Glass Balls of Beauty!

           

Melissa-Rose Boutique is a small emerging business in Bungendore specialising in terrariums (terraria), kokedama (moss balls), and gorgeous boxes and hampers with succulents, cacti, quirky plants, chocolate, biscuits, and bubbles. LFW caught up with Melissa-Rose a couple of weeks ago at the Old Bus Depot Markets. Read on for more about Melissa-Rose terrariums

Melissa-Rose is a compilation of the owners’ names—Melissa being the first name of one, and Rose the middle name of the other, and they set up their business in January this year. “Terrariums were something we both loved and always said ‘we could make that’, says Melissa-Rose, “so one day we decided to give it a go and from there grew our obsession for creating different pieces. Once friends and family began to show interest in our pieces we thought it might be nice to give it a go as a hobby/side business. We’re learning new ways and coming up with new ideas every day.”

Let’s be honest here—for those of us who don’t have green fingers, any plant that grows and thrives without much attention has got to be a goer; so it’s somewhat of a relief to hear that terrariums (and kokedama) are extremely easy to look after. “Terrariums are a beautiful feature for any home and so versatile that even people with the worst track record with plants can keep them alive,” says Melissa-Rose. “We are both big lovers of flowers and adore having big bunches of flowers in our homes but unfortunately they only last a short time so it’s great to be able to have a terrarium or moss ball that you can have in your home that will last.”

So how do you look after a terrarium? One large fish bowl terrarium will take around 2 – 3 hours to put together, and, according to Melissa-Rose, they’re extremely fiddly and much time is spent on taking things out and putting things back to get the perfect little environment. But their care is much simpler; just follow a few basic rules and your terrarium will last, and last, and last. Melissa-Rose passed on the following tips for caring for your terrarium.

“Your terrarium should be placed in areas with indirect sunlight (coffee table or dining table is fine) and may gradually be moved to sunnier spots. Give them a spritz of water each week and that’s it! The only way you will kill these little fellas is with overwatering—they’ll get root rot and you don’t want that.”

Melissa-Rose also makes gorgeous, and quite striking, kokedama, and apparently you can grow anything in these, so get your moss ball, choose your plant, and away you go. Again, Melissa-Rose says caring for your kokedama is easy. “Just submerge the ball in water and once the air bubbles stop coming to the surface they should be placed on tea towel for about 10 minutes to absorb excess water, and then they’re fine to sit wherever you choose. This should be done once a week. Herbs, peace lilies, ferns, and fly traps prefer sunny window sills, and succulents or aloe are happy anywhere with a bit of indirect sunlight.”

Terrariums (and kokedama) appeal to young and old, and men and women alike, and Melissa-Rose have recently started making ‘Manarriums’ for all you macho guys out there. “We have a surprising amount of lovely gents who purchase terrariums for their desks at work—flowers just don’t cut it with the blokes.”

Ultimately, Melissa-Rose would love to open their own shopfront making their beautiful terrariums, kokedama, and flowers, together with lovely home décor items. But, in the meantime you can find them each Sunday at the Old Bus Depot Markets in Kingston.