by Martie Lownsberry

Created on: April 27, 2009

Last Christmas I received a polymer clay mold that makes a three inch doll. Since I have always loved fairies I immediately began making fairies from the mold. All winter, I created fairy after fairy. At the time, I had no idea of what I was going to do with them, but, as spring approached and my thoughts turned to my garden inspiration hit! What could be better than creating a fairy garden?

Since my fairies were much smaller than those found in traditional fairy gardens I decided to make a miniature fairy garden. I wanted it to look as natural as possible so decided to use a 3 foot round planter I had made last summer from a tree stump. I filled the planter with top soil and then in search of some small plants.

Choosing the plants was not an easy task. My gardening abilities are limited to planting annuals, around the house, and vegetable growing. So searching for plants that were suitable for my needs was something new to me. Luckily, the local nursery was very helpful and spent a lot of time asking me question about how I envisioned my garden to look after I had completed it. based on my answers she suggested that I try ornamental strawberries and these little green leafy things that looked like miniature ferns. I wasn't sure that what she had suggested was exactly what I wanted but since she was the expert I took her advice. Once they were planted they looked wonderful, and I started to see my garden come to life!

Next, I used some moss for ground cover. Now all I needed were my fairies and some type of fairy dwelling. The choices of dwellings for fairy gardens was amazing and I spent a couple of days looking at everything from little cottages, to castles before I found the dwelling that was perfect for my little garden. It was a mushroom house! I added that to my garden along with some colored stones I had picked up at a dollar store and my fairies. The garden looked great but still was in need of a little something more. After spending a couple of more days thinking about it, I decided to stay with the mushroom theme, and made several smaller mushrooms to go with my mushroom house that I clustered around the sides of the house and scattered here and there. I then, took some colored and grounded egg shells that were left over from easter and made a path to the cottage door. It was perfect, and truly had a fantasy look about it.

In fact I liked it so much I am now in the process of making a second miniature fairy garden!

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