Collections and New Plants

As you may have noticed, I just finished updating my blog layout. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out and I'm sure I will continue tweaking things until I get it all perfect. Let me know what you think! Today I wanted to share some of my favorite little collections of treasures in my house. I will admit that I love gathering tiny, fascinating objects and arranging them in small nooks and on little shelves. Some of the objects pictured here are porcupine quills, shell fossils, an air plant, dried flowers, snake ribs, a real starfish, baby marimo, and an illustration by Julianna Swaney.

I also love collecting matchboxes. These are two of my favorites. Also, two different species of tillandsia as well as a fittonia verschaffeltii (or nerve plant) in a glass bottle. 

I recently purchased three new plants which I'm very exited about!  The first one I haven't be able to identify yet, but I do believe it is a tropical plant. The lime green and pink plant is a solenostemon scutellarioides, which is part of the nettle family. Below is my carnivorous plant terrarium, still going strong. The last little guy is a vine called cissus tuberosa, part of the grape family. I didn't know anything about it when I picked it up at The Volunteer Park Conservatory's gift shop, but have since done some research and am excited to see it grow! 

Natural Sciences: Botany

What I've been reading lately:

Image Source

If you haven't read or browsed through the pages of one of Amy Stewart's books, I highly recommend that you get your hands on one of them. They are all very detailed and extremely fascinating. Her latest book, The Drunken Botanist is a particular favorite of mine. It discusses plants in relation to alcohol with history, drink recipes, illustrations, and more!

My carnivorous plant terrarium

I've also taken a keen interest in carnivorous plants over the past few months. They are known for being very difficult to maintain by gardeners and often aren't found in plant shops because of it. So far, with much attention, I've been able to properly care for my Venus Flytrap (Dionaea Muscipula) and Pitcher plant (Sarracenia).  I recently visited an oddities shop in Pioneer Square called The Belfrey. They have tons of beautiful carnivorous plant terrariums in addition to many other interesting antiques. If you are ever in the Seattle area, it's definitely worth checking out. Here are some picture I snapped of their plant collection. 

1. Drosera capensis 2. Sarracenia rubra hybrid 3. Sarracenia rubra hybrid 4. Drosera adelae

While attempting to identify the carnivorous plant species above, I came across this awesome chart. I can't find a source for it but it's been making its way around Tumblr for quite some time. If anyone knows where it comes from, please let me know. 

Terrariums

These are some of the terrariums I've created so far...In the future I will be posting step by step pictures of the construction process.