How To Design A Fairy Garden

Miniature Fairy Garden

Combining drought-tolerant succulents, Cotswold cottages, and elevated beds will lend easy inspection of the wee landscaping of a miniature garden.

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Keep Placement in Mind

Miniature Fairy Garden

Place your miniature garden in an easily accessible location. Here, the village runs along the top of a knee-high block wall that elevates it for good viewing and makes it easy to reach into and putter with. Then, form hills and valleys to vary the landscapes by mounding or excavating soil, or creating terraces that add dimension.

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Remember That Proportions Matter

Miniature Fairy Garden

Be sure to keep proportions in mind so the landscape looks realistic. Create the appearance of distance by placing larger plants (such as dwarf conifers) closest to the viewer and similar yet smaller ones farther back in the design scheme. Try succulent plants for fairy garden greenery such as sedum, echeveria, sempervivum, crassula, and kalanchoe—you can find varieties that come in a smaller scale to match the size of the fairy garden accessories.

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Make It Your Own

Miniature Fairy Garden

Add details that imaginary inhabitants might enjoy, such as benches, gardens, picnic tables, or shady sitting areas. Some of our favorite succulent fairy garden ideas include a miniature well and a teeny wood chopping station. Each miniature home can tell its own story.

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Miniature Container Gardening

Miniature Fairy Garden

Give your fairies their own succulent container gardens. Plant succulent cuttings in flowerpots no bigger than thimbles. They'll look good for weeks, even without soil and water, because the moisture in the leaves will sustain them.

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Incorporate Terrain Elements

Miniature Fairy Garden

Include a serpentine creek bed lined with smooth pebbles. Use bits of colored glass to suggest sparkling water. Then, design pathways that lead to intriguing and inviting destinations. Pebbles in contrasting shades of gray, white, and black add interest and continuity and define pathways.

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Remove Debris

Miniature Fairy Garden

Remove normal-scale debris from fairy gardens using succulents to enhance the illusion of a hobbit garden. Not only will it emphasize the miniature nature of the garden, tidying up will keep the garden looking pristine and neat. Also, make sure to weed the area.

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Looking Glass

Miniature Fairy Garden

A magnifying glass might serve as a portal, allowing entrance to the tiny world of a hobbit garden. If you plant to show off your fairy garden to others (which you should!), keep a magnifying glass handy on the garden bench or tucked into the garden bed so visitors can get the full experience.

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