Grandma's Enchanted Fairy Garden: Fairy Garden Class

Welcome to a new month on my blog! Last month there were a total of four fairy garden tutorials (that I hope you enjoyed) which was a different pace. This month we'll also do something a little different by featuring the Fairy Garden Workshop in this section. Now, this is a class I did not organize but I did attend. I made a post about the Fairy Garden festival already, but I felt that the class had so many wonderful results, it needed it's own post.

A group of mostly women and children gathered on the back patio of Plymouth Village's beautiful front house to learn the in's and out's of Fairy Gardening. Tips were shared and suggestions were offered over the hour-long event. While participants were asked to bring their own container, the class provided each "artist" with bubble wrap (to cut down on soil use), potting mix, a few plant options, some small rocks and smaller, decorative pebbles. There were also a few other, more exotic plants and decorations for sale to enhance the gardens.

Here are a few of the plants that were given to each class participant.

Pictured here are a few handmade mushrooms and other plants that were set aside to be sold to class participants. The workshop organizers wanted to make sure there were many ways to make each fairy garden unique.

Below are the fairy gardens myself and my granddaughter created. I purchased the matching purple containers at Lowe's which have water reservoirs at the bottom and the houses were purchased at a booth at the Fairy Garden Festival. We each used the same plants and I bought some mushrooms to emphasize a path in my garden.

In my garden I used white pebbles lined with colorful mushrooms to emphasize a path.

My granddaughter chose the darker decorative pebbles for ground cover and a little 'stream' of blue pebbles to create the illusion of a water feature.

I took many pictures, trying to capture everyone's creation. If I did not include you, please feel free to email me with a photo of your fairy garden. I would also love to see where these Fairy Gardens made their forever home, so if you have pictures of your creation in your yard (or wherever you put it), please send them to me. Below are a few creations I felt were extra special and there is also a slideshow of all the photos I took for the class.

This work of art is the perfect example of "use what you have." Something as simple as an old wicker basket can create a beautiful fairy tale scene, including a sea serpent and and castle with soldiers. Even more shocking is the "driftwood" that blends in so well with the scene. When I was talking with the artist, she informed me that the wood is actually from a Rosemary plant in her own garden.

This simple creation uses the same plants and pebbles as everyone else, yet due to decoration and placement, creates a very unique story. I can imagine that this fairy and bear have been friends for a very long time and they are taking a typical walk through the forest to get to a stream. The forest is created by separating taller plants to give the illusion of trees on a path.