Here are the container gardens I created out of the remaining Dollar Tree haul. It's currently occupying an area that is already dedicated to a name so they will be moved to their own location soon. I hope to continue to add to "Dollar Tree Village" (still not sure about that name) in the years to come.
Greetings My Fairy Folks! I'm back with another Fairy Garden Class. I hope you are enjoying them. I recently spent $15 at The Dollar Tree (click here to read that post) on a handful of fairy garden items that included fairies, gnomes, houses, bird houses, little critters and more - nearly 30 pieces. This class will show you how I created one container garden using some of my haul and in my next post I'll share the rest of "Dollar Tree Village" (the name isn't official) to show how I utilized all of the pieces to create a small community. For this container garden I used a pot I already had and gathered some succulent clippings. If you happen to know anyone that has some
succulent plants in their yard, ask them if you can take some clippings. Clipping a succulent plant will not harm the plant and it will strengthen your friendship with the homeowner! Clippings are a very cheap way to create container gardens and succulents thrive easily. Finally, succulents are great for container gardens because they are small yet beautiful. Any clipping you take from a succulent plant will need to be laid out for at least 3-4 days. This allows the clipping point to callous over. If you plant a succulent without allowing it time to dry, you risk root rot. Succulents are very special. They do not require too much attention - they require watering maybe once a week (or even less in colder
weather). The reason for this is that unlike most plants that have flat leaves, a succulent plant has fat, fleshy leaves that actually store water! Some succulents can even bloom beautiful flowers. I highly suggest that if you have not tried to incorporate succulents into your garden yet, do so soon. Since this plant needs little watering, having them in a yard with automatic sprinklers might not be a great idea. In that case, I'd suggest having them in an area that the sprinklers cannot reach, or in a container that can be moved. The tallest succulent pictured will have its lower leaves pulled off so that there is a long, bare stem to put in the soil.
I prepared three containers but only used one for this particular project. First, a coffee filter that will allow drainage but prevent small gravel from escaping. Secondly, some large pebbles that also aid in drainage and prevent the soil from retaining too much water. Third step will be filling it with soil. You will want to fill the the inner ring and never to the rim.
I planned the layout of the plants to allow a few of the fairy houses to look tucked into the greenery.
The roof of these buildings almost blend right into the greenery.
Adding small pebbles over the soil allow for a flat surface and helps the soil retain moisture. I used some glass stones to create pathways to each building.
This archway was created by using a flexible stem from a succulent plant.
This container garden looks good from any angle. Here's the back.
Baby Dustin was visiting Grandma earlier this month and I decided I wanted to show him the Sweet Pea Teepee. I laid down a pillow and him on top of it, where he relaxed for a bit, very content.
The flowers bloomed beautifully! Wow, look at those colors.
The colors are so soft and remind me of watercolors.
I told Dustin that soon he would be too big to fit in this teepee and he cried so much! Don't worry, baby, Grandma will make a larger teepee next year that you will be able to fit in.
If you're just joining us here at Grandma's Enchanted Fairy Garden, this post will need a little back story. But because this is a blog and not an in-person story telling, I can just tell you to click on this link to see how the Sweet Pea Teepee got to this point.
Here it is. After six months of patiently and then impatiently waiting for this DIY project to come to fruition, here it is! The Sweet Pea Teepee.
Here is the back of the teepee, on the left, and its close neighbor, a Rosemary Bush which is the namesake of this area of my garden (Rosemary Park).
This teepee began in September as an awkward cone-shape of twigs, yarn and ribbon and itty bitty sweet pea seedlings. Once it started showing progress, I decided to add extra structure to keep the plant growing in the direction I wanted. I also added a fern on either side of the opening to give it a little more character and separation from the rest of the structure.
Can you believe how well it turned out? I began this journey with inspiration from a smaller project (noted in the origins post) and am so happy that it panned out in a larger scale. And how much room is in this teepee exactly? I have a few pictures to show you next week that will give you an idea. See you then!
Mr. Peanut is relaxing after a long day of running around at the house of one of My Fairy Folks who invited me over to look at some new additions to her yard.
"Smile Mr. Peanut, give me a smile," I chirped. But instead of a smile...
I showed off my new Easter-themed pieces for my garden in the last post but I wanted to focus a bit more on the pieces since they're so interesting from many angles.
The community here is full of many types of members; fairies, gnomes, elves, dragons and all sorts of animals. We have bunnies here too and their community has grown significantly.
At a recent community meeting at this school, a few bunnies addressed the council and requested their own section of the garden, similar to the Gnomes who have Gnomingham or the Leprechauns who have Woodland Grove.
The area above is a temporary solution; a collection of shops and one house for the family that was voted to represent the rabbit community. Plans are underway.
Here is a florist store run by a family of bunnies. They were open for business just in time for Easter.
Here is a small grocery store that stocks many fresh items catered to a healthy rabbit diet.
Here is a school that was freshly erected. School is not in session yet but some young bunnies have already found a way to get on the roof for some solitary cloud watching and day dreaming.
In honor of Easter, this bunny decided to hide some eggs from the rest of the family (who are out grocery shopping) with the help of the younger siblings who are suggesting hiding spots from the balcony.
I have expressed to the council that I'd love to help in any way that I can. In honor of Easter, I bought some Lily and Iris to brighten up the area. I'm happy to hear that there will be a new area just for the bunnies, but it will take a while since there is so much more on the agenda (this community is organized!).
The name of the community is first to be decided and I thought I'd open up the floor to My Fairy Folks. What do you think the space for bunnies should be named? Please comment with your suggestions and I'll take it to the next council meeting.
