Fairy gardens are a gardening trend that is fun, imaginative and a great way to get children of all ages involved with growing plants.

Fairy gardens are magical, miniature garden-scapes filled with small plants, paths, ponds, cottages, furniture, and if you are lucky, fairies! They can be as small as a flowerpot or as large as a secluded corner in the flowerbed, and it can be indoors or out. The fun thing about fairy gardens is that you can let your imagination go free.

Fairy gardens are easy to create and the choices are endless.

The first choice would be whether you want an indoor garden or outdoor. In warmer climates, outdoor fairy gardens can be enjoyed year round but in our climate, the garden will be covered with snow throughout the winter months and would need to be repaired each spring due to weather related damage.

Indoor fairy gardens offer year round entertainment.

The first step in creating an indoor fairy garden is choosing a theme and a container in which to put the garden. Any container will work, providing it has drainage. Some containers have drainage holes with a saucer beneath it to prevent water from getting on the furniture, and these are ideal. Containers that do not have drainage holes will need to be adapted by placing a layer of stone in the bottom of the container, then line it with a layer of landscape fabric or coffee filters to prevent the soil from getting into the stone, then add a layer of charcoal to keep soil fresh, and finally fill the container with a good quality indoor soil. Glass containers and terrariums work well as the fairy garden is easy to view.

The theme can be whatever you choose. There is a large assortment of miniature furniture, cottages, ponds, pathways, arches, tools, fairies, etc available at the garden centre.

The next step, is picking out the plant material. Choose small, slow growing plants, that have the same growing requirements. Look for a variety of plants both tall and short, in small 2.5 pot size. Plants such as baby tears, moss, creeping fig, miniature African violets, miniature orchids, and many of the sedums work well. If you choose plants with different growing requirements leave them in their pots so that they can be watered individually. To make watering easier, use a baster.

Before planting the fairy garden, assemble all the accessories and plants where you want them in the garden. This is part of the fun, creating a scene or landscape. When you have everything where you want it, it is time to start planting. When all the plants have been dug in, the accessories can be placed in the garden. The final step is creating paths, and beds using coloured sand, or decorative pebbles. Place landscape fabric over the area first before putting down the sand/pebbles. The landscape fabric will prevent the sand/pebbles from getting mixed in with the soil. When everything is done, give the garden a thorough watering.

Look after the fairy garden as you would any houseplant. Water plants carefully as they are tiny and do not need a lot of water. Terrariums will need to be watered rarely as they tend to stay moist for longer. If plants become too large they can be trimmed.

Fairy gardens are another way to enjoy gardening. They make great gifts but make sure you make at least one for yourself too!

-Jos 

Jos Van Hage owns and operates two Art Knapp Home and Garden Centres in Prince George:

• Highway 16 West at Kimball Road

• Highway 97 North at Northwood Pulpmill Road (closed for the season)