Easy Gardening: A Native Plants Fairy Garden

My craft room has been a bit underused recently.  Instead of sewing and indoor things, I've been focused on sorting out my yard.  Most of it is boring & laborious, but I wanted to share the recent part that was a total pleasure: my Native Plants Fairy Garden!  There is something about fairy gardens that is so relaxing and enchanting.  I've been wanting one for a long time and it was surprisingly easy AND will attract fairy friends like butterflies, bees and hummingbirds!



A few years back my husband had bought me this large resin fairy house.  I'd had it in a shady corner surrounded by some meager hostas.  No one ever goes over there and I tended to forget about it.  Now my little house is center stage!

Our yard gets A LOT of sun and has tons of clay soil.  I have a 4 foot square raised bed that has mocked my prior attempts to grow vegetables.  The results have always been pitiful no matter what I've done.  This year I wanted to take a breather from urban farming, but was trying to figure out how to pretty up the space.  Now it's home to native plants and hopefully a few fairies;) 

FYI - If you want to attract the pollinators (aka butterflies, bees & hummingbirds), and have minimal maintenance in your yard, go native.  These are plants that originate in your region. No special soil amending, fertilizing or gardening magic is needed for them to thrive.  If you're like me and despite lots of effort you struggle to get things to grow, this is an ideal way to add beauty and help wildlife at the same time.    

From Top Left Clockwise: Pussytoes, Monarda didyma, Turtlehead, Orange Hyssop Agastache, Bradbury's Monarda.

Since I'm in Michigan I used White Turtlehead (Chelone glabra), Pussytoes (Antennaria parvifolia), Monarda didyma and Bradbury's Monarda (Monarda bradburiana).  Not a lot of nurseries carry native plants, so it takes a bit of searching to find them, but they're worth it.  They'll fill out well, flower throughout the summer and add pretty colors to an otherwise blah spot.  I did also add one non-native plant, Orange Hyssop Agastache, because it also attracts the butterflies and birds.   Fairies like to feed those lovely creatures you know! 

I actually had a good portion of the other supplies already.  I moved my little house and added a few accessories like a little fence, stone mushrooms and a mini gazing ball.

I wanted to add a little pond, so I used a terra cotta dish and glued small stones along its edge with some weatherproof silicone.  

I filled it with some clear and blue glass stones I had in my stash and set it into the soil.  Instant permanent sparkling pond!

More small pebbles made a meandering path and larger egg rocks from my front yard made a nice border behind the house.

I also found some moss growing elsewhere in the yard and transplanted it for an added fairy-esque feature.

I'm seriously in love with how my little garden looks and can't wait to see it in full bloom and filled in as things grow.  I also feel confident it will be able to handle the sun & weather.  I've seen a lot of lovely fairy gardens with delicate plants and pretty, yet fragile furnishings, but most of those just won't stand up to the outdoor elements around here.  

On the plus side, I found a few dish garden containers in my basement this week, so I'm eager to do a few smaller fairy gardens with the kids using them.  We can keep those in our enclosed back porch, which means we can craft up some decorations from scratch or use some of the more fragile props and plants I keep seeing.  Inside or not, the more fairies around here, the better!