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It’s been a surreal couple of weeks across our planet. Even writing these words seems other-worldly and weird.
The kids have been off school for a spring break that seemingly won’t end anytime soon. Closures and cancellations and social distancing abound.
But one really bright spot amid all the craziness of COVID-19?
Spring didn’t cancel herself.
She’s back in all her splendor, a signal of new beginnings and opportunities.
Call the fairy garden a little ode to spring and more importantly, normalcy, that will bring a smile to your face and lift your spirits, now that winter’s in the rear view mirror and we’re all staying close to home.
The sandhill cranes nesting behind our house have just had their fluffy spring babies. They look like infant pterodactyls as they scurry about or gingerly pick their steps in their new marshland home.
So I thought why not lift all our spirits by sprinkling a little springtime magic into our gardens, patios or kitchen window sills with some easy-to-make miniature fairy gardens?
Call the fairy garden a little ode to spring and more importantly, normalcy, that will bring a smile to your face and lift your spirits, now that winter’s in the rear view mirror and we’re all staying close to home.
Kids love bringing these tiny worlds to life, and it’s a great home-based family project, now that so many places are closed.
Make A DIY Fairy Garden
Fairy gardens can be as simple or as creative as you want to make them.
You can use planters of any shape or size. And your fairy garden doesn’t only have to come to life in a flower pot.
I’ve also seen them spring to life in a garden wheelbarrow, nestled randomly in flower beds and perched atop a piece of wood.
I already had this unused flower pot below, along with the potting soil and half-moon decoration. We added a rabbit’s foot fern and some succulents that I bought at the garden center. Then we added some of these miniature fairy garden houses.
I fell for this cute resin fairy planter. It’s stands about 6 inches tall and it has a hole in the bottom for drainage. We added the soil, succulents, hedgehog, windmill and other welcome ornaments.
Here it is after the soil, succulents and ornaments have been added.
I keep both of our fairy garden planters on the patio to keep the succulents away from the squirrels. I’m afraid they might use them as a juicy meal.
Here’s what you’ll need if you decide to go with a flower pot:
- A planter of any size;
- Potting soil;
- Moss (optional);
- Miniature figurines; and
- Plants. Succulents are good because they’re small but you can also use ferns or any other small plants.
Kissing Gnomes And Flying Pigs
My inspiration for these whimsical little worlds, populated with fairies, castles, kissing gnomes, flying pigs, hedgehogs, windmills, toads with crowns, mushroom houses and welcome signs, comes from the many parks and gardens we’ve visited with dedicated fairy garden areas.
A few months ago we saw these kissing gnomes in the fairy garden at South Florida’s Heathcote Botanical Gardens in Ft. Pierce.
How cute are they?!
Who can resist these little worlds set among the plants?
The Fairy Garden at Heathcote Botanical Gardens, Ft. Pierce, Florida
The flying pig and frog with a crown are just some of the whimsical aspects of Heathcote’s Fairy Garden.
This planter plays home to a tiny fairy castle with mushroom garden at Heathcote Botanical Gardens.
Check out the air plant growing from a lofty fairy house perched atop a wooden post, also at Heathcote.
It looks like an Alice in Wonderland world with a random teapot, teacup and clock with no hands decorating this curious abode.
We also found this stone house in the fairy garden area at Florida’s Bok Tower Gardens in Lake Wales.
And if you don’t want to plant anything, just add painted rocks or fairy figurines to some garden ornaments you already have.
This fairy sitting on a mushroom in our garden has survived many Florida storms. Her broken wings have been glued back on several times, but just like us, she gets back up again. I added the little fairies and rocks my daughter painted. It’s a no-stress, easy fairy garden.
Just have fun with it!
Please stay safe and take care.
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