for sharing these lovely, creative ideas! I couldn’t stop staring at the water garden terrarium!
Great post!
The water garden is one of my favs too! Think I’ll hit up the thrift store this week for a container. 🙂
Thanks for sharing these beautiful ideas. There is really something into walking inside a house that has flowers on the tabletop. Whether it’s plastic or real plants, it just gives me a pleasant feeling. Of course, I prefer real plants and I will definitely try one these.
I’m glad you like them, Mark. Let me know how yours turns out!