Today I spent a satisfying 2 hours on the garden. After visiting my local Arboretum’s plant sale in the morning and scrounging around in my yard, I amassed a good selection of plants, moss and rocks for my fairy garden. After relocating 3 violets and two large primula I was ready to plant. I selected a location under a Himalayan birch, visible from the house and next to the edge of a raised bed for easy access for the children. I planted a small fern, some miniature mondo grass, 2 very small primula, a miniature hosta, some lily-of-the-valley, 3 different “stepable” plants and some miniature ground cover and finished it off with some moss paths. I added a few small rocks and then three glow-in-the-dark pebbles where each of the houses are planned to be. The magic pebbles will hopefully transform into fairy homes sooner rather than later. We’ll see how quickly I manage to find appropriate dwellings. I will try to find a couple little toad stools as well which should finish off the garden eventually. Most of the plants I used in this garden are very hardy and “stepable,” especially those in the front so they’ll hold up during playtime. Once the homes are in place I’ll look for fairy figurines for the kids to play with. I think it would also be fun to hang some glow-in-the-dark “fairy” balls from the birch as well. This garden will be a work in progress based on what I find but I think I have a fun start. My oldest daughter thinks it’s really neat that the fairies picked her backyard to build homes in. I’ll periodically post pictures as the garden settles and the plants grow as well as of any new additions.
Here are the before and after shots of the fairy garden:
Before…
Now the fairy garden…
Other than the fairy garden, I spruced up next to my patio as well by removing a sad looking rhodie and replacing it with a paper birch. I also added clumping bamboo as well as two new stepping stones in the area and finished it all with a coating of beauty bark. Here are the before and after shots.
Before…
After…
Finally some dead-heading and I was ready to call it a satifying day’s work in the garden.
