Herbal Blessing: MINI FAIRY GARDENS

“Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others,
faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.”
I Peter 4:10

This month, I had the opportunity to do a demonstration on Fairy Gardens for the Teen Program at two local libraries – Deltona Regional Library and Port Orange Public Library. Both locations also planned a “hands on” opportunity for the teens, as well as staff, to make fairy garden mugs too.

We began with some Fairy Thyme Tea and Fairy Thyme Rounds in order to help open their imaginations to possibly see some fairies, especially the one who often travels with me named Ginny! Then I shared some of the following lore and legends about fairies:

Fairies are also called “Wee Folk” or “Good Neighbors” or “People of Peace.” Fairy lore maintains that they come in all shapes, sizes and colors, live alone or in groups, clans or families and live either in a single spot or wander from place to place. All have a special relationship with plants and are classified into two types – woodland fairies and garden fairies – depending on their preferred location. Their favorite food is the strawberry, favorite color is green and favorite pastime is to do kind deeds with no reward or acknowledgement. Fairy lore also includes yellow butterflies as their messengers since they only interact with humans if absolutely necessary but prefer to keep their distance – fairies view humans as noisy, smelly and destructive, with little regard for nature, and no manners whatsoever.

Fairies love to feast, sing and dance and create fairy rings where the mushrooms are used as tables and stools. Legend has it they also have three specific celebrations each year:

May Eve – the fairies awakened from a long winter sleep and they are singing and dancing everywhere. Supposedly if children leave a plateful of thimble-sized cakes in the flower garden, the fairies will decorate them with sugar frosting and tiny flowers as a springtime present!
Midsummer Night’s Eve – the longest day and a night of high fairy mischief when the fairies make things disappear and reappear in the garden!
All Hallow’s Eve – when fairy mounds (secret underground dwellings) burst open and the fairies have their last parties before winter comes

During both demonstrations, I also accessorized two of my new mini fairy gardens: a large teacup and a mini condo – I wanted to have fun too!

The teacup was accessorized with a fence made of old plant markers, a path of stones, a turned over pot and an adorable fairy!

Each unit of the condo received white stone patios and the common area included arched fences, a water feature with gazing ball surrounded by a white patio and of course a “vacancy” sign!

Information on fairy gardens can be found in this earlier post and for pictures of some of my other gardens see this post on accessorizing!

Finally it was the teens turn to create their mini fairy gardens in mugs. They used small succulents since the containers had no natural drainage (we added a little gravel) and they needed to be easy to maintain. The plants were provided by my friend Melinda and were potted in half toilet paper rolls to make them easy and less messy for the teens to plant. NOTE: the rolls can be left on when planted and will naturally decompose.

At Deltona Regional Library on July 10th, they used terra cotta mugs along with a choice of a couple plants and numerous accessories to create their gardens, plus these adorable little clay fairy homes made by the Young Adult Librarian, Carole. Here are a few of my favorites:

They also made these cute fairy items:

A fairy book . . .

. . . and a fairy box

At Port Orange Public Library on July 22nd, they used white mugs which they decorated with markers and dimensional paints provided by Teen Librarian, Ashley. Then they added a couple of plants and an abundance of accessories brought by my friend, Melinda, who came along this time to share in the fun. Here are a few of my favorites: