fairy garden 2014

For the past 5 years, Donni of The Magic Onions has hosted a fairy garden competition, and for the past 4 years this has inspired us to maintain a fairy garden of our own.

Looking through photo archives of past fairy garden contests at The Magic Onions, I always admire the elaborate villages created by participants, imagining inch-high fairies entering the tiny garden worlds created by mothers & children...

Our own, simple fairy garden, located in a terracotta urn next to the front door of our house, has been a source of wonder and amusement for my children, too.  Both my 3 year old and my 10-year old like to rearrange the rocks, help choose the plants and come up with ideas for small embellishments and improvements. 

 

This year we added thyme, strawberry plants and a strand of brass bells which ring in bright, sparkling tones to delight our local fairy population.  And much to our amazement, this year, a wee mushroom house (with a teeny, tiny door) sprouted up right in the center of our little fairy garden...

Sometimes we leave small gifts for the fairies, and sometimes they leave gifts for us.  In our recently updated garden the fairies left us an antique key.  It seems fairies like lost-objects & treasures from the human world (especially lost-objects which are old & quaint).

You can find information about how to enter this year's fairy garden contest at The Magic Onions, and for some ideas on how to build your own fairy garden, you can have a look here.

Thank you, Donni, for inspiring so much magic, and for your devoted work as ambassador between the fairy world and our own.