Gardening on Cloud 9 » Tabletop Garden Gallery

Attila’s Super Cute Cactus Garden

Sandy — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 04:47:42 +0000

This is Attila’s cactus garden. It is so lovely. When I first saw the photos of his cactus garden, it’s like “oh my… this is so cute!” I especially love the eyes he added to the cacti, making these two little creatures so lively and adorable. And the little bee and butterfly that are flying around the container make the whole cactus garden more fun and interesting.

That’s what I love about blogging and the internet in general; here I can easily share and exchange all the fun ideas and interesting experience with many gardeners and nature lovers from all over the world (Attila is from Hungary).

Attila! Thank you for your mails and photos! Definitely looking forward to hear more from you and get impressed by your creative work again

Madeleine’s Jurassic Park

Sandy — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 05:08:24 +0000

It is always encouraging when some friends and blog readers tell me how much they enjoy Gardening on Cloud 9 and get inspired to start growing some plants at home, or even better, shares with me the fun they have with the tabletop gardens they made.

A few days ago, I have received from Madeleine some photos of a Jurassic tabletop garden she has made. With rocks, sand, and tree barks, she has made a very fun, creative Jurassic park garden for her grandson. The tabletop garden is very well decorated, I especially like the little pebbles placed on the sandy ground as the colors and shapes make the whole picture more fun and interesting.

Recently, I have been very busy with learning bonsai, my wedding preparation, as well as many other projects on hand, that I can hardly find time to make and design new tabletop gardens. But everytime when someone like Madeleine reminds me of the fun of making tabletop garden, my crave of making one gets triggered again!

Maybe next month… I especially want to try my hand at terrarium

Oh yes, did I mention the little dinosaurs in the garden? How cool is that

Tabletop Garden – Doraemon Bonsai

Sandy — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 05:33:41 +0000

This is my tabletop garden – Doraemon Bonsai. Yes, it doesn’t look like anything close to those elegant oriental potted trees that we usually call as bonsai. But since bonsai is the art of recreating the beautiful scenery we find in nature in pots and trays, I really do think that this is a bonsai, for it is reliving a scene in the nature (of Doraemon’s world)

You can visit Happy Bonsai for more about bonsai and this tabletop garden – Doraemon Bonsai.

Tabletop Garden – In the Wonderland

Sandy — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 06:56:03 +0000

This moss garden – In the Wonderland – has bought me so much joy. From collecting moss in public park to choosing the right garden container, from making sand art in between the soil mix to cutting up my bracelet, necklaces and earrings, it has been an unexpectedly fun, dare-to-try experience. While I love my moss garden, it is definitely the process that I enjoyed the most.

I didn’t have much success with the moss that I dug in Tai Po. The moss stayed pale green and had never grown into a thick, emerald green, spongy carpet (middle) as I hoped for. But luckily, I found some beautiful moss in the garden of my bonsai instructor (left: the moss in the red bowl is taken from the bonsai garden). And yes, of course I asked for permission before picking the moss in his garden

To decorate my garden, instead of spending money on some beads and stones, I checked my closet and picked a few necklaces and accessories that I had put aside and never used for years. And these are what I’ve found.

A gigantic light-orange butterfly, some black giraffes, a crystal blue flower-shaped lake, a pale white laughing Buddha, “Wonderland” was the very first word came to my mind when I was trying to think up a name for my moss garden.

Here are more posts about moss.

Tabletop Garden – A Shot of Succulent Please!

Sandy — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 02:37:57 +0000

Don’t these little shots of succulents look cute? We can either put a few of them together on a tabletop or scatter them around in the house, either way, will add a slice of nature and some refreshing colors to our homes and offices.

Actually my idea of making this set of four succulent gardens all started with a succulent that I bought in CitySuper 1.5 years ago . As time passed by, the white little rocks in the container began to turn greenish and look dirty (as shown in the photo on the right). So, I decided to give its home a renovation. And since I had a few other small succulents with me, why not give them a colorful new home too!

Besides the danger of getting people confused, especially the already-drunk ones, these succulents can make cool decorations for party venue as well

Tabletop Garden – Kitty Snacks

Sandy — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 22:52:55 +0000

After experimenting with growing wheatgrass for about two weeks, I had a pretty good idea of how to grow the grass well in a container, and was more or less ready to make a cat grass tabletop garden as a birthday present for my cat loving friend. And because I wanted the cat grass in the container to be ready for the cats to snack on by the time I gave this garden to my friend, I needed to make this tabletop garden a week in advance.

These photos are taken on the 5th day after I planted the seeds. And since my friend, Janet, is planning to buy a house in the next few months, I added a tiny house in the garden as a little decor. When I gave this catgrass tabletop garden to my friend on the 8th day, the grass was around 6-7 inches tall, just about right for harvesting

Tabletop Garden – Double the Love v2

Sandy — Mon, 25 May 2009 16:34:55 +0000

This is the second Tabletop Garden – Double the Love that I have made, and it is now in Randon Art Workshop. While people can buy this tabletop garden in the workshop, to me, it is more for promotional purpose than for sales. Hopefully, the city dwellers, especially the younger generation, can find more fun with the green! Gardening doesn’t have to be anything too serious. Making a tabletop garden is fun, and it’s nothing too complicated. While a tabletop garden introduces more green into our homes and workplaces, it also makes a special and unique gift for our family and friends

Tabletop Garden – Black N Matching

Sandy — Thu, 14 May 2009 00:47:24 +0000

This tabletop container garden is my gift to my mom for Mother’s Day this year. When I was designing this garden, I wanted it to be an easy-to-maintain garden that requires little time and attention from my busy mom. I wanted the garden to be something cool and fun, while the plants in the garden must be hardy enough to survive on little attention. I don’t want to get my mom discouraged because she thinks she kills the plants in the garden after a few weeks.

So, this is what I have made for my mom – a tabletop container garden with different low-maintenance indoor plants that have attractive foliage and colors.

I can’t say black is a very popular color for Mother’s Day, and as well, it surely is not my mom’s favorite color (I rarely see my mom wearing anything in black). However, this didn’t cross my mind but only until this morning when I was looking at the photos of the container garden and about to write a post on it. It actually bothered me quite a bit that I called my mom and offered a remake of the garden for her with another container. But surprisingly, she told me she loves it. She said that she especially likes the color of the container for it matches perfectly with her black furniture.

What a relief! I am so happy that I called!

Container Garden – Money Bowl

Sandy — Wed, 06 May 2009 10:11:48 +0000

This plant that has some very round green leafs mounted in the center on a long stem is called Pilea Peperomioides. It is a plant native to the Yunnan province in the South of China. And due to its origin and the resemblance between its leafs and coins, this plant is also known as the Chinese money plant.

Since I have already drilled some holes on the bottom of this wooden Japanese bowl, I had no choice but planted my Chinese money plant in soil. But like pathos and lucky bamboo, Chinese money plant is a hydroculture plant that is very suitable to be planted in water without soil or any other growing medium.

You can check this post for a list of plants that are suitable to grow in the water.

As mentioned earlier, roots that are grown in water (called water roots) are more brittle than soil-grown roots. Hence, growing houseplants in water isn’t exactly for those serious gardeners who take their plants to exhibitions or competitions.

But for the rest of us who haven’t yet tried hydroculture, I would recommend you to give this fun and easy way of growing plants a try. And it can be very educational too! With a transparent container, kids can observe the development of the roots as the plant grows.

Check out this post if you want to learn how to make container garden – Money Bowl.

And you can go to this post to learn how to pot plants in hydroculture.

Tabletop Garden – In the Outer Space v2

Sandy — Sat, 02 May 2009 01:46:29 +0000

To match the name of this tabletop garden – In the Outer Space better, I have taken away the moss and covered the pots and soil with black stones instead.

Which one do you like more?

Tabletop Garden – In the Outer Space v1