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Fairy Gardening

You learn something every day.  Today I learned that fairies like shiny things.  Well, me too, what a coincidence.

This morning the girl and I were up early and I was itchy to do something since the weather was so nice.  We headed out on a spontaneous field trip to our favorite local garden haunts, first Earthworks, and then Garden Divas, both over in River Falls.  Earthworks is a design and install landscape company, and they also operate a peaceful little garden center close to the Kinnickinnic river.  They have cool funky evergreens that I like to visit and pine for, get it, 'pine'?  Seriously awesome, would that I had more $ in my garden budget, then that Taylor's Sunburst Pine will be mine!  Really we went to visit the new chickens they've installed in a cute red coop out behind the greenhouses, and had mentioned in their e-newsletter.  But said chickens were apparently not awake yet, so off we went to our next stop.

At Garden Divas, I unexpectedly tripped and fell onto the fairy gardening bandwagon.  Have you heard about these?  I have heard talk about fairy gardening for a couple of years now, I suppose, and have always been like, "Puh-leeze.  What a stupid, expensive-sounding teeny-tiny huge waste of time. Fairies?  I'm too busy with gardening in reality, thank you."  Then I saw these artfully arranged individual miniature neighborhoods in funky cool containers, complete with furniture, miniature plants, paths, bridges, roads, etc.  They are like an outdoor dollhouse; an imaginary green neighborhood that we can landscape for supposed secret nighttime visitors.  My Girl was grabbing a 1" high watering can out of one of them before I could blink, and we were immediately and simultaneously hooked.  I thought of a cool fake rock container I had at home that I have been wondering what the hell to do with, and now I knew.  Let the shopping begin!



Before: cool container, not so cool old tired sedum.


Planting and Watering


Cute.  The fairy garden's cute too.

She won't let go of the tiny watering can that we got for the garden.  She even wanted to take her nap with it.

The finished garden.  It's got Lemon Thyme and Lavender 'shrubs', a stolen from our garden start of Hens and Chicks in front, moss mulch, fairy sized wheelbarrow and (missing) watering can, and a rock path to a fairy chair and arbor.  Some shiny marbles we had left over from some other projects serve as fairy bait.
I can't wait to do some more of these.  No, it's not terribly cheap to buy these little accessories, but now that I've got some ideas I can't wait to try some homemade things, maybe w/ doll furniture or pretty rocks we've picked up and can repurpose as houses or furniture.  Or maybe I'll just head back to Garden Divas or elsewhere for inspiration again (and probably for that tiny red fairy bicycle we saw).

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