A Moss Terrarium with Fittonia, Maidenhair Fern, and a Venus Flytrap

27 minutes ago

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This is a simple planting project using Fittonia, maidenhair fern, a Venus flytrap, and a mix of mosses. I almost didn’t share it, but what happened afterward made it worth writing about.

Plants and Materials

Plants

Fittonia (nerve plants)
Maidenhair fern
Venus flytrap

Mosses

I used wild-collected moss, mainly a mixture of Bryum moss and Racomitrium moss, with a little Plagiomnium cuspidatum.

If you can’t tell them apart in the photos, that’s perfectly normal. The patch I collected was already a mixture. A little variety, just in case.

Substrate layers, from bottom to top

Lava rock
Sphagnum moss
Soil

Other materials

Seiryu stone
A piece of driftwood

A Very Simple Build

The planting process was straightforward: lava rock at the bottom, sphagnum moss over that, then soil on top for planting.

The terrarium also has a glass cover.

And that was pretty much it.

What Happened After the Holiday

I made this terrarium quite a while ago and took some update photos in late September.

Now it’s late October, and we’ve had a long holiday in between. While we were away from the office, we asked someone else to water it.

I expected it to end up either too dry or too wet.

It turned out to be too wet. So yes, that was one of the outcomes I had expected.

The moss turned black, and parts of the Venus flytrap had broken off. But the Plagiomnium cuspidatum had started spreading from two corners.

I suspect that by the next update, it may have taken over the moss-covered areas entirely.

Why I Decided to Share It

This was such a simple little planting project that I didn’t think there was much to write about. I wasn’t even planning to publish it. A few photos would have been enough.

But then I thought about it again. It was still worth sharing as a reference.

Sometimes, it makes sense to let a little “natural selection” happen in a moss terrarium—to see which mosses do best in your local conditions and let them take over. That way, the terrarium can become better suited to its surroundings and easier to care for.

To be updated.