Grandma's Enchanted Fairy Garden

PLEASE SUBSCRIBE

Sunday, January 27, 2019

Local Happenings: All Inclusive Fairy Garden

Wow, what a wonderful time we had over the weekend at Sunshine Grower's Nursery! Local fairy garden enthusiasts (and some new to the craft) were able to create a unique fairy garden with the bountiful supplies provided by the nursery, including a fairy (which in itself was nearly the value of the entire entry fee!). A few of the supplies and raffle prizes can be seen in the photo below. On top of the supplies the nursery provided, I brought succulent clippings from my yard for everyone to use and my granddaughter brought fun googly-eyed cups for the kids. Everyone who attended was able to win a prize in the raffle.

Guests were allowed to bring their own containers and decor from home to add personality to their creation. The artist of the container garden shown below got creative and decided to save the pot that the fern came in and use it in her scene to fill with water and act as a little watering hole for real wildlife.

Above is another example of an artist who brought decor from home, some of which I recognized as being from Dollar Tree!

This artist created a sweet looking beachy-forest scene. There were so many lovely gardens, I put them into the slideshow below.

If you're interested in attending a fairy garden class in the future, be sure to call Ken from Sunshine Grower's Nursery (909-797-9210) and let him know how much fun you had and that you're ready to do it again! As of right now, there is no set date for another class but I'm hopeful we can host another at some point this year.

WE'D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU

grandmasEFG@gmail.com

FACEBOOK GOOGLE+ INSTAGRAM

PLEASE SUBSCRIBE

Monday, January 14, 2019

Meet the Maker - LIVE Fairy Garden Class

If you've been with us for a while, you might remember the few meet-ups we did at Sunshine Grower's Nursery back in 2015 to create themed fairy gardens. Well, they're back!

On Saturday, January 26th at 10am we will burst into the new year with some festive miniature gardens! The $10 entry fee will give you access to a small container, potting mix, bark, moss, plants and one small fairy (however, feel free to bring your own container, fairies and decor as well). On top of all that, My Fairy Folks who reserve their spot in advance will also be able to enjoy a light snack and refreshments. But that's not all! If you see something fairy garden related in the store that catches your eye, take 20% off that day!

We will personally be available until at least 12p when we'll host a raffle for some great prizes. To be entered into the raffle you need to follow these steps:
1. Be on our emailing list. If you'd like to sign up, please email grandmasefg@gmail.com with your first and last name.
2. Register for the class. To do this, you'll need to contact Ken at Sunshine Grower's Nursery via telephone 909-797-9210.
3. Have a friend register. Make sure they tell Ken YOU referred them. If you are able to grab a friend the day of who hasn't registered but is interested, that will work too but RSVP is preferred.

If you've never attended a class before, here are some beginner tips:

Come early. I will be in the nursery at 9am to prep and answer any questions and there will be plenty of plants and decor to ogle at and gather ideas before the class begins.
Bring items from home. If you already have a container or decor, feel free to bring them! Sometimes it's easier to create a fairy garden with things you already know you have and love.
Pocket money. $10 is a great deal for everything included in this class, but you should also take advantage of the 20% off sale only available this day and only for class attendants! As you saw in the video above, they've got some amazing stuff and I only captured a percentage of it. Small plants are also included in this sale.

To recap:

Sunshine Grower's Nursery

34017 Yucaipa Blvd. Yucaipa, CA 92399

$10 entry - Saturday 26th @ 10am-12p

(fairy garden creation and 20% off sale will continue until 5pm, however myself and the raffle will be gone by then)

WE'D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU

grandmasEFG@gmail.com

FACEBOOK GOOGLE+ INSTAGRAM

PLEASE SUBSCRIBE

Thursday, January 3, 2019

Local Happenings: Fairy Garden Class Returns!

Come early. I will be in the nursery at 9am to prep and answer any questions and there will be plenty of plants and decor to ogle at and gather ideas before the class begins.
Bring items from home. If you already have a container or decor, feel free to bring them! Sometimes it's easier to create a fairy garden with things you already know you have and love.
Pocket money. $10 is a great deal for everything included in this class, but you should also take advantage of the 20% off sale only available this day and only for class attendants! As you saw in the video above, they've got some amazing stuff and I only captured a percentage of it. Small plants are also included in this sale.

To recap:

Sunshine Grower's Nursery

34017 Yucaipa Blvd. Yucaipa, CA 92399

$10 entry - Saturday 26th @ 10am-12p

(fairy garden creation and 20% off sale will continue until 5pm, however myself and the raffle will be gone by then)

WE'D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU

grandmasEFG@gmail.com

FACEBOOK GOOGLE+ INSTAGRAM

PLEASE SUBSCRIBE

Friday, December 21, 2018

Food Garden - A Fast Fix

The idea for this project was found on YouTube and I decided that I wanted to try for myself. I began with a bag of potting mix and used the bag itself as a container.

To begin, I punctured drainage into the bottom side of the bag and then flipped it over to cut a flap in the top (leaving a few inches of plastic on either side) to create a contained garden.

I decided to plant these radish seeds I received from a Seed Bank Box delivery and these interesting looking carrot that caught my eye during a visit to a local nursery.

Once planted, the soil is covered in grass clippings as this has been working well for me in the rest of my garden. Hoping to have an update soon.

WE'D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU

grandmasEFG@gmail.com

FACEBOOK GOOGLE+ INSTAGRAM

PLEASE SUBSCRIBE

Saturday, September 29, 2018

Fairy Garden Class - The Garden That Tells A Story

This large plastic container came complete with drainage. Sometimes, building a story begins at the soil. This container is filled with soil that is low in the front and high in the back - this will help create the illusion of a hill.

This container garden will be a prime example of the "use what you've got" method. I did manage to purchase some flowers for this garden, but hadn't purchased enough ground cover. I decided to use fresh grass clippings to cover the bare soil. Among the grass clippings is some beautiful colored sea glass (as well as some frills of the ground cover Sedum japonicum, nicknamed "Tokyo Sun").

Stout, fluffy garden mums are on either side of the terra cotta saucer which will act as a sturdy base for the focal point. Having low foliage in the front and adding height gradually toward the back adds to the "hill" appearance we began with the soil. The taller, purple flowers are Celosia 'Intenz' and the yellow flower in the rear center is tickseed.

All that's left is to add decor to set the scene. I've added a tall tower at the end of a long, stone path headed off by a thin, golden banner that reads "happily ever after."

Building a story with the decor you use ins't mandatory but can be very fun. The grass clippings make the royal grounds look unkempt which seems contradictory to this golden banner. The story is slowly coming together.

I felt like the princess had a sassy facial expression and decided to create an unconventional story with some help.

A sad frog is seen at the window of the princess' tower. He longs to be free but the princess has him and many other frogs locked up. She has townspeople and servants to entertain and wait on the frogs and kisses them every night in hopes one will turn into a prince. One night, with the help of one of the townspeople, this frog was able to escape the tower.

It turns out, that frog actually IS a prince but he did not like the princess so a kiss from her did not transform him. Now, back in his own castle, he is able to transform into his true form. He can live out his days happily, seeking his true love, but not before an extra bit of security.

Ahh, that's better. A big, strong wall to keep that rotten princess at bay. By swapping out some decor, the scene changed!

WE'D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU

grandmasEFG@gmail.com

FACEBOOK GOOGLE+ INSTAGRAM

PLEASE SUBSCRIBE

Monday, August 27, 2018

Fairy Garden Class - Jade Forest

This drawer was gifted to me recently by one of My Fairy Folks (click here to read the post). I decided to begin working on a jade forest with this container garden.

A large garbage bag lines and protects the wooden drawer that acts as a container garden. I punctured the bag at two corners where it will allow drainage. A layer of small rocks will help the soil drain excess water.

With the potting mix laid in, I carved a divot down the middle to create a path and planned out the jade placement.

After I planted the jade, I decided it was too bare as is and found some extra plants laying around to fill in the empty space.

Besides Jade, I also planted dwarf cup flower up front and Gomphrena is the plant in the rear with the purple blooms that look like berries. I purchased these additions from Home Depot for less than a dollar each.

I decided on a good spot for this container garden and was able to prop it at an angle that will help navigate excess water to my planned drainage points. After cutting off the excess garbage bag and tucked it in, I added a layer of moss and larger rocks (this will help keep moisture in the soil).

Finally I added some small pebbles in the middle to create a path that will act as a beautiful scene for some fairies to enjoy.

WE'D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU

grandmasEFG@gmail.com

FACEBOOK GOOGLE+ INSTAGRAM

PLEASE SUBSCRIBE

Tuesday, June 19, 2018

Fairy Garden Class - Stacked To Impress

These are the flowers I purchased from Home Depot to go in to my tiered garden.

This pot was gifted to me by my granddaughter. I prepped it by adding some coffee filters, rocks and topped with soil.

This is the house I planned to go in the garden. I like to make sure to clean up decor before putting it in a garden.

These odd shaped do-dads are pot feet which will help to elevate the top tier. I planted flowers around the edge of this container which will still allow them space to grow. You do not want to plant anything directly in the middle because this is where the top tier will be placed, and plants in this area won't get enough sunlight to thrive.

This is the final product. The top tier is filled with the same fillers plus snapdragons and succulents. The empty area in the bottom tier should eventually fill up when the flowers grow into the space. Does this garden look familiar, that's because it debuted in this post last month.

WE'D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU

grandmasEFG@gmail.com

FACEBOOK GOOGLE+ INSTAGRAM

PLEASE SUBSCRIBE

Friday, May 4, 2018

Fairy Garden Class - Purple Pot and Peppers

Purple Pot and Peppers - say that five times fast! Thanks to some recent gifts (click here to view the post), I had a vibrant container to fill and knew that my newly purchased colorful peppers would be a surprising pop of color!

Look at those colors! I was able to work with mostly 3 colors for this container; purple, brown and green, and they go so well together.

I began laying out my two newest plants and decided which container to put each in. For this class, we're focusing on the NuMex Easter Hot pepper plant to the right that I purchased at the Green Scene Expo last month (read about it here).

I placed some coffee filters at the bottom of the containers and some small pebbles; both will aid in drainage and keeping soil from escaping.

Soil fills up the rest of the pot before I plant my peppers and lay down more pebbles for colorful ground coverage. I also chose some miniature decorations to create a scene - all existing pieces I already had. How sweet is the little bloom at the top?

And here we are. Some rocks and glass stepping stones for a path to each house, and this container is ready to watch this pepper plant grow.

PLEASE COME VISIT MY FAIRY PAGE

grandmasefg@gmail.com

Friday, April 20, 2018

Fairy Garden Class - Dollar Tree Garden

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.

PLEASE COME VISIT MY FAIRY PAGE

grandmasefg@gmail.com

Wednesday, March 7, 2018

Fairy Garden Class - Anticipating Spring

Zinnia sits on a flower under a floral trellis petting a lady bug in her hand. Thorin the porcupine hums a sweet tune while he cuts through the morning chill on a small swing. They both talk about things they are looking forward to this Spring.

I began this container garden with a large tin bucket (from Michael's for $9) and put in drainage holes. I purchased an array of colorful flowers from Home Depot including yellow snap dragons, red petunias and pink vinca. My centerpiece will be the Perilla 'Magilla' which has beautifully colored leaves.

After deciding how I wanted the layout to look, I went ahead and added coffee filters at the very bottom, topped with small rocks and finished off with the potting soil. The largest plant is place in the rear middle first and the smaller plants fill in the sides evenly. As usual, I left a large area in the middle and front so that I can add decorations.

The soil is covered by a sheet of faux moss to set a lovely scene. The small rocks create a nice border as well as cover any visibility of the moss edge. Pinecones are a nice way to fill in space with a natural look.

PLEASE COME VISIT MY FAIRY PAGE

grandmasefg@gmail.com

Tuesday, August 9, 2016

Fairy Garden Class - Large Box Container

Perennial Pointe had a new addition recently with this floppy cottage. This is the lovely cottage that I purchased at the Fairy Garden Festival back in May that was hand crafted by Grace Bagwell from Diamond Bar. I finally decided where I wanted this lovely artwork to go and documented my journey to this finished product as a walk through for this month's Fairy Garden Class.

I bought this wooden box at Home Depot a few years ago, probably around $30, which contained an array of succulents and other plants for Spring. Since then the succulents have been moved (and the other plants had died long before that) and left me with an empty box. But as you all should know by now, anything unused can be reused for a container garden.

For wooden containers, I would suggest you line it with plastic and poke holes in it before filling with drainage material (rocks, wood chips, etc.) to keep the wood from rotting and allow a long-lasting container. This wooden box came with open slats on the bottom that allows for great drainage. Rocks and soil in place, I filled the bed with an array of colorful flowers.

I put down an old T-shirt in the exposed soil where I wanted to lay down some decorative pebbles.

There are multiple reasons I use this material: It holds moisture, the pebbles remain separate from the soil which keep them clean, and it makes removal of pebbles much easier by simply lifting up the T-shirt instead of picking them out a handful at a time.

Stacking a few different sized terra cotta saucers upside down in a line creates a cute path and base for the fairy cottage.

How do you feel about this container garden? Do you have a similar one? Please feel free to share your container gardens with me by sending me some photos and descriptions to my email - they may be featured on my blog! If you enjoy these online fairy garden classes and would like to be added to the emailing list for updates on our in-person fairy garden classes (in the Inland Empire area of Southern California), please send a request to grandmasefg@gmail.com.

If you'd like to contact Grace Bagwell (the artist who created the ceramic cottage), her email is gbagwell318@gmail.com and her phone number is 909-576-3894.

PLEASE COME VISIT MY FAIRY PAGE

grandmasefg@gmail.com