Creating a fairy garden

By Kathy Van Mullekom

Daily Press (Newport News, Va.)

NEWPORT NEWS, Va.

Susan Bradley loves the beach.

When she can’t get there, she enjoys a bit of beach at home — as part of a new miniature fairy garden in her back yard.

In a corner, there’s a sandy shore done with desert sand. Itsy bitsy sunglasses rest on a small round table next to a beach chair, and flip-flops smaller than a fingernail are flung in the sand. A beach pail the size of a thimble holds a collection of seashells; a fishing pole waits to be used.

That corner of the garden was only the beginning for what is now a 3-by-5-foot landscape that she and her son-in-law built. It stands on legs for easy viewing from the back porch, and is filled with a mushroom compost and sifted topsoil mix.

Once the beach was done, Bradley added a graveled walkway that leads to a fairytale-style stone house where a smiling fairy greets you.

Two more fairies are seen in the landscape created with living miniature trees and shrubs — Fairy Hair Japanese maple, dwarf cypress and a Corokia contoneaster, commonly called wire-netting bush.

White-flowering bacopa trails across a black metal arbor.

Koi swim in a pond, and a bird bath waits for visitors.

“The sky is the limit on what you can do,” says Bradley. “You can theme your garden however you want.

“I now just wish I had made it bigger.”

After researching and planning, Bradley ordered her house and most accessories online, choosing everything for a 1-to-12 scale. She paid $300 for the house but much less for other mini accessories such as a picnic table, grill, push mower, shovel and spade, working wishing well and fence.

Bradley purchased her plants locally, paying $80 for the special maple and $5-$16 for other plants.

She uses Elfin thyme for grass and other herbs for accent plants; mosses and succulents work nicely, too.

“I would rather hold and see the plants in person,” she says.

For Jennifer Leslie, fairy gardens bring back warm childhood memories.

She’s done several small container and hanging-basket styles for her yard and recently ordered a gazebo with a weather vane and other accessories to create more.

“It has always been a project on my list to restore the dollhouse that my dad made me when I was 10. The miniature fairy gardens give me the pleasure of creating and caring for a miniature garden without the time and expense it would take to restore my dollhouse.”

Kathy van Mullekom is the gardening columnist for the Daily Press in Newport News, Va.