When building a terrarium, there is nothing more important than choosing the right plants. Every vivarium, terrarium, or other miniature ecosystem must be crafted with utmost care and detail in order to ensure a healthy, functional cycle of life, decomposition and growth. While isopods are, of course, the stars of the show; providing adorable movement and character to a tank, they can only work in tandem with the best. And, in the terrarium begonia game, Begonia thelmae is the best. With the ability to handle a huge array of lighting, and a supreme resilience to drought, this plant grows at the perfect pace for a terrarium, too. Leaves come in to replace the most recently fallen one at the base of the plant, at a rate of one to two a month; allowing for the responsible terrarium parent to trim, plan and scape accordingly around the wonderful Begonia thelmae. They find their place perfectly in the foreground, and as a groundcover, with the ever-uncommon ability not to draw attention away from larger foreground plants, while still providing a wonderful amount of visual contrast with cute, fuzzy, ‘mouse-ear’ leaves and the occasional umbel of smallish, white flowers.
