80-Year-Old Man Hasn’t Watered This Sealed Bottle Garden Since 1972 And It’s Still Alive

Latimer planted the terrarium garden on Easter Sunday in 1960. He placed some compost and a quarter pint of water into a 10-gallon glass carboy and inserted a spiderwort sprout, which is not typically an indoor plant, using wires. In 1972, he opened the plant terrarium again to add a bit of water. With that one exception, the garden has remained sealed – all it needs is plenty of sunlight!

It might seem strange to some that a sealed terrarium plants garden would thrive like this, but it’s not – the garden is a perfectly self-sufficient ecosystem. The bacteria in the compost eats the dead plants and break down the oxygen given off by the plants, turning it into the carbon dioxide for photosynthesis that the plants need to survive. The bottle is an excellent micro version of the earth as a whole and a great representation of existent types of ecosystems.

Scroll down to check the amazing garden below.