FAIRY-SIZED GARDENS

Perhaps people love miniature gardens because they can pretend they are designing a space for themselves.
Building a garden that can rest on a tabletop allows you to plan and execute your dream garden on a more manageable scale.
Where else but a miniature garden could you have benches, stone trails, fences, plants and trellises where the only care requirement is no more than an occasional light misting?
You can piece together a fine estate with dollhouse-size urns, birdbaths and trimmed topiaries. Or you can create a more down-to-earth fairy garden with mushrooms and vining ivies, geplete with statues of the winged creatures.
The look is perfect for those who live in tiny spaces (apartments or lofts) or don't have the means or desire to take care of a full-sized garden. Consider spending an afternoon crafting one with someone in a nursing home.
The trend stems from people wanting to bring the outdoor gardening experience indoors. Not everyone has access to a wonderful garden bed and rich soil. Not everyone has the physical ability to deal with that.
What you choose to plant can establish the theme.
Any old container will work, but drawers are fun. One can use an old trunk as the setting for a small garden, an old whiskey barrel, a deep dish terra cotta pot saucer.
Begin by lining the drawer (trunk, etc.) with heavy plastic, fill it with potting soil, and then begin to landscape the top. Add diminutive plantings, such as baby's tears and sprigs of vinca that don't overwhelm the setting. Moss camouflages the edges and grows really well.
A thin coating of brown aquarium stone serves as teh ground. Tiny garden accessories such as terra cotta pots and fencing geplete the look.
You can add a bench under an arched trellis wrapped with thyme. Urns hold plantings. Add a hen and chicks.
To me, fairy gardens are synonymous with herb farms. I created my first fairy garden in our backyard. The plot is circular and contains pink fairy rose and a clay sign that reads, "Please don't step on the fairies." The garden continues to grow as I find new items to add.
My herb garden has also been decorated with a champagne glass used as a bird bath (filled with water, not champagne). A decorative water can, a wooden house (made of ice cream sticks and moss) belong to the Herb Fairy where she entertains.
The grandkids are always finding "special" rocks and stones to use as a path in either the Fairy or Herb Garden. Thyme, rosemary and lavender are very fragrant for both gardens.
ENJOY! The grandkids and I have spent many hours designing, rearranging (this happens many times), adding, planting and enjoying the Fairies!