In addition to cleaning up my flower gardens in the fall, I also clean up my fairy garden. I remove the fairies and paraphernalia, wash them up, then store everything away until spring.
May 2023.
Then I place a winter scene in the garden, with a single component; a fairy sitting next to a snowy tree. Even though, in “normal” winters, snow covers it up for most of the season, it’s fun to place this ornament outside to have a winter fairy scene too.
My winter fairy garden ornament.
Of course, this non-snowy winter the garden has not been covered in snow, and you can see the fairy and tree easily.
However, it has been invaded by an alien.
An alien in the garden…March 2024.
The other day as I was walking by, I noticed a small figure next to some glass mushrooms I forgot to put away last fall. When I picked it up, it looked like an alien. I trust it’s a friendly one.
A friendly alien, up close. March 2024
I will add him to my ever-changing and expanding fairy garden this spring.
It’s fun to know others notice this whimsical little world, tucked away under a rose bush in my back yard.
On a walk recently, I noticed these yellow crocuses already popping out of the ground these early days of March (3/7/24).
Many walkers and joggers use the sidewalk along the east side of our corner lot. We planted trees along the walk as a screen for our windows, but I do like to see the variety of folks who use the sidewalk. It leads to a paved trail that takes one around three ponds, and it is a delightful walk.
My fairy garden.
A couple of weeks ago when we were working out in the yard a gentleman, who was walking on the sidewalk, stopped to ask us about our house color (my all-time favorite green house). As we were visiting he said his grandson loves my fairy garden. He said his grandson will make sure everything is in place and clears out any dead leaves etc. when he walks by it. That made me smile, and inspired me to recreate the garden as soon as possible. I had just cleared the area of my fairy garden to clean things up and re-do it. It is along the sidewalk.
I took everything out of the first fairy garden…weeded and patted down the dirt, getting ready for a re-create.
I washed up the glass stones for the pathway and realigned them. I situated the porcelain table and chairs and fairies in place, including my troll from Norway. There were a few new items to add to the scene this year.
A string of lights from the thrift store.
When I opened a package that I bought at a thrift store last fall I was surprised. I thought it was street lamp poles, instead it was a string of lights, and that made me happy. I laughed. They do not light up but that’s ok, I like them. I placed the lights in the garden, and added a new-to-me wishing well (another purchase from a thrift store). I put a turquoise stone in the wishing well, to represent water.
The Norsk troll, and the wishing well, plus my original fairy and bench…a little larger than the other items.
Now I enjoy my fun little fairy garden that will soon be hidden under a rose bush when it fills out. Right now, it is open for all to see. I’m trusting my little friend will enjoy it. My granddaughter did last summer.
A few years ago, a friend’s granddaughter took walks with her mom and passed a fairy garden, with a door. One day the little girl opened the door and to her surprise found a note in it. She was delighted and read the note from the fairy. Occasionally the fairy would leave her notes all summer, and the little girl enjoyed looking for a note every time. I’m wondering how to incorporate that idea into my garden…hard, since I do not have a door…
A door-shaped rock I placed at the bottom of a tree in our backyard. I want to paint a window and door knob on it sometime. But of course, it does not open. 😉
Another fairy garden story: A couple recently moved into a new house in the country and put out a gnome-size door next to a tree in their back forest, visible from their kitchen window. When I saw it, I commented on how much I like fairy/gnome gardens. They said they were going to add a gnome.
A few weeks later the guy came up to me in church and said he thought of me while snowshoeing one afternoon. It had gotten dark early and he was snowshoeing on their new acerage and kind-of got turned around. Eventually he saw a light through the trees and thought it was his wife with a flashlight, out looking for him. It was not. It was a solar light on the gnome door that was leaning against the tree close to their house. It guided him home!
As the snow melts, daffodils and hyacinth sprouts will begin to emerge, and fairy gardens will be uncovered.
The beginnings of my fairy garden in our backyard, in 2021.
I am enchanted with fairy gardens. They are whimsical and I love finding them in surprising places: under a flower or next to a tree trunks, maybe under rocks in a rock garden. I also like creating one in my own backyard flower garden.
A fairy garden on St. Olaf Avenue (summer 2019) is large, and has a theme “reading”. You can find many animals scattered throughout the garden, reading books.
Some fairy gardens are elaborate, like one on St. Olaf Avenue in Northfield. The garden is filled all kinds of miniature critters with some fairies, most are reading books. It is clever.
An inviting entrance to a fairy house, at the bottom of a tree trunk. Photo taken: 2019.
A frog enjoying a cup of tea while reading a book. Photo taken: 2019.
My fairy garden is simpler; a table with chairs, with one fairy drinking from a tea cup and another fairy with a watering can…and oh yes, I added a Norwegian troll last summer.
My fairy garden in summer 2022.
I’m planning an expansion to my garden this year with a few trinkets I’ve picked up in thrift stores…a lamppost and wishing well to name a few.
One of three fancy sheds on display at the Home + Garden show in Minneapolis.
A couple of weeks ago we went to the Minneapolis Home + Garden Show in the convention center downtown Minneapolis. The show always has colorful flower gardens to show off and lots of different vendors promoting their wares. Every few years we think it’s interesting to go see “what’s new in home-style”.
I like the porthole window in this one…
This year my favorite display was…what I call… life-size fairy homes…uniquely designed sheds that look like fanciful fairy houses. I wanted to bring one home to play in, but they were asking an exorbitant price!
This shed has a large side window, for a lemonade stand or such fun.
What fun it would be to have an adult-size fairy house in a backyard…especially if it were tucked in between some trees. It could be a great place to set up a small library scene: book shelf full of books, a lamp, and a comfortable chair… or a place for sitting in quiet contemplation…or a fancy garden shed with all manner of plants and dirt, tools and planting supplies…or maybe even a game room?
A side view…
When writing about these sheds, a memory surfaced of playing in a shed in our backyard when I was a little girl. My dad and brother made an adult-size play shed out of scrap wood – nothing fancy like these fairy sheds – but it had a door and a window and that was enough. The neighborhood kids and I played for hours in that shed.
My brother had two photos of the shed. This is when he and my dad were building the shed.
The finished shed. Looks like deep snow that winter…up to our waists.
I’m thinking that subdued memory was what sparked such a joyful response in me when I saw the creative fairy sheds at the Home + Garden Show.
My fairy garden has taken on a winter look. While doing fall yard chores, I collected and cleaned up the fairies and table and chairs I used to create a fairy garden last spring, and stored them away until next spring…
My little granddaughter liked my fairy garden. Unfortunately, on a recent visit she wanted to see my fairy garden again, and I had to tell her I had taken it in for the winter.
But alas, now there is a new fairy in place…a winter fairy sitting by a frosted tree at the end of the glass, stepping-stone path, under the dormant rosebush in our back garden…looking out at passersby, bringing joy, and doing whatever it is that fairies do.
While in Dubuque I mentioned to my friend that I’d like to place a small fairy garden among my flowers back home. Then, when we were in an antique store, she spotted a miniature porcelain table and chairs set…she wondered if that would work? We continued walking around the shop as I thought about it… and the idea took hold so I purchased the pretty, pink, green and cream porcelain mini-table with matching chairs.
A glass pebble trail leading to the table and three chairs.
The next day I bought a chubby little fairy/angel holding a cup of tea at a thrift store.
The fairies in my fairy garden.
When I arrived home to Minnesota I rescued another lone fairy I had sitting outside (the one a squirrel carried off a few years ago and we found it up in the tree the next summer). I started planning the miniature set design.
Looking in on the fairies.
I found a spot in the corner of my back garden, under my fragrant, white rose bush, and next to the public sidewalk that goes past our house. I set a trail of glass pebbles to the table and chairs and placed my fairies on two of three chairs. This is a start.
My fairy garden is tucked under my rose bush.
I enjoyed forming this miniature world. My hope is that people will spot the fairy garden and find a bit of whimsey for the moment.
Another view.
To my satisfaction, through my upstairs window, I have seen a few people discovering it… and that makes me happy.
Two cute hedge hogs reading….I think they are my favorites in this fairy garden.
There is a wonderful, rather large, fairy garden along St. Olaf Avenue. On the property there is a large older home, under renovation with scaffolding outside, which detracts a little bit from its elegance…for now. There is a large garage that may have once been a carriage house, and a big yard. The yard has been turned into a garden and it is full of seasonal blooming flowers… I’d like to learn the history of the whole place.
The red bird reading.A birdie reading while sitting on the elephant’s trunk.
It is a fun place to walk by and take in all there is to see on this one plot of land along St. Olaf Avenue. I walked by this spring and, although the colorful landscape of spring flowers was wonderful, I really enjoyed seeing is the sweet fairy garden, right along the sidewalk. It is full of miniature animals and most are reading a book.
The squirrel is busy carrying books while the cat is resting.
The first time I walked by the house, the owner was out in the yard. I asked him if I could take photos of the fairy garden. He said yes and told me his wife is a librarian, so that’s the why the fairy garden has a reading theme.
A secret door into the tree trunk.
A frog reading.
There is a lot in the miniature garden…flowers, mushrooms, rocks to make a pond, tiny ladders to a loft area, many different animals reading books, miniature plants. There is even a miniature “Free Little Library”. It is quite enchanting.
The miniature “Free Little Library”.
A bunny sitting on the edge of a book, reading.This miniature frog is practicing yoga. Note the stones with the words love, peace and tranquillity written on them. And I like the blue gazing ball.
A couple years ago I wrote a blog posting about my ONE little fairy that I hid in my flowers one year. And then it went missing. Over a year later my husband was trimming a tree and found the fairy up in the crook of the tree. Apparently a squirrel carried it so far and then gave up on it, and abandoned it. When my husband found the fairy he brought it into the house and set it on the counter. I was so surprised to see it. We laughed and decided the only possible explanation was a squirrel’s folly. But now, my one little fairy is now back, hidden in my garden.
Behind the fairy garden are a few other larger garden figures. This is a cat with glasses, reading.
Another large figure behind the fairy garden…a frog sipping tea and reading.
