I know floating terrariums aren’t a new idea, but when I first saw them about 2 years ago they were pretty pricey to create.  I had seen them in catalogs and even on a wedding TV show and thought they were just adorable.  I remember finding these hanging glass containers on westelm.com for $9-34 each and thinking “maybe someday.”

Apparently that day has come because I found the very same concept at Michaels!  I was wandering through looking for supplies for another project when I spotted two sizes of glass bubbles with a spot to hang them from on an end cap and stopped in my tracks.  After I snapped to and realized I should grab as many as possible as quickly as possible I took a gander at the price tags.  Only $6.99 for the large and $4.99 for the small?!  Umm.. what is there to think about here.  It also didn’t hurt that I had a coupon and my Michaels rewards card handy too.

I knew immediately that I wanted to use them for the cacti clippings my mother-in-law had sent me home with from her own garden in San Diego.  I had a good little variety that fit the different sizes so I laid them out and decided which to plant in each container.

I washed each bubble before planting my cacti and as I prepared each I took the stickers off the sides.  That’s when I stopped to read what they said.  And then rolled my eyes.  Really?  Who knew glass was fragile?!  It’s like the revelation that coffee is hot!  Sadly my friends observation many years ago is all too true, ‘common sense ain’t so common any more.’

One by one I filled each container with cacti potting soil, sprinkled in a little plant food and rooted each clipping into it’s new home.  They didn’t look too bad with just dirt, but I felt like they needed something a little more.

So I got some decorative river rocks to cover the dirt.  Not only did the rocks help hold the clippings upright and in place, I think they help retain moisture when I water them so it’s more similar to their natural environment.  And I was kinda digging the look of the layers through the sides of the glass.

I originally planned to hang them from little suction cup hooks on the windows, but soon realized that the ones I had were probably too small to support these weight of these little glass bubbles now that they were filled with dirt and rocks.  Plus they probably wouldn’t stick out far enough from the window to allow the bubble to sit flat against the window, causing things to shift and slide out of the opening.

So my wonderful husband hung them with fishing line from brackets the landlords had left in the window frame of the large window in our family room.  I’m sure those little cacti are just lovin’ the full sun they get in a southern window!  Never mind the fact that the world within their view is still covered in snow.

And because they are cacti they don’t require daily watering.  If I get busy and forget about them for a few weeks days they manage just fine on their reserves.

Whats even better is the fact that they hang so high the dogs will never be able to reach them, so I never have to worry about them suffering the same fate as the one I left on the window sill while I was at work.  Needless to say that bubble was replaced after another trip to Michaels although that tough little clipping survived to be replanted.  Hardy and pretty.  The perfect fit for me and my crazy little household!