Exclusive Interview with Queen Rose Ivy (Of the Fairies)

Hello Fairy Dwellers!

A Fairy Garden is simply not a fairy garden without rules.    I had the rare privilege of interviewing Queen Rose Ivy.  I must say she is an exquisite creature to behold.  Truly an inspiration.  She shared with me some of the secrets among fairies, their feelings on these gardens, which humans continue to make.  In the fairy kingdom Queen Rose Ivy has very strict opinions about what makes a garden a  true garden.  She said that she is pleased with the growing number of places which have been specifically suited to fairies.  They congregate more to certain gardens than others.  "So you are saying they have a preference?"  I asked.  "Oh yes."  She giggled, "as do I"

These fairies are some of the most beautiful little things I've ever seen and they work magic in the gardens they attend.  Come to find out, however,  they can only work their magic in gardens who follow the fairy garden rules.  The following is one of those such rules as well as some suggestions to follow.

Rule Number 1  A fairy garden is only classified as such when all the existing foliage and plant life is fully alive and growing.

"You wouldn't plant gigantic plastic plants in your garden would you!?"  said Queen Rose Ivy, exasperated.  I told her that we put dead moss and plastic plants in to look real.  She all but detested the idea!  After regained composure on the subject she helped me to understand the true meaning of the garden, to her and "In the name of all fairies everywhere"....

 "The purpose of a garden is to breath it in, help the flowers to grow, buds to blossom and colors to change in coming seasons.  We live off the plant life, it is our joy, our privileged our work and our right."  She finished with a nod of the head.  

Wow, Truly inspiring Queen Rose Ivy! So let's be considerate to the fairy kingdom and give them real growing flowers.  This also gives us the satisfaction of seeing flowers bloom in spring,  seeing colors change in fall, watching plants grow, pruning when needed.  We thus get to continue to interact with our garden that we share with the fairies, and encourage it to grow.

There are several plants that are suitable and will certainly attract more fairies!

Plants such as the "Angel vine"


This, oh so Angelic vine has a gentleness and beauty to it that will bring magic and wonder to any fairy garden!

"Woolly thyme"


Woolly Thyme's soft fussy texture and lovely little purple buds will bring a cozy, homey feel to your garden.  Keep these fast growers trimmed back to size in your little garden, they are vigorous growers.  The fairy's really like to play with this one and make it bloom and grow quickly.

The majestic "Elf Spruce"


Elf Spruce is an absolutely stunning bit of existence in the garden and will provide shade for your fairies as well as a place to nestle and climb in.  The fairies skin is a little bit more tough than ours so they can tolerate the pines, it's actually like a massage for them.  Sometimes they may even nestle into an Elf Spruce tree for a good night sleep.

This majestic tree is ... well technically a bush which at it's very biggest will grow to be a grand total of one foot tall.  It's a slow grower.  The picture here is taken from twogreenthumbs.com  I spoke with the ones who planted that incredible feature and they said it is about 15 years old.

So with patience and great love of your garden you can grow, truly a favorite among fairies!

A few more plant suggestions for you and your fairy friends:

"Babies Tears" (Soeirolia Soleirolii ... for clarification because babies tears could refer to several different, similar plants)

or "Golden Baby's Tears" (Soeirolia Soleirolii 'Aurea)

"English Daisy"

Thank you for Joining me today.  This has been another nick at the Fairy Garden Revolution. Please join me next time for more on my thrilling interview with Fairy Queen Rose Ivy.  

Grow gracefully fairy dwellers!   

What Should a Fairy Garden Really be?

Hello Fairy Garden Enthusiasts!

I have decided to create a blog to sort-of, bring a community of fairy gardeners together.  I am hoping that we can ask questions here and get some answers.  I'm even thinking of perhaps starting a club to have a fairy garden competition!

Here's what I think!  I think that there should be more standards to what a fairy garden really is.  I real true fairy garden!  I mean, I support anyone who wants to make a fairy garden anywhere out of anything.  BUT, I must say that if Bonsai competitions exist and there is criteria for who wins, judging on attractive trunk curve or maturity of tree or artistic shape, the same should exist in the fairy garden community.  For example, can a fairy garden be overcrowded?  Does it need to have a dynamic of height in plants?  Does there even have to be plants in order for it to be a true fairy garden?  Should the scale of all the trinkets and figurines match the size of pot, plants and other figurines in the pot?  To these questions I say, Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes and yes!  (was that the right amount of Yes'?)

Let me know what you think!  Meanwhile...

Here is my fairy garden, although it has recently undergone some renovation, this is how it was during Christmas time.

 My fairy gazing across the river bank.  :)  The plants that you see in this picture are "Babies tears"  that is in the forfront.  Bentgrass which was planted from seed, and Azalia (that's the tree, although it unfortunately died)  

 Just a little tid bit about my azalea that went the way of all the earth.  I found out that some plants you can get at the store will die pretty soon after buying them.  Why?  Well, because they were grown from start in a controlled environment and forced to bloom off season.  So when they come into your home and are under normal conditions they are confused about their lives and existance and they die.  I was told by a friend at my local garden center that you almost have to look at some of these plants like you are buying cut stems, THEY WILL DIE!  How sad is that .... sigh.  Enjoy it while it lasts then I guess.  :)  

 Peering accross the grass at my "Splash plant"  or "Polka plant" Its a cute little thing.  I have a string around it to keep it sorta more upright.  

 I created this cute little river first by lining that whole area with rocks up to the top then planting the grass and other plants around the edge.  Once the edge plants became strong I then was able to take out some of the rocks so the river went down deeper and created the illusion of the needed bridge. (although fairies can fly anyway, I'm not sure why they would need a bridge other than for style)  

 I got those garden tools from Michael's, I believe.  And my little strawberry house was a lucky D.I. find.  yay for discounts!  

Maybe it's kind of hard to see in this picture but there are cute little orniments in the tree.  I got those from Hobby Lobby and they were just too cute to pass up!  That way my fairies were really able to celebrate the Christmas season with me.