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| Photo Copyright Reddit user, wwjdforaklondikebar. Used with permission. |
This miniature garden was created out of a broken terracotta pot. The garden inside consists of a small fern, a strawberry begonia, two clumps of mondo grass and some Norfolk island sapplings. It is top dressed with moss, pebbles and three decorative bird houses and some pieces of bark.
While this garden in a container is really nice, what's newsworthy is where I found it. On the morning of January 13, 2012 it made the front page of Reddit. For those that don't know, Reddit is a social news website where entries are submitted by members and voted up or down. To make it to the front page of the site is an accomplishment that some members, marketers and publicists would kill for. Why? Reddit's traffic is huge. Reddit is one of the most popular websites on the Internet. It is described as the "front page of the Internet" because if it's popular or newsworthy and it being discussed on the site. A lot of online activism (like the recent anti-SOPA campaign) and Internet jokes originate there. The demographics of the average Reddit user is a single 20-something American male. Many of the comments on the entry mentioned that the miniature garden was evocative of an Ewok village, others joked about killing plants or being dragged to the garden center by their girlfriend to make a terrarium.
The gardening industry is twisting itself into knots trying to figure out how to attract young gardeners. This example of a miniature garden making it to the front page of a site populated by young American males shows that it is possible. You just have to know their language, where they hang out and what appeals to them. The garden was created by a 27-year-old garden center employee in Louisiana.
TL;DR. A 27-year-old girl makes miniature garden from a broken pot. Posts it on Reddit and a bunch of guys upvote her to the front page above funny videos, pictures, video game and political news. Proving young people are interested in gardening and that miniature gardening is a real trend.
They remind me of the terrariums that everyone made years ago in every glass container they could find, myself included. I am not into Fairy Gardening now, and probably won't be.
ReplyDeleteEileen
Yup. Terrariums are definitely part of the miniature gardening trend happening now.
DeleteMiniature gardening is not for me and I don't know that attracting Reddit's attention is a good thing but I loved your "trying to make fetch happen" and use of TLDR. Not things I typically see in gardening blogs.
ReplyDeleteThanks, man. You know I used to try to sneak in more jokes in my blog posts, but once I turned 30 I felt like maybe I was too old for it. Around that time I kind of lost my passion for garden blogging and I think it is because I took out the humor in my blogging. I'm trying to work it back in though.
DeleteI kind of love them! They make me smile.
ReplyDeleteI can see these tiny gardens working for the younger generation. They don't have time or space for a big garden, so this would give them an opportunity to do something higher on the creativity scale than put a pot of impatiens on the balcony. Pesches in Des Plaines has a display and a lot of miniature accessories. And I saw a store in Geneva last year that really got my attention. Sorry, I don't remember their name but they were on the main street.
ReplyDeleteIt's true! I love gardening, but as a twenty-something just out of college and possibly moving in a few months (just as summer begins) I can't invest a lot of time into a garden per se. I do plant my outdoor perennials in lightweight plastic pots and have indoor plants.
ReplyDeleteI am in the process of making a terrarium out of a rather large glass jar (used for bulk olives). That is something I can enjoy and easily move with me. If I am successful, my friends want terrariums too. :)
That is impressive. Gardening is definitely making a comeback. I've been wanting to make a terrarium for awhile.
ReplyDeleteThat's a fun little garden. I'm not really in to miniature gardening for myself, but I do enjoy seeing other people's creations.
ReplyDeleteI'm in the age group they're trying to entice (not that I need any more enticing....) and I've definitely seen the trend, especially with terrariums. There are more companies selling terrariums too, like http://envirocakes.com/.
ReplyDelete--Jennie
Hi MrBrownThumb! I think it's so fascinating that you discussed Reddit, which I didn't know/anything about. It's interesting because Reddit's male-oriented demographic is sort of the opposite demographics I've seen on U.S. gardeners, which have run consistently in the 70-80% female range! Thanks for another great article!
ReplyDeleteThat is just so cute! I've tried to make things like that before, but never really had any luck making it look nice. I suppose you have to have an artist's eye! :)
ReplyDeleteYou read my mind! I've been shopping Etsy a lot lately to find cool terrarium stuff so I can create a couple of these, since I'm stuck in this apartment away from my "real gardens". I even found tiny metal birdbaths, trellises, and ceramic snakes. Etsy has a lot of cool glassware for terrarium containers, too.
ReplyDeleteTis cute, and I agree it is a trend. I've seen a number of very clever displays myself.
ReplyDeleteThe problem for many will be to keep such a garden growing well over the long term. (Of course, if one gets tired of things easily, having to recreate such a garden every few years probably won't be a bad thing.) I run into this on a number of forums wherein discussion about plants for vivariums crops up. A number of folks get quite put out with me when I say few plants will thrive in such conditions as the most favorable growing conditions for the animals is often at odds with that of the plants. That as long as you don't mind plants merely suviving or at least not dying too quickly, there are a fair number of options. Typically they then, thinking they're proving me wrong, point out their parlor palm that's doing "wonderfully". "How much has it grown?", I ask. "Oh not at all, but that's because they're very slow growing plants." Oy! Trying to get it through to them that, no, it is not THAT slow growing of a plant that instead the plant is merely surviving generally proves difficult. Apparently there aren't too many people that have a clue what the difference between survival and thriving is. *sigh*