Fairie Garden

Ever since I attended the annual Greece Performing Arts Society garden tour on June 14th, I have been obsessed with making a little fairie garden of my own. I saw so many of them on that tour and I was totally inspired. I blogged about the tour. You can see it here if you missed it.
http://sammysgrammysneedlin.blogspot.com/2014/06/garden-tour.html

So, I thought about it and thought about it, dreamt about it, planned it out, looked in second hand stores for a suitable container. Didn't find one that tickled my fancy. I even thought about using my big, old roaster. The navy blue enamel one with the white dots but couldn't bear to punch holes in it for water drainage.

I did, however, have an old plastic wheelbarrow that belonged to one of my granddaughters. It really should have gone to the landfill long ago. But I'm glad I saved it. I gave it a bath and repaired the one and only wheel it had so it would bear the weight of the garden soil. Then went to work making a fairie garden. That means everything has to be tiny. I knew I had a fairie house in my Christmas decorations. I also had seashells which I could make a garden path from. (You could also use pebbles)

I dumped garden soil into the wheelbarrow. Scooped up moss that grows in shady places in my own "big girl" garden. The moss is going to be the fairie grass. I set the house in a corner of the little garden. Planted a "hens 'n chicks" in front of it. Took another succulent that looked like little trees to me and planted them on either side of the house.

From the house,  I layed out a meandering path of shells through the garden. From two tiny twigs and some twine, I fashioned a clothesline and hung teeny tiny little clothes from miniature clothespins on the line to dry in the sunshine. It was no end of fun to make those miniscule clothes. A tiny pair of farmers jeans, two dresses and a nightie. Don't miss the little birdbath in front of the "hens 'n chicks" plant. I made that from an "orphan" miniature tea set saucer glued to a golf tee.

I made a reflecting pond in the garden from a tiny mirror.

And after a visit to my "all time favorite shop" (Crafts Bits 'n Pieces), I had a wee mailbox and bird house for the garden.

I think it has all it can hold. I will have to quit, though I don't really want to. I have so many other ideas for fairie gardens. If you live near me and you'd like one, let me know so we can build you one together.

Garden Tour

On Saturday, last, I attended, with two friends, the annual Greece Performing Arts Society garden tour. Greece is a suburb of Rochester. Their performing arts society, includes gardening, music, drama, painting, sculpture, etc.

Here in western New York, summer doesn't start until the end of May. It closely follows a Springtime of, roughly, one week. Rochester Summers are usually "hot and heavy". They visit us from June to mid-September, getting cooler at night in September. We usually have a beautiful Indian Summer from September's end to about mid-October. Then...........brrrrrrrrrrrrr.......... Therefore, Summer is usually packed with events. Like the old saying goes "make hay while the sun shines".

The GPAS is always on the second Saturday of June, rain or shine. This time it was a bit chilly. We wore light jackets. In every garden, we were offered cold drinks but turned them down because we were so cold. Before the show was over, we did stop for coffee to warm up. That tasted soooo good.

There were seven gardens to visit. The owner/gardener is in every garden so you can ask questions and get the inside story on their garden. This year I noticed that many of the gardens had a little "fairy garden" tucked away in the landscape somewhere. I also noticed many beautiful colored glass bridbaths. Some gardens had several. The gardens represented the gardeners esthetic. "Staging" was the order of the day. Some were perfect, every blade of grass the exact same length, all beds edged in professional curbing, some had a vintage vibe, some had a riot of garden sculpture, some had fabulous sheds, some had trickling ponds. It's almost too much to digest. You just have to dream of it and take notes in your guide book.

                                                         Fairy Garden

                        "Staging" seed packets, robins eggs nest, quilt, picket fence chair

                                                                     Garden Shed

 

 

 

Multi Level Pond

We (three) look forward to this annually. It's our traditional "girlfriend" thing. I usually take tons of pictures. I'm always looking for ideas for my own garden. I am definitely going to make a "fairy garden".

 

Recycled Glass Garden Sculpture

These homes always have some sort of patio and from those, volunteers served cold drinks and light snacks (cheese and crackers, pretzels, tea sandwiches, etc,) Another feature of the patios is: they all have live music. And in each garden an artist is sitting at her easel, painting a garden scene.

A part of the tour is a visit the town's Historical Center. Here they have a huge tent set up with a "rolling restaurant", perennials for sale, home canned vegetables, and crafts.  I did buy a couple perennial plants. A tiny hosta for $2 and hen n' chickens for $1.50.  We all had a hot dog from the rolling restaurant.

This is the highlight of my Summer. What's yours?