Living moss gardens under glass, low, round and calm. Eleven finishes across cork, oak, marble and concrete, in two sizes, each made by hand to order in Surry Hills and posted across Australia.
FinishShown: Mossarium Cork
From $49 to $149
Ships Australia-wide, excl. TAS, WA & NT.
Our living pieces travel to New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, and the ACT. We'd love to reach everywhere, but Tasmania, Western Australia, and the Northern Territory have strict quarantine rules around live plants and soil - and a terrarium is, by nature, both. So for now those three sit just outside our delivery map.
Any of it makes a gift. Choose a piece, add a card with your own words, and we post it to their door.
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Every Hive Botanics piece is made by Helen, the studio's founder, on a workbench in Surry Hills. She builds each terrarium and Mossarium by hand and to order, choosing the moss, glass and stone piece by piece, so no two are alike.
Nothing is made in bulk: each one is built once, and built to keep. The moss grows. The glass fogs and clears. That's the point.
Hive Botanics pieces are made to order. Get in touch if you'd like something specific - or browse what's currently available.
A terrarium is a small garden of living plants grown inside glass. The enclosed space holds humidity and light, so the plants need very little day-to-day care. Hive Botanics makes handmade terrariums and moss gardens to order in Surry Hills, Sydney.
A closed terrarium has a lid and recycles its own moisture, so it rarely needs watering and suits humidity-loving plants and moss. An open terrarium has no seal, so moisture escapes and it needs more regular watering, but it allows more airflow. Hive Botanics also makes ventilated terrariums, which have small holes at the top and sit between the two.
Yes. Terrariums are designed to be low maintenance: the right spot in bright, indirect light and a little occasional misting is usually all they need. Closed terrariums and Mossariums are the easiest, because they recycle their own moisture. With good placement, a terrarium can thrive for years.
Every Hive Botanics piece is made by hand by Helen, the studio's founder and maker, on a workbench in Surry Hills, Sydney. Nothing is made in bulk. Each terrarium is built once and built to keep.
Each kit is a terrarium you build yourself, and everything you need arrives in one box, with an illustrated booklet to walk you through it. There are three, and they differ by how much room you have to build in: The Nook is the smallest at 6cm across, The Burrow is the middle one at 10cm, and The Meadow is the fullest at 12cm. The Nook and The Burrow are built from soft green cuttings under a cork or a wooden lid, and The Meadow comes with a potted plant to settle in as well. All three are made and packed by hand in Surry Hills.
It comes down to how much room you want to build in. The Nook is the smallest, 6cm across, complete in itself and the easiest to find a spot for or to give. The Burrow is the middle one, 10cm, with a rounded jar that gives you a proper little landscape to arrange and enough presence to hold a shelf of its own. The Meadow is the fullest, 12cm, and it is the one that comes with a potted plant rather than cuttings, so it makes a longer afternoon of it. All three arrive complete in one box with the same illustrated booklet, and all three are made by hand in Surry Hills.
All three are beginner-friendly and take about an afternoon. The illustrated booklet walks you through each step, and the process is meant to be slow and calming rather than technical. None of them asks for any experience, and none is harder than the others: what differs is how much room you have to arrange in, not how difficult it is. By the end you have a living world of your own, small, green and made by you.
Yes. Our DIY kits are made to be given or to be made together, so they work well as a shared afternoon or a hands-on gift. You can also send one as a gift with a card in your own words, and we post the box straight to their door.
Once built, it is cared for like any moss terrarium: keep it in bright, indirect light, away from direct sun and heat, and mist lightly only when it feels dry. The enclosed glass keeps the air humid, so it needs very little. Our care guide covers light, watering and condensation in full.
Our Mossariums and DIY kits are posted Australia-wide, with the exception of Tasmania, Western Australia and the Northern Territory, which are excluded because of quarantine rules for live plants and soil. Larger made-to-order terrariums are too large and delicate to post safely, so we arrange those individually when you get in touch. We ship within Australia only and cannot post overseas.
Australian biosecurity rules restrict moving live plants and soil into Tasmania, Western Australia and the Northern Territory, and our terrariums contain both. To keep within those quarantine rules, we do not ship to those regions. We can ship to all other Australian states and the ACT.
No. Because our pieces contain living plants and soil, we ship within Australia only and cannot post internationally.
Many of our terrariums are made to order, so each one is built for you rather than taken off a shelf, and a made-to-order piece is usually ready in about 3 to 5 days. Because larger terrariums are too big and delicate to post safely, we arrange these individually once they are ready, so get in touch to talk through what you would like. The Mossarium collection is made ready to ship and our DIY kits ship as ready-to-build boxes, all posted Australia-wide.
Still wondering about something? Watering, light and the first few weeks are covered in the terrarium care guide, delivery and gift notes in gifting a terrarium, and size, bases and choosing between them in the Mossarium questions.
Most things are possible - just ask.
