New Season, New Love

Last year I introduced a gnome family on my blog; The Ferns. Zookned lived with his mother Leeann and father Zane who helped him raise his two children, Bobby and Sue, in the absence of their mother who passed away.

Zookned recently shared with me some great news; while he will always love and miss the mother of his children, he has found a new love. In September, a gnome named Genevieve came to celebrate the King's Return and met Zookned during the Festival. Since that time, Genevieve has come back multiple times to visit with Zookned and his family so I was pretty sure I knew what "news" was about to be shared with me.

An engagement had been exchanged and accepted! Zookned and Genevieve have not set a date yet but you can imagine the flurry of excitement around the garden here. I'll be sure to keep My Fairy Folks in the loop. I would like to ask my readers for some wedding suggestions (theme, colors, location in the community, etc.) for the happy couple. While I may not be planning the wedding for them, I would like to help them in any way I can and I feel offering suggestions would be a good start.

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No Sunflowers in Sweden

This morning I was out in my garden creating a new centerpiece and taking pictures of my sunflowers when I noticed a fairy sitting all by herself amongst them. I had seen her around in the past few months as she had arrived from Sweden for the King's Return Festival but had never had time to sit and talk with her. Now, going back through my photos, I realize I've never posted one of her here.

These sunflowers grow on a stalk,
multiple blooms at a time, which makes
it my favorite Sunflower plant.

Ingrid is her name and she looked a little sad so I sat with her and found out that this was her last week under the California sunshine as she was preparing to return to Sweden. She had been invited by the King to stay for the winter - she was mesmerized by his tales of our warm weather since Winter in Sweden is very cold and very dark. She admit that, although she was sad to be leaving such a beautiful place, her heart was in Sweden and she was happy to be going back home but sad she couldn't take some of the color and warmth back with her.

Ingrid asked me to take some pictures of her next to my sunflowers to help her remember her visit. Perhaps the memory of California will warm her when she looks at these pictures. She has promised to come back some time in the future and we will be here waiting for her.

A busy bee at work.

This sunflower is a perfect example of the fact that sunflowers are not just yellow, as often depicted. This particular flower was grown from seeds labeled "Sunflower, Autumn Beauty." They come in mixed colors.

Here is the arrangement I was working on when I found Ingrid. These sunflowers are all from my garden.

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Fairy Garden Class - Channeling Easter

As with most of these garden tutorials, we begin with a container and a theme. This month's theme is Spring but more specifically, Easter. As far as the container - get creative. Size, color, shape; that's all up to you but of course make sure you have a container that will fit all the decor you've planned for it. After choosing your container, place about an inch or two of small rocks to allow drainage before filling in the rest with potting mix. Be sure not to fill to the rim of the pot; leave an inch or two. This will insure that water and soil doesn't spill out and it also helps to give your plants support.

I always suggest in my classes that you visually plan a layout before planting your flora. This means setting them in the location you'd like there forever home to be and taking a step back to make sure things are even, fitting and visually appealing. Once your eyes have given you the okay, dig and plant. You might also want to think of making the "back" of your arrangement a bit more elevated. This allows you to place decorations without blocking any of your plants.

In this particular arrangement, I've actually allowed the tulips to remain in their container and buried it under the soil. The reason for this is because I know that the tulips will bloom and wither but the plant is not dead. Once the color is gone, I will pull up the tulip container and have it live alone for a bit before re-homing it, allowing the Daisies I've planted to have more room to spread. 

From front to back the plants I've used are white Viola's, light blue Pansies, darker blue Pansies and finally white daisies with a yellow center that corresponds with the tulips.

I'm fond of using moss in my miniature gardens because it locks in moisture, gives it a more woodsy feel and adds visual appeal. Pre-soaking your moss allows placing it in your arrangement to be more manageable; it becomes moldable, stays where you want it and allows better full coverage.

Once you're happy with their living arrangement, it's time to decorate. I found the three brown bunnies as a set and the rest were part of a bigger set, all at Hobby Lobby (and 40% off, woohoo!). I knew they would be perfect for a Spring themed garden.

I would love to see pictures from anyone who has created a garden based on my online tutorials. Please feel free to post them as comments or email them to me.

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A Spring Discovery

I was out looking in my garden today and look what I found. Three new arrivals coming this Spring. No one is positive what this eggs will grow up to be but I think it will be a fun mystery to think about.

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Fairy Garden Class - Valentine's Garden Terrace

February has long been considered the most romantic time of the year thanks to Valentine's Day. For this month's Fairy Garden Class, I ran with this popular theme focusing on the colors red and white. I began with a large terra-cotta pot, placing about an inch or two of small rocks to allow drainage before filling in the rest with potting mix. Be sure not to fill to the rim of the pot; leave an inch or two. This will insure that water and soil doesn't spill out and it also helps to give your plants support.

Once you have chosen the plants you want to use, be sure to lay them out in the position you envision prior to taking them out of their containers. This helps you to design your garden and get the spacing correct and allow you take a step back and make changes without having to irritate the plant too much. Once you're happy with your arrangement, it's time to transplant them into their new home. Here I used Alyssum for the white and some sort of red shade plant (both from Home Depot).

For this garden, I've decided to use a mushroom house as the center focus point. I have placed a small terra-cotta saucer upside down to act as a firm foundation and to keep my decorative house from getting soil on it. I've also decided to cover the soil with moss. Other than visual appeal, moss can help to contain moisture in the soil. Moss can be helpful in hiding things you don't want people to see, like the saucer platform, and moss also gives it a more woodsy feel. Now that your pot is full of flowers and ground cover, it's time to add decorations.

As mentioned before, I've added the mushroom house (which incorporates the red and white theme) and surrounded it with moss to hide the foundation.

Next (pictured below), I added small features like a white picket fence that I picked up at Hobby Lobby and two leaves that I literally picked up from the ground (they are dried Poinsettia leaves). I saw that they curled to make the shape of a heart and felt they would be a nice, natural feature to this garden.

After taking a few pieces out of storage and a trip to the Dollar Store, I was ready to fill in the arrangement. What started as one terra-cotta pot expanded outward. The bottom level was created by placing two small pots upside down and placing a flat board on top which you can't see thanks to the cover of the moss that blends nicely with the greenery I've placed around it.

These decorations can all be found at dollar stores (yes, even the plastic butterflies that light up) and give a pop of color to this arrangement.

This is the top tier; the terra-cotta pot we initially started with. Tommy rides his bike, very pleased with his new yard.

Thomas and Rosie fill out the bottom tier amidst flowers. They enjoy each other's company.

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Celebrating Mardi Gras

Myleene poses in front of a Mardi Gras themed flower arrangement.

Wherever Myleene goes, Carolina is sure to follow! Carolina poses for her own photoshoot.

What would a Mardi Gras celebration be without music? Soulless, that's what! The musical group, Soulmen, keep the festivities lively for hours on end.

Myleene might actually be a bit peeved to see that I've posted this photo, but I liked the flower arrangement that she found herself tangled up in after having a bit too much to drink.

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Rosemary Park - Uncharted Territory

March, 2014

January, 2016

What a difference two years makes. In the first photo, before this location was ever named, this area was the frontier for expansion from the backyard (which is when my husband started to worry this was more than a phase). Now, here we are at the beginning of 2016 where it is taking on a new look full of Rosemary and soon-to-bloom Sweet Peas.

In April, 2014, there were no Rosemary or Sweet Pea in bloom, but they were peeking above the soil.

This photo is also from April 2014 and shows how beautiful this area was (and how vibrant my lawn used to be). Most of this area has been or will be renovated. The planter on the left is the area we are focusing on and which I have finally dubbed Rosemary Park.

Sweet Pea and Rosemary. February, 2015

 Sweet Pea babies. January, 2016

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