How to Create a Magical Miniature Fairy Garden

Have you ever wanted to create your own miniature fairy garden?  A magical, mystical, otherworldly place full of miniature enchantment?  Here you’ll learn how to create a magical miniature fairy garden using collected whimsical fairy cottages, playful fairies, adorable wee animals, quirky fairy doors and fanciful fairy garden accessories.

For years I’ve wanted to create a miniature fairy garden somewhere in our yard.  But, here’s the thing: our yard is 8 acres of flat, almost tree-less land.  It’s made up mostly of dirt and free-wheeling weeds that in the summer turn into giant tumbleweeds because of our dry, parched landscape.  There’s a beauty to it all, even in its barrenness, but sometimes I wish we had even the smallest patch of forest.

I’ve always thought if I created a miniature fairy garden somewhere on our barren land, it would be insignificant – a lost world that no one would ever stumble across unless we purposefully guided them to it.  And while we have a nice fenced, backyard patio area with a pool, it too does not lend itself to a miniature fairy garden that can easily be seen and enjoyed.

A Bolt From the Sky!

So, one day I had a bolt of inspiration!  Why not use my elevated rolling trough?  The one that I planted herbs in.  After all, I hadn’t, yet, planted a new herb garden in it for this season.  It would make a perfect miniature fairy garden because I could wheel it anywhere!  Plus, because it is an elevated trough, we could easily see it!  Genius!

A few years ago, Charlie gifted me with an L Garden Elevated Rolling Trough.  He thought it would be a great place to plant the herb garden that I was pining for, that never materialized because of bunnies, gophers and squirrels.  And it was.  For the last two years, I’ve walked out my back door and snipped herbs as I’ve needed them for recipes.  Such a luxury!

But, after thinking about it for a split second, I decided a miniature fairy garden would bring us more enjoyment.  And, I’d make my snipping herb garden in pots on my kitchen counter instead.  Plus, Princess P and Princess Sweetie Pie (my great-nieces, collectively known as the Princesses P on this blog) were coming for a long weekend visit.  The perfect time to make a miniature fairy garden is always the time when you have children to help you!

Miniature Fairy Garden Materials and Supplies

Here’s a list of materials and supplies needed to complete your miniature fairy garden (this post contains affiliate links for your convenience.  Click here to read my full disclosure policy.):

Container or vessel for your fairy garden || Potting soil || Appropriately sized fairy garden plants and flowers || Fairy garden houses and cottages || A collection of miniature garden fairies || Garden doors for Fairy Gardens || Furniture for Fairy Gardens || Fairy garden animals || Signs for Fairy Gardens || Other fairy garden accessories and decor

Miniature Fairy Garden Container

Here’s my elevated rolling trough planter (called L Garden by the manufacturer) with the leftovers from the previous year’s herb garden.  You can see my garden of iris bulbs popping up behind it and my collection of unused pots waiting to be recycled with more plants.

All that made it through the winter (if you can call it that in Southern California) is a bunch of Italian flat leaf parsley.  After thinking about it, I decided to leave it – it would make nice, bushy foliage for my little fairy garden.  But, the soil level was lower than I wanted from watering the herb garden and soil leaching out over time.

So, I added a bag of potting soil.  One bag was just enough.

I just dumped it all out and then using my hands, smoothed it around the planter.

I tugged on the parsley a bit to elevate it slightly in the new soil.  I figured if it made it through the winter, me tugging on it a bit wasn’t going to kill it!

Miniature Fairy Garden Plants

The Princesses P and I had already gone to our favorite nursery, Walter Andersen’s Nursery, and picked out plants for our fairy garden.  We strategically planted our selection of plants around to create our fairy garden landscape.  If you live in San Diego County, this small, family-owned nursery chain (there are only 2 in the county) has a wonderful San Diego history behind it and, of course, they have a fabulous nursery!

Here’s a close-up of the Italian flat leaf parsley I left in the fairy garden landscape.

This is a Euphorbia plant that we selected at the nursery.  We planted it at the opposite end of the planter.  The Princesses loved that this beautiful plant is whimsical and looks like it belongs in a Dr. Seuss book!

Here’s a close-up of the Euphorbia, which is still thriving today.

Next, we planted a Primrose.  At least I think it’s a primrose, but I’m not certain!  I forgot to keep the little label that was stuck in it and I looked everywhere on the internet trying to confirm, without successfully finding this exact flowering plant!  But, it has a close family resemblance to primroses, so that’s how I decided what it is!

I have to admit, though, that this flowering plant didn’t last long and didn’t re-bloom.  So, even with constant care and watering, we only enjoyed it for about a month.

Next we added these pretty purple asters, in front of the parsley, to our DIY fairy garden.  Purple is Princess P’s favorite color and with their sunny yellow centers, these are the perfect fairy garden plant!

Here’s a close-up of these purple asters and they are still blooming 3 months later.

We bought a few small succulents for our little fairy garden.  This one is a sempervivum.

These are sedum.

This, too, is sedum.  It’s called De Oro Gold Moss.  With the final placement of these plants, we moved on to placing the fairy houses around our garden, but…

we also bought two flats of ground cover for our miniature fairy garden.  We didn’t plant it until we placed our fairy cottages, fairies and fairy accessories, because we wanted to make sure we had enough space for everything.  This ground cover, which is tiny and looks like offshoots from a spider plant is called Dymondia Margaretae.

This is Woolly Thyme that we bought in a flat.  What we didn’t use in the fairy garden, we planted in the yard.

Miniature Fairy Garden Houses and Cottages

This was our big splurge – a 3-story fairy condo made to look like a little city built into a tree trunk.  Isn’t it magnificent?  It has stairs and ledges and green leafy branches twisting up and around to the top!  And, it has a built-in tire swing on the left.  So sweet!

Here’s a close-up of the top 2 levels – see the adorable bird’s nest with tiny eggs?  So cute!

Here’s a close-up of the top level with its pretty bright blue thatched roof.

The girls loved finding just the right place for this masterpiece fairy condo.  In the end, they decided to place it between the parsley and the primrose, where it still lives today.

This is Princess P placing fairy decor around the miniature fairy garden.

And this is Princess Sweetie Pie tweaking something in the fairy garden.

Round and round they went – moving this, moving that, discussing the finer details of fairy garden decor and where best to put this and that.

Here’s a thatched roof cottage they nestled against the parsley.

Look at Princess Sweetie Pie’s expression – priceless!

Or, this one!  Can’t have too much fun!

This tiny pine cone cottage they placed under the Euphorbia.  See the Woolly Thyme to the right?

Miniature Fairy Garden Fairies

This is my favorite fairy – the blue fairy.  Because (1) she’s wearing a blue dress (my favorite color) and (2) she has white doves on her outstretched arms.  She reminds me of a photo of Princess P that I’ve dubbed “Joy.”  You can see that picture here:  A Picture is Worth a 1000 Words.

This set of fairies is Princess Sweetie Pie’s favorite because it’s fairy sisters talking with their arms around each other.  Spending time with her sister is her favorite thing to do and when she saw this set of fairies at the nursery, she immediately fell in love with it.

This is Princess P’s favorite fairy.  She’s wearing a purple dress (her favorite color) and she’s nestled back by the purple asters with ground cover at her feet.  Not to mention she’s in a leaf swing!

This tiny pink fairy is kneeling and praying under a pink flower gazebo.

This periwinkle fairy is sitting on a rock and holding a dove.

This fairy is sleeping under a leaf.

This yellow fairy is sitting by the front door of the fairy condo.

We didn’t forget about the boy fairies!  This boy fairy is sitting on the dock, fishing, with his faithful dog beside him.  We had two boy fairies, but we accidentally broke the wings off the other one, so he’s currently undergoing repairs!

Miniature Fairy Garden Accessories

Speaking of the dock, we found this adorable dock and little pond.  They really aren’t “to scale” for each other, but we wanted the little boy fairy to have a place where he could fish!

Miniature Fairy Garden Yard Decor

So many cute, adorable and clever fairy garden accessories to choose from, where do you start?  I really can’t answer that because we didn’t approach this project with a “theme” in mind!  But, if you are making your fairy garden in a smaller container, you might want to consider a “theme”.

For example, maybe you want your fairy garden to have only one cottage as its focal point.  You could include a cute tiny fairy birdbath nearby in the yard, like the one above.

You could include a tiny mailbox…

Or, a brighter and more whimsical yellow flower birdbath.

Miniature Fairy Garden Village Decor

Maybe you want a fairy “camp” and a fairy wagon, aka fairy motorhome, could be the focal point.

Or, a fairy playground with a tiny fairy seesaw with leaves and flowers for seats and a bluebird on top to monitor the fairies at play.

Maybe you want your fairy garden to be more forest-like and a lush tree with a kindly carved face in the tree trunk would fit right in.

As would a mini wishing well with a bucket that lowers with a twist of the handle.

Miniature Fairy Garden Lampposts

Adding miniature faux lighting, such as a street lamp or this miniature bluebell lamppost add even extra charm.

Here’s a tiny yellow tulip lamppost…

and a little pink tulip lamppost and fairy village street sign.

Miniature Fairy Garden Signs

You mustn’t forget to add a fairy sign or two.  This tiny fairy village street sign really adds a bit of fairytale magic!

And, this one, announcing “Fairies Live Here”, is the perfect one for outside the door of a fairy cottage.

A small garden entry sign heralding “Enchanted Garden”, as if we didn’t know it, makes quite a statement!

Miniature Fairy Garden Animals

All fairy realms have animals in them, so don’t forget to include a few like these tiny squirrels frolicking in the fairy garden…

or this tiny rabbit looking confused or is that shock?  Is it dismay?  Maybe unhappiness?  Although it’s hard to believe you could be unhappy living in a fairy garden!

And, don’t forget “man’s best friend” who also happens to be fairies’ best friend, an adorable miniature dog with a butterfly on his nose!

Miniature Fairy Garden Final Touches

The Princesses P had quite a good time planning and creating this miniature fairy garden!  Here they are making final adjustments…

like testing out the wishing well to see if it really works!

Or, adjusting the 3-story fairy condo when it seemed to be leaning slightly.

Or, opening the door to the gated wall only to find a stone stairway that leads nowhere.

And making sure that the tiniest cottage, the Pine Cone Fairy Cottage (or is it an acorn?) isn’t lost in the foliage.

They made sure to place the village street sign in a strategic location that works for the overall village “theme” we created.

And, they placed a wrought-iron fence around the thatched roof fairy cottage to make sure the dog doesn’t run away!

Finally, they moved the blue fairy under the “Enchanted Garden” sign because she is so welcoming!

Voila!  Done!  Or are we?

I find that I’m always tinkering and puttering around with my little fairy garden, moving things around and adding more little, teeny, tiny treasures and trimming the foliage and flowers. After all, it’s still an herb garden, too, with parsley and thyme!

Here’s a collage (actually there are 3 collages to choose from!) to pin to your Pinterest board.  Thanks for sharing!

Hope you enjoyed seeing the metamorphosis of my miniature fairy garden and that it inspires you to create your own fairy garden!  The 5 of us (with my sister, Gail, the Princesses P’s grandmother and my husband, Charlie, supervising) had a great time creating it and photographing it.  Now it lives on our back patio by the pool where I can see it out my kitchen and great room windows.

How to Create a Magical Fairy Garden that will bring years of delight and enchantment to your kids and family! #fairygardens Click To Tweet

While I like to think I created it solely for the Princesses P, maybe it’s really “nurturing” my soul?

Tootles,

Want more fairy inspiration?

Check out these posts from Toot Sweet 4 Two’s archives:

Creative Fairy Gardens

How Do Fairies Get Their Wings?

The Magic of Fairy Days

You Might Also Like:

How to Make a Magical Fairy Garden from Country Living Magazine

Best Plants for Miniature Gardens from Empress of Dirt

Create a Magical Miniature Garden from Midwest Living