Moss and Fern Island Terrarium

This is a portable, movable little moss island.As you can see in the photo, it looks beautiful.

Let me first explain how it’s made, and then talk about its advantages.

Materials you’ll need: driftwood (azalea roots), red clay, and a flat volcanic rock board.

Tools: quick aquascape glue.

Plants: Leucobryum moss (white hair moss), any small ferns, and a few begonia leaves. I used small Rabbit's-foot Fern, maidenhair fern, Fittonia, and Acorus—simply because these were what I had on hand.

How it’s made

I started with a flat piece of red volcanic rock. On this slab, I arranged three or four pieces of azalea-root driftwood into a shape I liked. I held the wood together with rubber bands first, then secured everything with quick aquascape glue. Once the wood was fixed together, I glued the entire structure onto the volcanic rock base.

Next, I filled the gaps between the wood with pre-mixed red clay.

After the structure was ready, I used tweezers to insert the plants into the clay, then covered the surface with Leucobryum moss.

When everything was in place, I put the finished piece into a 25.4 cm square glass tank with a lid. I added a layer of volcanic rock at the bottom and poured in some water to maintain humidity.

The volcanic rock slab I used is flat and can stand steadily on its own, but to make the setup look more balanced, I added an extra layer of volcanic rock around it.

It sounds simple when written out like this, but in reality, the process takes a bit of effort. Please check my YouTube tutorial for details (scroll below).

Now, the advantages:

The entire piece can be lifted and taken out easily. Since Leucobryum moss and ferns need humidity, I keep it inside a tank, but you can move it anywhere as long as the environment stays moist.

It’s very easy to maintain. Need to trim something? Just take it out.

If high temperatures cause mold on the wood? Take it out and rinse it under water.

Leaves turning yellow? Simply cut them off.

Basically, aside from the initial effort required to build it, everything afterward is low-maintenance and saves time.

Things to keep in mind:

Plants will grow, so you need to leave space. If the area around the island looks empty in the photos—good! That space is for future growth.

You can also make it even simpler. I used a small begonia for aesthetics, but you can absolutely use just a single leaf. The Fittonia too—you can simply place a cutting there and it will root on its own. I inserted those plants deep in clay soil for this piece needs to be moved around, and I wanted it to look nicer when taking photos and video.

You’ll see in the video that the way I plant maidenhair and other ferns is… a bit rough. Breaking stems happens all the time. But it doesn’t matter—they grow new fronds very quickly. Ferns and other small tropical plants are extremely resilient as long as they get enough moisture.

Alright, now let’s look at the photos.

building video: