quicksilver
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Miniature Mediterranean Garden Challenge!

So I'm working on a terrarium for my Jeweled Lacerta - a wall lizard native to Spain, Portugal, and northwestern Italy - and I thought it would be really cool to do a miniature herb garden like the ones that seem to be a staple Spanish and Italian traditions.

The challenge? The "garden" in question is indoors, roughly three feet wide, four feet long, and three feet tall. Soil is sandy, well-drained and not likely to be fertilized much. Low-to-moderate humidity, lighting probably counts as partial sun.

I already have a dwarf lavender species Lavandula angustifolia "Wee One" and a dwarf basil, and maybe will get creeping thyme, but I'm looking for more adequately small and sturdy species. However the real problem is how to lay this out in the enclosure. I'm not really much of a landscaper (an unfortunate flaw for a reptile keeper) and have no idea of how to make these plants look good.

Then I had an idea: there might be a gardener somewhere that will enjoy the challenge! So if there's anyone out there willing to give layout advice or to suggest plant choices I would really appreciate the help.

Thanks for your time!

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applestar
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Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

This sounds like a fun idea. If we pool what we know together, we might get somewhere.

First let me tell you in my experience lavender angustifolia might not be a good choice — I haven’t had much luck trying to keep it indoors. It needs a lot of light — you will probably need supplemental light for Mediterranean type plants in any case, but moreover, it is winter hardy and needs cool winter rest period.

Tell us where you live and what your indoor conditions are like in the summer and winter. For a lizard, will you be keeping the terrarium pretty warm all year?

Also, give us more basics on the lizard terrium. You gave us the size of the enclosure, but there must be some requirements regarding underlayment. Would you be able to create deeper soil area with more moisture? Maybe sort of a retaining wall? What would be the maximum soil depth you could build up to? Would you consider placing maybe clay pots inside the terrarium?

...what is the floor? You must be able to step inside of it, right? Can it hold heavy stone, etc. objects?

I just recently saw some nifty miniature (fairy) garden ideas using broken clay pots glued in place to create the retaining wall. (pinterest, YouTube, etc.) that might provide the right kind of “look”.

Before we start proposing plants, are there any that are toxic to lizards and should be avoided? I was thinking some sedums might be suitable.

Basilisk
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Joined: Tue Jun 12, 2018 9:33 am

applestar wrote:This sounds like a fun idea. If we pool what we know together, we might get somewhere.

First let me tell you in my experience lavender angustifolia might not be a good choice — I haven’t had much luck trying to keep it indoors. It needs a lot of light — you will probably need supplemental light for Mediterranean type plants in any case, but moreover, it is winter hardy and needs cool winter rest period.

Tell us where you live and what your indoor conditions are like in the summer and winter. For a lizard, will you be keeping the terrarium pretty warm all year?

Also, give us more basics on the lizard terrium. You gave us the size of the enclosure, but there must be some requirements regarding underlayment. Would you be able to create deeper soil area with more moisture? Maybe sort of a retaining wall? What would be the maximum soil depth you could build up to? Would you consider placing maybe clay pots inside the terrarium?

...what is the floor? You must be able to step inside of it, right? Can it hold heavy stone, etc. objects?

I just recently saw some nifty miniature (fairy) garden ideas using broken clay pots glued in place to create the retaining wall. (pinterest, YouTube, etc.) that might provide the right kind of “look”.

Before we start proposing plants, are there any that are toxic to lizards and should be avoided? I was thinking some sedums might be suitable.
Sorry, I was out of town and couldn't respond. (Also this is still the creator of this thread, I'm just having some issues with my original account.)

The lizard in question is from a temperate climate, so I plan to brumate (basically hibernation) which means it will get cooler for part of the year. The max soil DEPTH is about 4" but I could potentially build some areas up or add clay pots. The bottom of the enclosure is metal, so it should hold the weight of stones just fine.

I plan to add some strong LED lighting for the plants plus a pair of high output t5 tubes required for the lizard to have UVB, though I'm still trying to find some LED that have the right color for displaying plants and animals.



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