Fairy Gardens

Home and Cabin: Down to Earth

Fairy Gardens

The New Train Sets

By Kim Thistle

I am sure we all know of a person obsessed with train sets. Well, now there is an outdoor solution for people who love to create models on a small scale: fairy gardens. These tiny gardens with tiny flowers and tiny infrastructure have the same appeal that train sets have for young and old alike. It is almost like bonsai without the intensity.

Marie Bishop wrote an article for Downhome back in August 2020 that everyone should read. You can find it online at DownhomeLife.com. Since Marie did not focus on plant life, I thought it would be nice to offer a few suggestions.

Let’s begin by getting our heads around the fact that just because you cannot see something does not mean it doesn’t exist. When designing your fairy garden, plan it for the off chance that there really are fairies that will take up residence. I believe that these whimsical creatures would be more inclined to live where there are real plants and not plastic ones.

To begin, choose a spot for your miniature garden. Fairies don’t like to be out in the hot sun, but prefer to be in a shady area under the canopy of a tree. Now that you have your spot, let’s begin.

Before planting anything, find some rotting wood or decomposing organic matter such as leaves, compost, mulch and/or manure to bury beneath your garden. This will encourage mushrooms to grow, and we all know that fairies love to have a nice big mushroom to relax under.

You will need moss or a delicate creeping plant. Fairies don’t wear shoes, so they need something soft beneath their feet. Rather than pulling up moss from the forest floor where you may be disturbing an existing fairy homestead, purchase a few small spreading plants such as Irish Moss (Sagina subulata) or wooly thyme (Thymus pseudolanuginosus). These two plants are beautiful when green, but absolutely exquisite when in bloom.

Blooming plants are an important element of these gardens, as fairies love flowers. Try some alpine plants such as Sea Thrift (Armeria), creeping types of Dianthus, Aubretia and Chamomile. The fairies will love making chamomile tea from the seed heads.

Be sure to choose some plants for pollination, such as Echinacea, Borage, Beebalm and Liatris. These are just a few plants that will attract butterflies, bees, hummingbirds and songbirds. Fairies live in harmony with the insect world, so avoid squishing anything that you might think is unpleasant. Unless, of course, it is a leopard slug. My chickens won’t even take one of those on.

Fairies are playful creatures and love plants such as Platycodon (balloon flower).

For the crafty fairies, grow some Lavender for them to make small bundles of potpourri to tuck into their lingerie.

Of course, fairies love to have bell-shaped blooms to wear as hats, so a clematis such as macropetala “Blue Bird” or tangutica “Golden Harvest” planted near the base of the tree will use the tree as a support as it climbs upwards. It will produce hundreds of beautiful blossoms that turn into delicate seed heads for the fairies to blow into the wind and make wishes.

Other plants suitable for fairy hats are Pulsatilla (pasque flower), Lily of the Valley, Campanulas and Foxglove. Be sure to have different sizes of blooms for the baby fairies and the adults.

For the mischievous ones, grow some Eryngium (sea holly) for them to hide on the teacher’s chair. Ouch!

Don’t forget food! Fairies love blueberries and currants. An arctic kiwi, such as arguta or kolomikta, produces grape-sized kiwis that will be the size of a watermelon to a woodland fairy.

It gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling inside when I see children and young adults excited over gardening. Fairy gardens are a great way to get kids introduced to the gardening world while having fun and learning. As for you big kids, jump off the caboose and branch out into a summer world of miniatures.

Kim Thistle owns a garden centre and landscaping business on the west coast of the island. She has also been a recurring guest gardener on CBC’s “Crosstalk” for almost three decades.

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