Whether you call them fairies, wee people, elves, or gnomes, it’s
fun to design fairy gardens to attract these enchanted beings to the
landscape. You may not know how your fairy garden will turn out when you
start to design it, but if you’re a gardener, you know that no
respectable fairy would inhabit a land without flowers!
The pink blossoms of Kalanchoe
are easy to maintain in full sun fairy gardens (morning sun is best).
Although the blossoms look delicate, the foliage is succulent, so the
plants can go longer without a drink. If you aren’t tickled pink by this
fairy garden, then you can shop for Kalanchoe plants that produce orange, purple, red, or yellow flowers.
Any true flowering vine would quickly overcome such a dainty
arch, so how can a fairy gardener appoint her garden structures? For
arches and gazebos, plant a trailing plant like million bells or sweet alyssum
(on the left in this photo) at the base of the structure. Train the
plant over the structure, attaching it with some twine or wire. You will
need to trim this modified topiary frequently to keep it in check.
If you aren’t sure where or whether to devote a special space in
your flower garden to fairies, then don’t! You can set up a temporary
fairy garden in five minutes by placing the contents of a fairy garden
kit in a part of your garden that has low-growing, blooming plants. If
you don’t find a complete kit, then buy or make the two essential
accessories: a fairy, and a fairy dwelling.
If you’re using a small container for your fairy garden, you
must choose your flowers carefully to avoid plants that will overstep
their bounds. This is a case where you want to pick plants that not only
produce small flowers, but also have a dwarf growth habit. Examples
include Irish moss, which produces white flowers, and Mount Atlas daisy, with fern-like foliage and tiny daisy blooms.
Playing with scale is one of the fun elements of fairy garden
creation. Diminutive objects seem enormous through a fairy’s eyes, so
you can create a forest with a few 12-inch tall specimens. Consider
using flowering topiaries to make these fairy “trees.” Lavender and fuchsia plants are easy to train into a standard.
Fairies must find a fairy garden to populate it, and they won’t
find a miniature garden amongst towering clumps of perennials. If your
taste in garden flowers isn’t fairy-friendly, you can still have a fairy
garden by elevating the accessories. Use a stump, a wheelbarrow, or an
antique chair to give your fairy garden a boost.
If your fairy garden is indoors, choose flowering houseplants
that can take the low light conditions. Miniature African violets won’t
grow larger than six inches in diameter, and will bloom constantly
given the right light, moisture, and fertilizer. Like standard African
violets, miniature plants appreciate bright indirect light or
fluorescent light. Allow soil to dry out between watering, and never
permit your plants to suffer from wet feet.
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