Fairy Gardens

 Today I spent a few hours at the local greenhouse store.  Friends of mine run the place and they maintain a beautiful nursery.  They had a class about fairy gardens.  The teacher told a cute story about the things garden folk like to see when they are looking for a place to settle down.  She talked about the shiny things and miniature items to help make a container garden enticing.  Turns out they seem to prefer re-purposed items as this is so good for the environment.  Of course, there were plenty of doll sized chairs, arbors, tools and such available for purchase just in case we had cleared our homes of such items after our kids had grown.  There were a few kids there, too.  They brought a few of their favorite things as garden themes.  A little boy had his tractor and he said he wanted to have a garden that he could share with his Mom when Mother's Day came along.  Some of the girls were more interested in the four week old kittens that were supposed to be in the other building and wondered if they could make kitty gardens.  It was fun to see how each garden went with the personality of its creator.

I used an old Tupperware container that had been left out through a few winters.  The base of it is cracked, rendering it useless.  Or, so I thought.  I drilled a few more drainage holes in the bottom and took it to class.     I have loved gnomes since I was little so this little guy became an easy first addition to the container.  I love  Thyme (I was told so do fairies) and I selected three varieties; Lemon, Woolly, and miniature.  To add color, I selected a mini rose, brass buttons, coleus, and sweet alyssum.   A wire vine for the arbor and  several elephant foot palms for vertical appeal and the plant selection was complete.The hardscape included gravel, the arbor and a few sparkly things. Since I did not use all of my supplies I made another dish when I got home.  I'll upload a picture in a few weeks to let you know how it goes.

Why did I include this on this blog?  I think this could be a cute way to grow a few herbs for your kitchen.  Thyme, chives, oregano, and several more go well in container gardens.  Just go to a small owner operator nursery and ask them to help you group some together.  Fairy gardens are supposed to have plants that are kept neatly trimmed, so you can use the trimmings for your dinner!