"How to Make a Living Fairy Garden Indoors"

After publishing my first segment Hub on Secret Gardens, Creating a "Secret Garden" , I found a reader on HubPages who asked a question: "How can I make a Fairy Garden Indoors?" I didn't think twice when given the option to write a Hub on this question, in addition to my initial answer! I will include some of the answer I wrote to our reader just to catch you all up in case you missed her question on the Wall, but, primarily I want to take this subject to completion, the sweetest thing is,... the content is extraordinary!!

My first suggestion would be to scan your home to find the perfect spot to create your "living indoor garden". Since this will contain living plants, you need to make some decisions. A sunny area under a window, or a shady area perhaps beside a piece of furniture? How large or how small? With a miniature water feature, or without? Include ferns and a woody terrain, or mini-roses and buttercups?

Using a globe shaped terrarium, with a stand would have a different effect than using an aquarium, or setting the garden up on a water-proof counter top or an old kiddie play table (some were designed for waterplay). You could build the entire garden on a waterproof surface that you could move around, or build a more stationary foundation, like a windowbox or shelf structure.

Once you decide on your location, and the foundational set up, you need to roughly draw out a plan. Decide if there will be a miniature water feature, a pond, or even a tiny river formed under a tiny bridge, well hey, a waterfall has possibilities! You have a decision to make on how much work you want to put into this whimsical project. Perhaps you want a teeny tiny waterfall made of pebbles or stones, glued to a plaster of paris form or styrofoam, perhaps structured and molded in clay and lined with plastic? You will need a small aquarium pump to circulate a small amount of water and some tiny dollhouse craft lights to highlight the water feature and special places in the garden. Think about miniature frogs or toads, woodland animals leaning to drink from the tiny river, the possibilities are endless!

You should actually pencil in the pathways and special areas like the pond, bridge and so on. Protect the surfaces with a plastic lining, A heavy duty black garbage bag cut to fit will work. So the mechanics of the project are covered. now its' time to move on to the fun!

Collect an assortment of fancy pebbles, rocks, driftwood, miniature pinecones, sea shells, sea glass, crystals...things picked up at the beach or a picnic at the woods. Search catalogs, websites and discount stores for miniature critters, fairies and sprites and pixies. Keep all your figurines in scale with one another, avoid setting a large swing with a fairy next to a teenie gnome or dwarf. Think about the size relationship between a bear, a chipmunk and an acorn, everything should appear relative in size.

Set up your miniatures to get a sense of placement that tells a story. You will want to have your water element in place to allow space as you begin to add potting soil for the garden areas. Be sure you provided for the possibilty of overwatering spillage along the sides of your surface if you are creating this garden on a flat surface. Perhaps using small plastic lids or "to go" containers will hold enough soil to grow tiny plants and flowers. You can fill in spaces with "Babys' tears, or some other tiny ground cover that spreads quickly to disguise all the containers and mechanical elements. The minature leaves and teenie flowers that appear in spring make an appropriate scale around small scale figurines. Use dwarf plants as trees and replace tulips with Lily-of-the-Valley, in shade gardens. The same way we use mulch to finish off a garden outdoors, you will want to use colored sand or aquarium gravel, or cocoa shell husks that smell like chocolate!

Look up plant nursery websites to research types of plants that want sun or require shade. Instead of gluing your figurines to keep them in place, use Museum Gel which is sticky, but can be easily removed without harming any surface. In this way you have the flexibility to keep your garden movable, so you can rearrange it and add to it.

Don't be afraid to make your own miniature scenery, you don't have to purchase your bridge from a Walmart craft department. Even though you want to include as much living matter and plant life that you are able to care for, you can "glue gun" tiny wedding rosettes to garden arches or fences made out of cut branches or sticks.

Partially hide some of your fairies, in trees, under flowered branches, sitting on a tiny stump...there really is no limit to the scenery you can include in your fairy forrest/garden. Perhaps you will find furniture intended for a dollhouse in a hobbyshop that carries miniature kits, or decorative little bugs and butterflies. It may be a challenge to hunt down teenie birds or stone carved painted fish for your pond. If you have gnomes....you must find toadstools!

All I was planning to accomplish in this article was to give some information for you Fairy Garden enthusiasts to set you all in some direction...but as I am thinking about the photograph sections of this Hub...I am thinking about bringing the theme of my outdoor Fairy Garden into my own home! I think there is something really special about fairies...they are joyfully contageous! Have you gotten the bug yet? I have to admit... ♥ I have been bitten by the "Indoor Fairy Garden bug"! ♥

Check in with my Hub here in the next couple of days. I'll have the photo segment of this article completed. I'll also be researching more types of plants and locations where we can find, miniatures as well. Please feel free to pass on what you all find by writing in my Comments Section. This feels like the beginning of a new community sprouting up...the ξ "Indoor Living Fairy Gardens" Enthusiasts" Community! ξ Now I have a question, ....does the Comment Section of our HubPages allow photographs??? I would love to see your creation pictures! "We'll be talking soon!"

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