Fairy Garden

After looking at several fairy gardens - various nurseries, online, and one at the A2 Art Fair, I decided I had to make one! Scouting around for necessary materials proved that the project could become more expensive than I thought. So, I had to put my ingenuity to work!

Scrounging in the garage I came up with a terra cotta container I had purchased at a garage sale several years ago, but never used. (With “W. Germany” etched in its bottom I couldn’t resist thinking D might appreciate it.)

I still had some potting soil on hand leftover from the containers I prepared for the front steps earlier this summer.

I broke down and bought some wooly thyme on sale for 99 cents at Gedert’s Nursery - most places still have not reduced prices for herbs and small perennials - are they on to the popularity of those plants for fairy gardens?! After looking at Hoen’s fairies, plants, and completed gardens ranging in prices from $50 to $150 I’m sure demand is keeping the prices from being reduced.

Miniature plants are less plentiful (and more expensive) than I imagined, but I did find out that if you keep Creeping Jenny clipped it can be a nice addition to a fairy garden. After all of these years of trying to unsuccessfully eradicate this prolific creeper, I had a difficult time locating any - thankfully there were some small starts near the pond that were a great size for a miniature garden.

Finding a fairy at the Dollar Tree was a compromise. I only liked the upper 2/3 of it since it was too tall and sitting on a mushroom with a flower, but the “perfect” sitting fairy at Hoen’s was $6. Creativity was needed, but with some clear caulk and tiny pebbles, you wouldn’t recognize her as the same fairy! She’s even very secure in the planter since I had to bury the bottom third after attaching pebbles to hide the mushroom and her legs. A pebble path (glued onto a piece of roof shingle) seemed to complete that portion of the garden.

Height was added by inserting some grapevine twigs I clipped from the edge of the yard by the bocce court. A “bare” spot needed an accessory so I cut a twig as a base and glued on a marble so the fairy had a “gazing” ball in her yard. A spider plant “baby” completed the greenery.

All things considered, I’m quite pleased with this fairy garden. Hopefully, it will only get better and better with love and care. ~~K