Top 10 Reasons to Make a Fairy Garden

Do you know what a fairy garden is? They’re gardens where fairies exist or may come to visit. They can be on a grand scale or a very small scale, even nestled in a teacup. No matter where you find them, they are filled with good vibes. And they’re fun to make. I don’t care how old you are, you’re never too old to have fun.

 

So what are the top 10 reasons why you should make a fairy garden?

 

10 –     Fair gardens are fun. Boy, girl, or nonbinary, you probably played with some kind of doll, toy, or action figure when you were growing up. You created stories out loud or simply in your head and delighted as the stories unfolded. I had a dollhouse where I could spend hours sitting in front of it and moving the dolls around. They drank tea. They told each other stories. They told each other secrets. It was a joy to spend time with friends making up the scenarios. Or spending time simply by myself.  Doll-housing for adults. That’s how I think of fairy gardening.

 

9 –       Fairy gardens are flexible. To plant a regular garden, you need space. But what do you do if you have limited space? A patio, for example. Or no patio?  The beauty of making fairy gardens is that you can plant them indoors or outdoors and use containers of all sizes. Do you have a regular garden pot? Perfect. A tin bucket that you’re ready to heave because it has a hole in it? Also perfect. A broken clay pot ready for discarding? A fun challenge. How about that old wheel barrow you want to throw out because you no longer have a huge garden? Keep it. Fill it with dirt. Add a few plants. Sprinkle a winding path from the handles to the other end. Create a town, a farm, whatever your heart desires. Use what limited space you have and create whatever you can dream up.

 

8 –       Don’t have a green thumb? Okay, the term fairy garden implies that you need to grow something. But what if you don’t have a green thumb? Don’t fret. You can make fairy gardens with no plants. Or with fake plants. Or simply with sticks and stones. Fairies don’t necessarily need plants to thrive. They need love and attention. What if you want to make a fairy garden in a moonscape? Great. Gather up a bunch of ugly rocks, spray paint them silver, and scatter them over your desired terrain.  Do you have a tree stump? Perfect. Put a fairy door at the base and invite a fairy to walk through it.

 

7 –       Which brings me to my next suggestion. Use what you’ve got. If you can’t afford to buy all sorts of garden accessories, see if you can concoct something yourself. Make a fairy ladder out of string and sticks. Make fairy toadstools out of discarded wine corks that you spray paint red. Do you have an old watering can? Buy some fairy lights, pass them through the spout, and let them pour out the other side as if they’re water. Make a bench with a thick piece of wood. Use popsicle sticks to make a fence. The list is endless if you let your imagination take the lead.

 

6 -–      Social media bragging rights. We spend so much time nowadays online viewing social media posts. Do you feel like you don’t have something to share? Well, if you make a fairy garden, you will. Pictures. Join communities on Facebook and elsewhere where others share their creations. Fairy gardens are well loved on Instagram.  Take photos of the base of fascinating trees and share them with a story about the fairies that might one day come to visit. Or better yet, make a fairy door and leave the fairies a note, inviting them in. All it takes is a piece of wood and some buttons, glitter, moss, or whatever floats your boat.

 

5 –       Plant small and dream big. Making a fairy garden is a fun way to be creative. I wasn’t much of a crafter before I started making fairy gardens. I didn’t take to knitting or needlepoint or scrapbooking. However, I loved to garden. But after a while, digging and weeding was really taking take its toll on my shoulders and elbow. So when I saw my first fairy garden and grasped that the scope was something I could handle, I gravitated toward it.

 

4 –       Fairy gardening is a great conversation starter. People ask me about my gardens all the time. Even my grandchildren love my gardens. The moment they enter my backyard, they crouch down to scope out what I’ve made. This opens the conversation to gardening and crafts. We even discuss what the stories are behind each of the gardens. I love how my gardens stir their imaginations.

3 –       Glue guns are your friend. Okay, to be honest, I’ve owned a glue gun for years, but using a glue gun was not in my skill set. I’ve burned a finger or two. Well, now it is. I can use a glue gun with ease. I’ve become adept as I make additions to my gardens, like ladders and fences.  Glue can help hold garden items in place. I have even used a glue gun to do repairs. Yes, fairy figurines can break. They are delicate creatures. A glue gun works in a pinch.

 

2 –       Making fairy gardens stirs the imagination. I like my gardens to involve conversations or relationships that are in progress, so yes, all my gardens have fairy figurines in them. Not all are talking. Sometimes the fairies are simply together in harmony, like my reading fairy and her hedgehog buddy. To be fair, figurines can be expensive. So, if your budget is limited, use your imagination and make a garden that is ready and waiting for a visit from fairies. Make chairs with wire where the fairies can sit. Make a table with a spool of thread where they can dine. Let your imagination run wild.

 

1 –       Fairy gardens will fill you with childlike wonder. As a girl, I believed in fairies. I couldn’t wait for them to visit me. Now, as an adult, I feel a lightness of spirit whenever I tend to my fairy gardens or when I’m making a new one. The more time I spend with my gardens, the more I feel as I did when I was young—hopeful.

 

 

 

DARYL WOOD GERBER – bio

 

Agatha Award-winning author Daryl Wood Gerber is best known for her nationally bestselling Fairy Garden Mysteries, Cookbook Nook Mysteries, and French Bistro Mysteries. As Avery Aames, she penned the popular Cheese Shop Mysteries. In addition, Daryl writes the Aspen Adams Novels of Suspense as well as stand-alone suspense. Daryl loves to cook, fairy garden, and read. She has a frisky Goldendoodle who keeps her in line. And she has been known to jump out of a perfectly good airplane and hitch-hike around Ireland alone.  Daryl’s latest book, A GLIMMER OF A CLUE, the 2nd Fairy Garden Mystery is in bookstores now.

 

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