A Forgotten Castle in a Terrarium – Creating a Mini Ruin Scene with Moss and Creeping Vines

Have you ever had a prince-and-princess dream?

I’ve always loved the feeling of old, abandoned castles—covered in vines, a little worn down, quiet and forgotten.

With creeping fig (Ficus pumila ‘Quercifolia’), I realized I could recreate that atmosphere inside a small terrarium.

Think of it like a painting:a distant castle covered in dry vines,a small pond in the foreground, with patches of grass.

The Idea

I used the natural climbing habit of creeping fig to build this scene.

I actually made two versions.The process is almost the same.

I printed two castle silhouettes to use as the background.

Plants

• Plagiomnium cuspidatum (moss)

• Creeping fig (Ficus pumila ‘Quercifolia’)

Materials

• Small lava rock

• Sphagnum moss or soil (either works)

• A small plastic container

(I’ve been including small inner containers with some of my products to hold water—this is what I used here.)

Build Process

1. Place the small container inside the terrarium

2. Fill around it with small lava rock

3. Add some lava rock inside the container as well (to add weight)

4. Add sphagnum moss

5. Place the plants directly on top

That’s it—done.

Notes

You can also use regular soil or even collect some from the roadside.Both plants are very hardy and tolerate wet conditions well.

In my case, I used more sphagnum moss simply because that’s what I had on hand.

A simple setup, but it creates a surprisingly atmospheric scene—like a quiet, overgrown ruin captured in glass.

I will record its growing process and update it regularlly.

This is the first one. It is a tin hexagon close terrarium. It keeps moist well and the creeping figs grows super fast. The shortcoming is it may mold in hot days. so you do need to open the door and spray water regularlly to provent that.

This is the second one. This is a brass one. There are gaps between panels so it leaks. A inner small box is necessary for this one. But it do not fog and do not mold (at least I haven't noticed any). creeping figs does not grow crazily like the above tin terrarium but it is still much faster than in open air.

In the terrarium, there are a third plants: a variant of Lawn Pennywort, which is common in my area.

to be updated.