Fairy Garden Creation

Happy New Moon – September 25 2022

Summer Fairy Garden Project

My grand-daughter, Sonya, and I decided to create fairy gardens as a summer project this year. We just wrapped them up the week before autumn equinox – but that still qualifies as a summer project. Our goal was to do something fun together (of course), but we also wanted to do something creative that worked with elements from the garden.

Creating a fairy garden has the best of nature crafting and imagination without requiring tons of skill. You can enter into a magical world of your own creation while touching elements of your garden and the green world. There is something deeply satisfying about using materials from your own garden in craft projects. And It was cool to see our ideas come to life with miniature houses, a pond, river, and tire swing. 

We started in my garden and yard, gathering up way more supplies than we needed to see what inspired us. Pinterest also held lots of ideas and tips. We also decided to create our gardens in the base trays for large flowerpots. Since we planned to use succulents in the garden that was all the depth we needed, and we wanted the gardens to be portable enough to display inside or out.

Crafting Details

Sonya’s house is made of yarrow stalks – a healing plant used for divination with the I Ching. My house is made with stones from Lake Erie and the roof and bridge are made of tiny branches from my apple and hawthorn trees. My apple tree holds a connection to my father (a seasoned apple grower.) The twine holding my twig roof together and used on the tire swing is made of flax that I spun. Sonya crafted tiny pumpkins and carrots from polymer clay and used a Lego tire for the swing. Tiny blue stones make up the water features and colored glass make up the stepping stones.

Connection and Whimsy

In retrospect, this project was more than connecting with each other in a fun way while being creative with garden elements. It provided a deeper connection to the garden and the green world. The elements we chose all had significance for us. The fairy gardens create a loop of energy from the larger garden in my yard to the tiny gardens displayed in our homes.

And we could have chosen any garden project, but there is a whimsical nature to fairy gardens that made them a perfect choice.  Playfulness, lightheartedness, fanciful, and joyful – those are all characteristics of whimsy. Taking a break from the seriousness of the world to touch something joyful and whimsical is important for our wellbeing. Who doesn’t need that?

Fall is a great time to collect twigs, pinecones, seed pods and other natural materials. Think about creating your own miniature fairy garden world and see where your imagination takes you.

Lunar Blog Post Series

This article is part of my lunar blog series. New moon posts focus generally on garden and mindfulness related topics. Full moon posts focus on one of the plants featured in my book, Growing Mindful, Explorations in the Garden to Deepen Your Awareness. For more details on the lunar blog post series and to see past posts click here.