Oo! Oo! OOOOOooooooooOOOOJEN!

You GO, girlfriend!!! That is incredible. It looks good now; it will look fantasticas it fills in (but not too much) and "weathers" a bit...

You just give your family a big PPHHBBBT! when you show them all of the wonderful feedback and expressions of awe this particular project gets you from all of us very appreciative plant people... ;o)

Way to go!

~ Wren

Lookee there, I'm so stunned at such wonderful work that I didn't even go green with envy...! :o)

Thanks, I needed that ;)

Hi
Thats really nice when it establishes it will be fantstic!! Are you using an aquarium for the container??
What size is it.??
Keep an eye on the Cryptanthus they sometimes get rot in the humid atmosphere. I usually grow them on driftwood in a verticle position so the rosette will drain.
Good you thought about maintainence from the start you'll find the plants grow like weeds!!
Gary

Jen, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.
I've been looking for a way to have water features without the false bottom, as I don't like the look of the egg crate. I still have to figure out how to get a heater and a fogger in there though. Talk about inspiration! You've really done a magnificent job!
Boo

Beautiful Jen!

You wouldn't happen to have pics of it as the work progressed would ya? [Or what the waterfall looks like from the back?]

Are the planters/pots for the av and ficus removable?

Is the carpet of green a bed of moss or selag?

nosey people want to know!

: )

Wow! Amazing.

WOWWEEE!!! I wish I was crafty like that, that is awesome!

she's a crafty one alright!!

you've heard it from me before jen,but i'll say it again here...really really nice work! :)

Jen,

is the waterfall and its reservoir the only water in there? If so, where did you hide the pump?

That set-up is sooo coool!!! What an inspiration.

Thanks.
Marie

That is very nice. It looks so natural. Could you list the plants that you have in the picture for the newbies in the crowd? That is an awesome setup.

Thanks for the nice input, folks!
I've been looking for the pictures I took of the work in progress, but I can't find them. I had a shot of the mess I made sculpting the foam pieces~
Paul- I don't have a picture from the back, and where the tank sits, the back doesn't show to photograph. It's mostly raw foam, with a trench for the water hose from the reservoir to the waterfall source. I painted a few inches around the back edges, in case an edge would show. When/if I finally get frogs, I'll use a "seal and peel" caulking product between the edges and the glass to keep the frogs from crawling in behind the feature.
The Av and Ficus are in niches formed in the cement, so they don't have removable pots. I hope they'll be easy to remove when the time comes!
The carpet, on the terrarium's soil, is Selaginella. I'd like to get some tropical moss to grow on the cement itself, but I need to do my homework & find out what will work. The stuff is a little expensive to gamble on (for me, anyway.)
Marie- So far this is the only water in the tank, but it's a work in progress. I intend to put another feature, with no reservoir, but a fogger, on the other side of the tank. The pump is submersible, and it sits right in the water. I carved a hollow out on the right side of the form, so the pump sits back in partly underneath an overhang to make it less obvious. I also painted the exposed side gray. The water hose threads up through the overhang and out the back of the foam, to the waterfall's origin. The electrical cord goes across the front of the reserv., again, partially overhung, and exits above the water-line on the left. Its exit point is visible, but it's behind the Ficus so it's not real obvious. If you're standing right next to the tank, you can see the pump and cord, but from a few steps back they're completely obscured.
Sara- The plants: Most of the viney stuff is a curly, variegated form of Ficus pumila. The plant with tall "rat-tail" flowers in front of the feature is a Peperomia caperata. To the right of the falls, up beside the water outlet is a Dischidia pectinioides (the tallest Pep bloom is "pointing" at it.) To the left is a mini AV whose tag I was careless enough to misplace. I can look it up. Behind the Pep, the plant with the bright leaves is a mini Rex Begonia, 'Tiny Bright'. The fern at the top right is a Davallia. The species are hard to tell apart, but it might be D. divaricata. The little tree on the left is some kind of small-leaved Ficus, but I don't have a name for it. The pink and green plants on the lower right are Cryptanthus bivittatus. There are 3 of them in the grouping, but one is cropped out of the picture. The brighter the light, the more intense their color. I've got a couple more in the tank, and they've been overgrown by ferns. They're just two-tone green. (Gary, thanks for the advice re: Cryptanthus. I'll keep them in the end away from the fogger.)
I think that covers the questions. I hope to have a fogger project to show soon, and then, who knows, maybe even pictures of the completed terrarium! Thanks again!

Hi,
I wasnt able to view your picture, could you please email it to me ? Ta

Hi, I wasn't either and it's killin' me! Won't you please send it to me too: illegalsmile@earthlink.net. Thanks!

The link is set up for auction, and it expires after a while. I'll try re-inserting. Thanks for the comments and interest!

That was a "then" pic,wasn't it Jen? I can only imagine how it looks now!

Now, the curly fig & the Dischidia are the same, the fern and the Pep are twice as big, the Begonia is 3X as big, but only about half of the creeping fig took hold. I'm just not enough of a waterer for that darned stuff! I'll replant it when I'm ready to close up the tank and bring the humidity up.

i was wondering if you still had a picture of the waterfall you made. if you do could you please email it to me?

and I was wondering...when you say "foam" do you mean styrofoam? and when you say "cement" do you meant actual cement that goes in concrete? very nice work.

^ What he said. I keep hearing about this "foam" and wondering if that's the way I should go in my new tree frog habitat, for a waterfall and pool (they still have land access, of course).

Jen??? are you swamped with the nightmare of remodeling still?

Do you still have that pic you could repost or send me? I guess I saw it before since I posted a reply...but honestly I have no memory of it. :(

I've been planning something that sounds very similar to what you describe in your original post so I would love to see it again for inspiration. I've collected a bunch of florist foam and i have some great stuff. thanks

I want to see it too!!!!!!!!!! BUT CAN'T!!!!!!!! :(((((((((
Ana

I think I remember the pic. You should go to the houseplants forum and post to jen there, or email her. I haven't seen her posting on this forum for ages! I am also interested in what her terrarium looks like now. . .

OK folks, I've been hauled back over! Time has been short, so I haven't been spending much playtime online & I've limited the forums I check out. I hope to be back more this winter.
I'm putting in an album with some shots of the tank's water-feature. I copied the "finished product" picture after it had been re-sized for posting, and it's pretty grainy, but you can get the idea.
Yes, the foam was styrofoam. I got some good-sized chunks of the foam packed around some furniture we got for DD. It makes a light-weight base so even with the the concrete covering, it stays a manageable weight. It does give and flex, though, so it needs to be handled carefully & the concrete needs to be thick enough so it won't crack over the flexible form.
I guess I mis-spoke/typed, as I used actual concrete rather than straight cement. I got a bag of Ready-Crete or some such thing (I often use it for this and that around the house and garden, so I think I had some in the garage.) The stuff with sand (rather than gravel) is easier to work with.
Unfortunately, I've had to tear down the terrarium temporarily. It was in harm's way with our remodeling (the ceiling over it came down, and the wall next to it came out.) It's too heavy to move when it's full...in fact, it's a heck of a job to move empty! I'll re-plant when we're done with the house, and I'll post a picture then.
I hope that answers the questions! I'll check back to see whether I left anything out. Thanks for your interest.

Here is a link that might be useful: album w/3 pics, waterfall in progress & done

I should also mention (why do I always think of these things just after I hit "submit"?) that I give the feature an occasional brush-down with vinegar in hopes that it won't be too alkaline for my plants' health. I didn't have any problem with the plants...except for the creeping fig wanting to take over the world. It looks good, but needs a lot of trimming. I might use a quercifolia type when I re-plant, as it's less aggressive - & cute, too!

Thank you very much!! The concept behind what you've done is just about identical to what I've been planning/thinking. Its very encouraging to see results and to know that its not only possible but results in a nice finished product. I still haven't settled on what to cover the foam with...seems there are many possibilities. Great job and hope your house-related hassles let up soon!

Thanks! Best of luck with your project! It's a mess to do, but it's really pretty fun playing with the stuff, too. I'd recommend doing a lot of the work outside if that's an option. I used the concrete and Great Stuff in the garage, and so kept the mess out of the house.