West Elm Terrariums - Coolness with a Warning

Tillandsia in a Wall Vase from West Elm

Photo © Kerry Michaels

I recently went to a West Elm store and was blown away by some of the cool plant stuff they had going on. There were great terrariums-- big free-form glass and wire containers--and fabu ceramic wall vases.  There were also tillandsias, lots of succulents and some bonsai. Here's the thing though, some of the plants were fine, but lots looked sick and some were even dead.

My advice would be to go there for the containers and the ideas, but skip buying the plants, unless you really know what you are doing and know how to tell a sick plant from a healthy one (sounds obvious, but sometimes it's not that easy, especially with the tillandsias, when some look half dead when they are thriving).