If gardening isn’t fun, then you are doing something wrong. While this may not always be true, like those times that hard work out in the garden is more rewarding and good for you than it is fun, I still do my best. I subscribe to the “play as hard as you work” philosophy in life, and lately I have been taking advantage of any fair winter day that comes along and “working” on building fairy houses around my garden. Some of you may remember my post a couple years back on building fairy houses with kids:
and on building fairy houses in the garden:
Over the years, and with several moves, I just keep coming up with more ideas and they just keep on getting more elaborate. These days they are tucked around the yard in all kinds of places, and make for quite the follies. My mountain man is never quite sure where he is going to find the next one when he comes home. It has become a little joke around our house.
The fairy house follies on this homestead began with a little garden on top of a retaining wall at eye level outside the living room windows. There was no way I could not create some sort of exciting miniature world to look at out there in lieu of sweeping views. I had a lot of fairy house materials I had been moving from place to place, including rocks, bits of pottery, shells and driftwood houses. I added some exciting touches like blue glass globs for little streams, abalone shells for ponds, ribbons, beads and some little outdoor fairy furniture like this arbor I found at the craft store.
As many of you know, I am all about re-purposing. It just feels so
efficient, that it makes me deeply happy. Over the years, I have creatively
re-purposed many things, and lately my kick has been moss. Why kill your
moss when you can re-use it around the garden? If you don’t like where it’s growing, move it where you want it to grow. There is plenty of it to
go around, and it looks lovely in the winter when things are constantly
wet, and makes a great starting place for making a fairy garden. I have to say that I gather a lot of inspiration from moss. I added a few other plants here and there like flowering ground covers, small ferns, Irish moss, Primroses, Violas and Snowdrops.
efficient, that it makes me deeply happy. Over the years, I have creatively
re-purposed many things, and lately my kick has been moss. Why kill your
moss when you can re-use it around the garden? If you don’t like where it’s growing, move it where you want it to grow. There is plenty of it to
go around, and it looks lovely in the winter when things are constantly
wet, and makes a great starting place for making a fairy garden. I have to say that I gather a lot of inspiration from moss. I added a few other plants here and there like flowering ground covers, small ferns, Irish moss, Primroses, Violas and Snowdrops.
A rectangular rock and a little metal statue of the Buddha turned this little stick structure into a peaceful temple.
I also discovered that you can re-purpose Nativity Mangers from the
thrift store around the holidays into great little fairy dwellings. You can see one in the background of the photo above this one.
thrift store around the holidays into great little fairy dwellings. You can see one in the background of the photo above this one.
At one point I was working on the problem of what to do with all the big flower pots the previous owner left around the yard. I don’t really like having to water container gardens, and was trying to think of something really fun and eye catching to do with them, since they tend to draw the eye. You guessed it…fairy gardens were the answer. I used moss as the base and made one with a little gourd house and a pebble walkway. Some surprise columbines and bulbs are now popping up, adding even more excitement to the mix.
This old rusty wheel well became another container fairy garden with a river of glass globs and crystals, crossed by a little metal footbridge to a garden gazebo. I was very into the idea of not watering this, so I put a gnarled root in as a tree.
One pot had been completely over-run by Creeping Jenny vines, so I turned some wicker doll furniture and a miniature teapot from the bric-a-brac section of the thrift store into a little fairy garden party.
Someone had given my daughter this little fairy garden set, which went very nicely into another flower pot along the driveway.
One day, I happened to spy this wooden bird feeder hanging on the pump-house wall behind a bush. A little moss, a resin fairy statue, a wire dollhouse bicycle, a little table with glassware on top, some dried flowers and, Voila! We now have a fairy house at eye level hanging outside the shop door.
As you can see, the possibilities are endless. You can get your kids in on it, get your friends in on it, and possibly entertain a chicken or two along the way (but note: they are no help at all and you will want to keep them out of it.) Whether you have a sprawling garden or a few flower pots on a balcony, you can have some fun building fairy houses and see where your follies will lead you.
My dad and I were visiting a botanical garden last year and they had a section of fairy houses. It was the first time I'd ever seen them and the two of us (at 31 and 65) felt compelled to add one of our own. Fast forward to this year, and I'm moving to NC. I want to live there for a season or two before I decide what to do with gardens, but hello, fairy houses will totally be the answer in the meantime. Thanks for this!
That sounds like a wonderful idea! I hear there's an island in Maine with fairy houses all over in the woods. I would love to see them in a botanical garden too.