Tiny houses, toadstools, miniature bridges, and decorative stones. These are common things you will find in one of my favorite things – fairy gardens! My daughter and I love to make a fairy garden every year with different annual flowers. We were excited to get new accessories since our old ones were pretty weathered from previous years.
Fairy gardens are easy to set up and so much fun to customize. I love incorporating flowers and green plants to our fairy garden each year. The more color and texture the better!
Where to plant your fairy garden
You can easily plant a fairy garden in a container or you can use the base of a tree that’s in your yard. I may do both this year. I have even seen old wheelbarrows or bird baths used. Really just about any container will work. If you find a broken flower pot don’t throw it away. Get creative and transform it into a mini magical garden.
What soil to use
I love using potting soil that has flower food mixed in. That way it’s constantly providing extra nutrients to your flowers and plants. It’s not necessary, but my gardens have always done well with it, so I just keep using it. It’s what my mom recommended and she has a green thumb!
Flowers for the fairy garden
When it comes to what types of flowers and plants to use I like choosing ones that are colorful and easy to care for. My favorite flowers to use in fairy gardens are:
- Celosia- These flowers come in bright beautiful colors and have a really fun texture
- Exposure: Full sun
- Supertunias- The color choices are endless! Purple, pink, coral, yellow, red, white and variegated. They all look pretty together too. I never think any 2 colors clash.
- Exposure: Part sun to full
- White Knight Sweet Alyssum- These white flowers are so dainty and fragrant. Butterflies love them too which is an added bonus!
- Exposure: Part sun
- Magic Show Veronica- This will bring some height to your garden with beautiful jewel tones.
- Exposure: Part sun
The best plants for a fairy garden
My favorite green plants I like to incorporate are:
- Lemon Coral Sedum- This plant is very hearty, is bright yellow/lime green in color and has great texture.
- Exposure: Part sun
- Goldilocks Creeping Jenny- This fun plant will spill and drape over the side of your container. It’s so lovely!
- Exposure: Part sun
- Succulents- I love the variety that’s out there. Hen’s and Chicks, Pinwheel and Serpents are all great choices. Succulents are so easy to take care of too. I had one left over from last year’s fairy garden that survived outside in the winter and is sprouting 2 new ones from it! I was able to re pot it in a new container and it now decorates our outdoor table.
- Exposure: Part sun
- Decorative Sheet Moss- This isn’t a plant but still adds the texture of a mini forest. Best part is you don’t have to worry about taking care of it. You can find it in most craft stores. I like using it to cover any bare spots.
Accessories for the fairy garden
We usually decorate our fairy garden with a mini fence, stones to create a pathway, a house or two, toadstools, mini animals like frogs, a bridge and of course fairies. It’s also fun to use things you may have around the house or yard to create mini accessories. You can take popsicle sticks to make a picnic table. Find small sticks in the yard and glue them together to make a cute little bench or ladder.
This year my daughter had the best time collecting objects and turning them into miniatures. She came up with an idea to create a playground for her fairies. So she made a ladder from small sticks that extends down from the top of the garden to the playground. She created the playground in a shallow wooden box we had. She made a tire swing out of sticks and a random tire from a toy car she found by itself at a park a long time ago. I can get annoyed by the “treasures” she brings home but this one made me happy! She made a slide out of a piece of cardboard and more small sticks for the steps of the slide. We decorated the playground with artificial flowers. The other minis she made were a watering can from a pen cap she found and a tiny bird bath from a water bottle cap and beads. Her creativity was flowing!
Arranging your garden
I like to leave the middle of the container open for the fairy house and most the accessories. I like taller flowers in the back. Anything that drapes should be on the sides to give them space to spill over. Try not to overcrowd because these flowers will grow fast. Make sure your container is plenty big to allow for room for the flowers to grow.
This time of year is always so special for my daughter and I. I love that she looks forward to the entire process. From picking out the flowers, to planting them, to decorating with all the mini items. It’s a great bonding time for us. I hope you have fun creating your own fairy garden. And remember, there’s no right or wrong way to customize it. Just have fun and let those creative juices flow!
For more home and garden tips, click here. For more fun activities to do as a family, click here.
oh wow this is super fun! What a great idea I am going to send this along to my niece she will love it
How cute is this!! I have the perfect spot in our backyard for this 🙂
I’m going to show this to my girls, they would LOVE doing this!!! I wish I had seen this as a child, it would have been right up my alley.
This is such a cute idea! My girls have been wanting to do something in our yard. This is perfect!
Your fairy garden is adorable! So many fantastic things can enhance the plant choices. I will look into the more plants that are fairy-garden-friendly.
I love how this turned out. I might have to make one of these with my kids.
This is adorable! We’ve been gardening for than ever this year and this is a wonderful new project we can take on.
This is so precious and so doable on my apartment balcony! Looks like this weekend’s craft project!
This is so cute. We live in the city, but I’m thinking I can use this an inspiration to make a metropolitan fairy garden with my daughters.
This is so pretty. It would be perfect for my yard.
That is so adorable! I have a small fairy garden but yours looks so much better! Thanks for the tips.
How cute is this. I would create this with my daughter.
I love fairy gardens. My youngest has been asking to make one. I think we’ll be making a few here soon too. They are so beautiful!
This is adorable! A fairy garden is such a cute idea and something to keep the magic alive in children.
This is perfect for our girl. She loves fairies. I didn’t know about the concept of fairy gardens before reading this.
You have made a lovely faory gardey, I showed my 3 year old these pics and she got all excited. Lovely work
wow! What a beautiful idea! I am sure that my kid will love to have a corner like this in his garden! We will create it together!
I have always wanted to have one. I tried making one out of a broken terra cotta pot but it did not turn out the way I wanted it to. I will try again. Thank you for inspiring me to try to make a fairy garden again.
This is so cute! I definitely want to do this next year with my little ones. They would love a fairy garden.
This looks so much fun to make with my kids! Thanks for the idea!
Fairy gardens are so cute! I would love to make one somewhere outside!
This is darling! I absolutely love fairy gardens, and you’ve created wonderful inspiration for me. So good to know the best plants to use in one.
Fairy gardens are absolutely charming. I love them. I will take some inspiration from your post and build one with my son. Thank you for the post.
Oh, my! That is so adorable. I would love to have a fairy garden. And I know exactly where to put it. Thanks for this fun idea.
I love what pieces you chose for your fairy garden. The little playground is so cute, too!
My little girl would LOVE LOVE LOVE to make one of these!
These are really cute my kids will love it. I need try to make one with my daughter.
OMG this is so cute! I have always wanted to make a fairy garden! Thanks for the cute ideas!
That is a cool idea, I will definitely try this next time.
This is so cute! I love the idea of a fairy garden. My niece would love this too!
This is too cute perfect for our backyard set up. Your so talented I will copying this for sure.
What a great job you-all did with this! I am especially impressed with your daughter’s playground idea – it came out great! And thanks for the super plant suggestions, too – I might actually try to do one of these with my daughters, now that our local garden store is open again!
This looks so cute!
very beautiful post love to read it.
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