The Fairy Garden

I have vague memories of going to see a fairy garden when I was about four years of age. I recollect that it was in the Currumbin Valley area back in the days when the Gold Coast was a lovely seaside town. Before the days of skyscrapers and shopping malls. At that time I contracted German measles and measles at the same time and was very ill and hospitalised and while confined to bed I whiled away some hours with a fuzzy felt of fairies. I digress but it serves to illustrate how memories become influenced with all these contributing factors. Suffice to say I have, and this is no exaggeration, glorious and grandiose memories of visiting a fairy garden and have carried the desire within me to re-create this for my own children. 

It never happened. 

I was too busy being a mother etc. but I am determined to have one for my grandchildren one day. I have had a section of the garden set aside for this purpose for years but it has languished a bit. I have procrastinated, planned and even pinned lots of ideals here.

My nephew's imminent visit has spurred me on. I hadn't intended to buy "stuff" but at short notice a few props were in order. In my mind I had imagined hand making and weaving little fences and crafting houses from coconut shells and drift wood. Still it is an on-going project and there is always time.

Basically I have a section containing rhododendrons and camellias that I have styled in a rough canopy over the years so that children can wind around little paths beneath their boughs. Even to this day I love tunnels of greenery above my head, so mysterious and secret. ( I read a lot of Enid Blyton)

I like little things to discover around bends.

Butterflies and toadstools.

And fairy stepping stones....

A fairy house (made from a trinket box) hiding among the tall Solomon's Seal fronds. We forget how tall these plants appear to a 3 or 4yr old. The trick is to scooch down and see the world from a different perspective.

Another fairy house....

And another hanging in the trees....

It's quite a small space, probably only 2m x 5m, not like the whole garden I visited in my childhood, but still a tiny piece of magic. Plenty to help fire an imagination I hope.

Can you see here I have added an old dressing table mirror to make the area look bigger and add perspective? It's been in the garden there already for five years just waiting for something to happen.

well it's a start and it has given me the impetus to tend this patch of ground with more purpose now. I would like to add some clematis in the future to add to the canopy and some more ferns and hostas below. Perhaps a gravelled path for the littlies too.

Have you created fairy gardens? Or perhaps you have visited one. Please feel free to share your links to fairy kingdoms in the comments so we can all share.

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The Magic Onions Blog is holding their 5th annual Fairy Garden contest and is open till Monday 5th August 2013, so plenty of time to 

enter here