Ummm… so, like…

what even is a Living Display…?

Take a deep breath— Picture this: your own little oasis, brimming with lush foliage & greenery, whimsical allure, & all designed with you in mind. Creations curated to harmonize living materials into a decor masterpiece specific to your home & aesthetic. Tropical Rainforest? ABSOLUTELY! Secret Garden? Of course. Salty Seashore? You bet. Fantastical, Out of this World, Galactic Milky Way Dreams? WHY NOT!? We’ll brainstorm together to create something epic!

Customized to match your aesthetic & vibes— whether displayed as art on your wall, hanging from the ceiling to create depth & atmosphere, as a floor piece to separate & define your space, or a tabletop centerpiece to welcome community at your favorite spot to have a meal with family & friends. Living Displays are the intersection of botanical precision and artistic ingenuity— each creation blends living elements with individualized details. Hand-crafted and meticulously curated, each Living Display is a tribute to commitment, quality, innovation, & vision within each individual. Your personalized aesthetic, endless possibilities for customization— design a living masterpiece that’s as unique as you are & create your own LIVING space— not just a space to live in. Can’t wait to see your vision come to life!

Custom Living Displays are beyond customizable, & near limitless in the designs creativity, aesthetic, & structure. This flexibility in design allows us to provide you with the suggestions & materials suitable for your specific Living Display design & aesthetic.

Near every aspect of our Living Displays are customizable, but some limitations remain. 

***Keep into consideration that desired plants must be compatible with the desired base structure, substrate, companion plants, & other organic & inorganic materials use in the construction of your Living Display— which could ultimately affect the desired aesthetic of the Living Display. If your desired plants are not compatible with each other, the structural base, the desired substrate, or will not survive your desired in-home location for the display— accommodations or adjustments would be recommended. Though a minor limitation, & usually an easy accommodation please consider this when blueprinting your Living Display aesthetic. Of course, we are always here to help you find the right combination of plants, substrate, organic matter, & decor to suit your specific needs, desires, & aesthetic. We will assist, collaborate, & accommodate during the entire creation process to assure we are providing you with a design as magical & enchanting as you’ve imagined it.

Design Technique & Inspiration

How to Customize Your Living Display Design & Aesthetic:

this is the most important part of creating your Custom your Custom Living Display Design. Listed below is the essential information you will need to provide when requesting Living Display. This is the bare minimum of information for you to provide for your design. Please, provide additional or as much information as possible for the best understanding of your Living Display’s vision & design aesthetic.

Provide ideas of a base design, your aesthetic vision, & what you imagination creates when you think about your Custom Living Wall Display.

• i.e. “Tropical Rainforest”, “Seaside Beach”, “Fairy Garden”, “Mushroom Kingdom”, “Glittering Cave”, “Desert Oasis” etcetera

• i.e. Wall display, tabletop display, hanging display, floor display, centerpiece display, etcetera.

Provide your specific plant selection, or what your imagination has envisioned for your plant selection.

• i.e. Air Plants, Hoya, Philodendron, or plant attributes such as “vining”, “variegated”, “miniature”, color specifications, growing conditions, care dedication, etcetera

Provide specific whimsical decor selections, or what your imagination has envisioned for your decor items aesthetic.

• i.e. if you have no specific items, provide concept based information about your desired aesthetic: “Glittery & Glowing”, “Lush & Green”, “Different Types of Stones or Crystals”, “Must Have Mushrooms”, color specifications, texture specifications, etcetera

Provide a general idea of your understanding of plants, & what level of learning you are willing to explore in terms of general plant care & maintenance— if you are new to plants & would prefer something “low maintenance”, or if you’re experienced & adaptable in your plant care habits & understanding.

• i.e. these will be considerations of the location you’d like to have the Living Display, the time & energy you are willing to maintain the display & included plants, & your current level of experience: lower light conditions, more arid & dry conditions, south facing window, temperatures above °80 F, consideration of organic materials & base structure of your Living Display, “i have no understanding of plants”, “i am a plant expert”, etcetera

Materials

All materials used are variable, all customizable, and categorized below. Materials are broken down into two sections: Viability Dependent & Near Limitless.

Viability Dependent Customizations

 ***Viability Dependent Customizations are customizations that are limited solely  by the conflict between the desired aesthetic of the Living Display environment & the living components viability to survive & thrive with the Living Displays environment. Plant Species & Base substrate are completely dependent on each other under most circumstances.

• ***Keep in mind— plants compatible with the substrate medium & desired companion plants are key to choosing your design substrate in combination with your plant varieties. For example, if you are wanting a mossy whimsical fairy garden Living Display— choosing a cacti or succulent species would not be viable with the conflicting care & environmental requirements each of those plant species need. Moss needs to be in high humidity & lower light conditions— while succulents & cacti prefer arid environments & have much higher light requirements.

***Plant Varieties: All plants are customers choice & vary in availability. Custom requests for plant species currently unavailable are accepted, but will likely increase completion time for receiving your terrarium.

Living Display Compatible Species: there are many species of plants that will thrive in combination together in a Living Display & that will achieve your desired design aesthetic. Some examples & ideas are:

Epiphytic species can be split into Bromeliads, Hoya, Ferns, Mosses, & Tillandsia.

• Mosses: Reindeer Moss, Fern Moss, Rock Cap Moss, & Cushion Moss

• Tillandsia (Air Plants):  Small: Ionantha, Bulbosa, miniature. Xerographica, Abdita, etcetera Medium/Large: Caput Medusae, Juncea, Baileyi, larger Xerographica, etcetera.

• Bromeliads: Cryptanthus, Spanish Moss, & Guzmania

• Hoya: Pubicalyx Splash, Krinkle 8, & Hindu Rope

• Ferns: Sword Fern, Lemon Button Fern, Asparagus Fern, 

• Other species to consider: Pilea, Peperomia, Maranta ‘Prayer Plant’, Polka Dot Plant, Fittonia, vining plants like Philodendron, Epipremnum (Pothos), Tradescantia varieties (i.e. Zebrina, Albovittatta, Variegata, Lavender, Blushing Bride, Purple Heart, & White Velvet), “String of Things” (i.e. String of Hearts, String of Spades, etcetera), Syngonium (i.e. White Butterfly, Maria Allusion, etcetera), & truly any humidity loving, “climbing” or “nodal” plant (plants that have nodes that turn into aerial roots or off shoots such as the species previously listed) would work well in a Living Display— species like Elephant Bush varieties, Snake Plant varieties, Haworthia varieties, Echeveria varieties, & other species of Succulents & Cacti would also thrive dependent on the companion plants & your in-home environment conditions.

***Please visit the Plant Selection Tips page to learn more about what plant species mj🪷cultivates recommends to promote the best outcomes for plant viability while being able to maintain the vision & aesthetic of your Custom Design or Decor item.***

Near Limitless Customizations

***Near Limitless Customizations do not contribute nor inhibit the overall viability of your Living Display— specifically considering the living components of the Living Display. 

Organic Materials & Structure

This would be the structural base of your living display— wall, tabletop, hanging, floor, indoor, outdoor—etcetera—designs.

• These materials can be considered the foundation of your Living Display, which plays a key role in the design. Depending on the structure, integrity, shape, size, & longevity of the base structure & its materials will allow or limit the additional organic, non-organic, plant species, and whimsical decor.

Examples of Organic Materials for your structural base include but are not limited to:

• Large slabs of cork bark, large stones/geodes/volcanic rock or other semi-porous stone, pieces of firewood (a personal favorite of mine), larger terracotta planters (or large chunks  of broken terracotta pieces), woodworking structures or unused pieces of woodworking, picture frames (any size, of most most materials), large seashells such as conch shells, etcetera.

These base materials are near limitless when considering these designs, BUT things to keep in mind when choosing a material is that:

• This material needs to be water resistant, or tolerant

• Semi-permeable or semi-porous to allow proper airflow, and to not trap excessive moistures

• Light but sturdy enough to maintain the accessories and plant growth (and sturdy enough after a watering) if this Living Display is a hanging display, or a wall display. Large stones/rocks/other heavy materials would not be recommended for a hanging or wall Living Display.

• The materials need to allow for the moss, desired plant species, and other living components to safely and successfully attach/adhere to whatever organic material chosen for your base structure.

Structural base materials vary in stock— we are always searching for and discovering unique materials to use in or Living Displays— if something is not available, or something we have never had available is what you desire your structural base to be made from please let us know so we can accommodate that desire if we are able. 

• Additionally, Self-Provided Structural Bases are always an option if you already have something in your possession that you would like to utilize in the creation of your Living Display.

Non-Substrate Organic Matter

This is organic matter that does not contribute to the substrate base of the Living Display

• Thus, these materials do not affect choice of plant(s) or substrate base & is additional organic matter to create the desired aesthetic & design of the Living Display.

Examples include but are not limited to:

• Cork bark chunks, various seashell varieties (i.e. spiral, oyster, conch, etcetera), larger pebbles, stones, & crystals— i.e. smooth black pebbles, quartz, etcetera— these materials can be very similar to or exactly the same as the Organic Materials used in the Living Displays structural base to keep things consistent— but could be a variety of design options & materials to achieve the desired aesthetic.

Whimsical Decor

Consider this aspect of the Living Display near limitless in meeting your desired aesthetic & design. These objects can be organic or inorganic materials that add whatever magic, whimsy, or dynamic to your Living Display design.

• These pieces must be able to maintain integrity in the Living Displays environment, be unaffected by moisture, & be safe for the plants living on the display.

Some examples that I have personally utilized in Living Display designs include but are not limited to:

• Mini diamonds, gems, or crystals, sea glass, gold decorative leaves, mini mushrooms (glass or ceramic only), mini seashells, skeleton keys, marbles, mini terra cotta pots, or any other compatible trinket or tchotchke! These options are truly limitless, & are subject to availability or customer request.

***These items are continuously changing, and we are always searching for new, additional, & unique pieces to make readily available for custom terrarium designs. Being such a dynamic aspect of the custom terrariums, all available whimsical decor items may not be listed, or easily updated. Please, request a list of items currently available, idea suggestions, or provide your decor ideas with your custom terrarium request & we would be more than happy to accommodate or compromise your request to the best of our ability!***

Care & Maintenance

Care & Maintenance will be individually specific to each Living Display Design. Each Living Display ordered will have a variety of different requirements, upon request, mj🪷cultivates would be happy to provide you with a physical or digital copy of a Care Plan for your Custom Living Display with information including:

• Light Requirements

• Watering Requirements

• Substrate & Soil Requirements

• Fertilizing Requirements

• Temperature & Location Requirements

• Humidity Requirements

• General Maintenance & Troubleshooting
  

***Always remember, Care Plan provided or not, if you ever have any questions, concerns, or general inquiries about your Custom Design or Decor item please do not hesitate to contact us via the websites chat, via phone, or via email and we would be more than happy to assist you!***