October 12, 2016 by Born To Organize

A Fairy Garden for Elizabeth

I’ve said it before: creating a fairy garden is a shortcut to our inner child. That’s why I jumped at the chance to make one for Elizabeth.

This way to the fairy garden

Elizabeth Cassidy is my Pilates instructor. I’ve been taking classes at her studio for nearly a decade. We’re a close-knit group of women, who regularly offer bounty from our gardens, clothes or shoes in search of a new home, references and referrals and the like.

At the end of class one day, she asked if any of us wanted this empty concrete planter.

Elizabeth’s grey planter

Since no one else wanted it, I offered to make it into a fairy garden for her studio. Oh my gosh I had fun!

I wanted to bring a bit of warmth to the grey pot, so I added a single coat of rust-colored spray paint along the top, bottom and sides.

I used a single coat of rust-colored spray pain to add warmth

I added recycled packing pellets to the bottom of the pot to reduce its weight and to provide drainage. Then I filled it to the top with plants and soil.

Recycled foam pellets lighten the load

I bought assorted succulents at Yamagami’s Nursery one of my favorite garden centers. They’ve been in business since 1948.

Elizabeth has a pink corner in her studio, so the “fire-stick” succulents were the perfect addition. I found the sweetest little ceramic house and copper fence, also at Yamagami’s to round out the garden.

Sticks on fire ‘euphorbia’ succulent

I made a fairy cot or lounging bed using a small wooden block from a rubber stamp collection. I added a curved twig for a headboard, covered the bed with moss, and added a wine cork for a pillow. A bit of moss from my garden stash made a nice accent cushion. For an added bit of serendipity, the chocolate wine cork is from a gift Elizabeth gave me a few years ago. It was in my fairy garden stash, waiting for its debut.

Assembling the fairy cot

A resting cot for the fairies

Once the plants were in the “ground” I laid a cinnamon stick path to the door, then added gravel and other bits of moss here and there.

Succulents and a cinnamon stick pathway

The long view

Wildfire Updates:

There is good news on the wildfire front!

The Loma Fire I mentioned in An Ominous Autumn Beginning should be fully contained by today. According to the San Jose Mercury News, the 2-week-old wildfire remains 95 percent contained after burning 4,474 acres, destroying 12 homes and 16 outbuildings, and damaging but not destroying one other home. The blaze, which began Sept. 26, is the area’s third largest in the past 15 years, and the latest damage estimate is $15 million.

The Soberanes Fire, mentioned in my post August Doldrums, is 99 percent contained, with full containment expected by Saturday, October 15. The fire started July 22nd from an illegal, unattended campfire. It’s burned 132,127 acres, and destroyed 57 homes and 11 outbuildings. A total of 682 personnel and nine engines remain fighting the fire. The cost of fighting the fire is currently $236 million, making it the most expensive fire in California history.

Needless to say, I’m glad our rainy season is on the way.

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April 20, 2016 by Born To Organize

No Bigger Than Thumbelina

Fairy garden jungle?

Imagine for a moment that you’re no bigger than Thumbelina. You’ve been away for a while, and when you return your garden is overgrown.

Nature’s been kind this year. The longed-for rain finally fell and the earth smiled. Precious seeds pushed up through the dampened soil, welcomed by the warming sun.

They grew healthy and strong. Encouraged by continued rains, seedlings turned into plants. Starter leaves became true leaves and from there they spread. Tiny greens stretched out across the land, filling the once-vacant landscape.

The fairy house still stands, but the garden surrounding it looks more like a forest. The giant gardener who presides over the land retreated for quiet contemplation.

Allowing nature to be her guide, the giant gardener issued a decree:

The land heretofore known as the fairy garden will be given over to the trees and any tiny deer passing by.

Foraging in the forest

And it was so.

The giant gardener waved her magic spade and a lake-side, fairy-sized, mossy, watery retreat appeared.

Fairy Garden Lakeside Retreat

Verdant moss to tickle the toes blankets the earth. Tiny succulents line the edges for privacy and a break from the wind.

For reading by lamp light

A small chair for reading nestles in the greens, and a hammock is at the ready nearby.

Lots of places to relax, but it’s particularly fragrant under the umbrella

Fairies can cool off in an improvised lake, a ceramic bowl rescued from a nearby thrift shop.

On Fairy Garden Pond

All our welcome in the wee-sized, lake-side fairy garden retreat.

A straw umbrella, made from the shell of an orange and a few strips of raffia give shelter from the hot sun.

Refreshed from a recent rain

There is, however, a small price of admission: one must possess a child-like imagination and the ability to leave one’s worries at the foot of the tiny ladder below.

Leave your troubles at the foot of the ladder

March 26, 2016 by Born To Organize

Happy Easter

Spring in the fairy garden

Treasures from the garden

Pink cosmos with a sunshine center

For those who celebrate, Happy Easter.

March 16, 2016 by Born To Organize

Shamrocks in the Fairy Garden, Green Books in the Library

St. Patrick’s Day brings out my inner child. We loved wearing green to school when we were kids and apparently I’ve never outgrown the tradition. Green is my favorite color, so finding the right thing to wear is easy-breezy.

I’m also having fun making Leprechaun mischief in the fairy garden. It’s hard to resist.

Those mischievous Leprechauns have tossed a net over the fairy house

A pot of gold. Is there a rainbow nearby?

fairy garden fairies on St. Patrick's day

Charming fairies enjoy the shade. They were a gift from my friend Kristi.

Succulents tend to like dry conditions, but they sure look green after the rain.

Since joining a Facebook group for Little Free Library stewards, I’ve found myself reinvigorated. Stewards in the group have wonderful ideas, among them setting up themes for their library.

I stocked the library with red-colored books for Valentine’s Day, and offered pink and red bookmarks and stickers.

Last week we celebrated Dr. Seuss’s birthday, which was a huge hit. When I returned from our weekend away, all but one book found its way into a pair of small hands. One of my neighbors stopped by to tell me that his granddaughter was jumping up and down with excitement over one of the Seuss books. That made my day.

Celebrating Dr. Seuss, born March 2nd

If you don’t know about the Little Free Library movement you can read about it on their site. We opened our LFL two years ago. It continues to receive a warm welcome from the community

This week, in honor of St. Patrick’s Day and approaching s*p*r*i*n*g, all the books are green, or green themed. books about gardening, fairy gardening, herb gardening…you get the picture. Once again, stickers and green bookmarks to entice small ones to the library. It’s such good fun.

Little Free Library decked out in green

I’ve been a reader my whole life. As girls we loved our trips to the local library. I came home with the maximum books allowed, devoured all of them, then headed back for more. Having a library card felt special. When my boys came along, reading was a big part of our day. Having this LFL at the curb is a great way to build community around reading and a source of daily joy.

What do you know?

The Little Free Library mission is to:

promote literacy and the love of reading by building free book exchanges worldwide and build a sense of community as we share skills, creativity and wisdom across generations.

The original goal: To build 2,510 Little Free Libraries—as many as Andrew Carnegie—and keep going.

As of January 2016, there are over 36,000 registered Little Free Library book exchanges in all 50 U.S. states and over 70 countries around the world.

Little Free Library: Take a Book, Return a Book

December 22, 2015 by Born To Organize

Fairy Merry Christmas

Winter Solstice just passed in the Northern Hemisphere, meaning our daylight hours will start to grow longer. My friends in the Southern Hemisphere are honoring the longest day of the year.

Meanwhile, San Jose’s fairies are celebrating the arrival of several wet storms, a welcome pause in our very long drought.

Merry Christmas!
Happy Solstice!
Good tidings of summer!
And for those of you feeling the winter blues, just think: The first day of spring is just three months away.

Fairy Garden Festivities

Look who has a bright red scarf for the holidays?

There are a couple of reindeer on the roof. The rest of the team must be on a coffee break.

Merry Christmas!

November 30, 2015 by Born To Organize

The Luck of the Draw: Fairy Gardening 101

You won’t believe my luck!

Sheryl Normandeau, the blogger behind Flowery Prose, hosted a book giveaway. Yours truly, lover of all fairy gardening, won!

Sheryl reviewed two books on her blog, Fairy Gardening 101 by Fiona McDonald and Fairy Gardening: Creating Your Own Magical Miniature Garden – Julie Bawden-Davis and Beverly Turner, then generously gave both of them away.

Here is an excerpt of her review of McDonald’s book:

Side by side: My Fairy Garden and a book filled with future inspiration

This purposeful how-to book gives you all the information you need to create a fairy garden, with lists of supplies, suggestions for interesting containers or settings, and tips for successful long-term maintenance of your beautiful creation. Easy to follow, step-by-step instructions cover the making of miniature furniture, fences and other garden structures – and, of course, even the fairies themselves! What I’ve always loved about fairy gardens is the use of recycled/upcycled materials and found objects (either natural or man-made) that you discover in your home, yard, neighbourhood…or garage or thrift sale! The sky truly is the limit when it comes to sourcing materials for your mini-garden – and that’s half the fun!

In addition to blogging from the Canadian prairie, Sheryl writes numerous articles and short stories. She is a contributor to the forthcoming book “Growing Gooseberries” in The Prairie Garden 2017: Fruit and Berries available this month.

One of my favorite chapters gives instructions for building your own fairy garden furniture, including a fancy looking canopy bed. Once I’m back on my feet I’m going to give that a whirl. Another chapter features fairy garden kits to give as gifts. Isn’t that a fun idea? I don’t know if I’ll be able to muster the energy between now and Christmas, though I know two little girls that would delight in one. I might put something together next spring.

Thank you, Sheryl, for this treasured gift!

Fescue yurt and an orange peel umbrella

Little Free Library, Fairy-Sized

Garden kitten

Fairy Garden Birthday

Ladder to the garden

One spooky Halloween night

Autumn pumpkins

Replanted Fairy Garden, The Long View

Christmas Fairy Garden

Reindeers on the rooftop

Fairy garden path

Tiny hands visit the fairy garden

October 30, 2015 by Born To Organize

Fairy Garden Halloween

Fairy Garden at Dusk

The wall is silence, the grass is sleep,
Tall trees of peace their vigil keep,
And the Fairy of Dreams with moth-wings furled
Plays soft on her flute to the drowsy world.

~Ida Rentoul Outhwaite

Welcome

Please have a seat

We call them faerie. We don’t believe in them. Our loss.

~Charles de Lint

We’re over here. Please come join us.

And as the seasons come and go, here’s something you might like to know.
There are fairies everywhere: under bushes, in the air,
playing games just like you play, singing through their busy day.
So listen, touch, and look around – in the air and on the ground. And if you watch
all nature’s things, you might just see a fairy’s wing

~Author Unknown

We’re playing hide and seek

Is anybody home?

A rustle in the wind reminds us a fairy is near.

~Author Unknown

Do you hear the rustle in the wind?

Happy Halloween

Special thanks to Everything Fairyland for the wonderful compilation of quotes.

May 27, 2015 by Born To Organize

Nature vs. Nurture: A Garden in Flux

Bougainvillea (Water just once a week)

I’m gradually turning our garden into a more sustainable oasis. Instead of nurturing the English garden of my dreams, I’m letting nature do the talking. I’ve learned a lot from four years of drought.

We’re no longer watering our lawn, allowing nature to takes its course. I met with a landscape designer a few weeks ago and he’s putting together a design for native perennials. I’m envisioning a small meadow that attracts native birds and insects.

Last week I submitted an application to the Santa Clara Valley Water District’s Water Conservation Unit. It will take five to seven weeks to process a one page request, but so it goes with many government agencies. That in turn will generate a lengthy packet of materials to complete, and only then can we proceed (if we want to receive a rebate). As the drought drags on, the rebates increased. Original rebates offered seventy-five cents per square foot. They’ve now increased to $2 per square foot for:

converting high water using landscape (i.e. irrigated turf or functional swimming pool) to low water using landscape. These increases are temporary, through December 31, 2015, and certain restrictions apply

Our back lawn is 370 square feet. If approved we’ll receive a $740 rebate. The front lawn is a bit larger so all told, getting this approval will put a nice dent in the conversion costs. With or without the rebate, we’re going forward with the plans.

In addition to converting the lawn into native landscaping, I’m no longer filling pots with annuals. We have three large pots on the deck that receive irrigation from a drip line. Everything that was hand-watered is gone or replaced with succulents that get by on virtually no water at all.

Potted Succulents

Welcome to the Garden

Late yesterday, just before sitting down to write my fairy garden post, I received an out-of-the-blue package from my friend Kristi. Along with her lovely note she sent these charming fairy garden treasures. I wasted no time adding them to the garden. I adore that little sign!

New Welcome to the Garden Sign

I tucked the new hammock among the soft greenery. It’s the perfect napping place and makes me wish I was Thumbelina. Thank you, Kristi!

The napping place

Fairy Garden Vignette

May 26, 2015 by Born To Organize

The Fairy Garden Goes Native

When water is at a premium, you cut corners where you can. I’ve emptied most of my pots, and either replanted with succulents or used the pots for something else.

Our deck top fairy garden requires very little water, but seeing those precious drops fall through the holes in the bottom spurred me to action. Last week, my miniature fairy garden went native.

Fairy Garden Newly Planted with Succulents

I meant to save the markers so I could record the name of the plants, but they’ve gone AWOL…or I tossed them with the transplanting newsprint. The good news: the plants sat on my deck for two to three weeks without a drop of water. They passed the test!

Succulents Up Close

I’m actually quite smitten with these plants. They fit right in, don’t you think?

There’s a story behind the little wooden house (it used to be haunted!). You can read more about that here. After replanting the garden, I spruced up the house with some new drapes. If you look closely, you’ll see that they’re carefully assembled from the finest Washi tape in the land. Nothing but the finest for mystical fairies. The new garden path is also special. I gathered those lovely, flat green stones on the beach in Victoria last summer. Wilma of the Creartfuldodger took Boomdee and me beach-combing along the beautiful island shore. These stones evoke special memories of that day.

You can view the gallery by clicking on the first photo, then follow the arrows. It took me a bit of time to sort that one out. 😉

Fairy Garden, Just Outside the Front Door

Replanted Fairy Garden, The Long View

Little Free Library, Fairy-Sized

My Own ‘Victoria Garden’ Path

Newly Hung Washi Tape Drapes

Secret Path to the Reading Garden

Fallen Log Bridge

Reading Nook

Extra Chairs for Story Time

Aerial View

Succulents Up Close

All the other treasures in the garden are found objects or gifts. The wooden house came from my son’s craft collection. I rescued it from the trash. The reading patio is an upside down candle holder and the charming chair, cat and rose pillow flew here from Canada via Boomdee. Marcia and her girls surprised me with the pink mushroom one cool fall day.

I built the (little) Little Free Library from matchboxes, stickers and an empty box. A clothes pin and a bit of duct tape keep it in place. A friend taught me how to make the heart-shaped chairs from the top of a champagne closure.

Are you a fairy gardener, too? It’s easy and fun and incredibly relaxing. You can garden anywhere at any time, limited only by your imagination. Jump right in. The [lack of water] is fine!

Postscript: You won’t believe this. Just before sitting down to write this, I received an out-of-the-blue package from my friend Kristi. Inside: her lovely note and a couple of fairy garden treasures. Check back tomorrow, for updates. I can’t wait to show them off. Thanks, Kristi xox

February 26, 2015 by Born To Organize

When Six-Year-Old’s Decorate the Fairy Garden

Christmas Fairy Garden

The neighborhood kids were off from school last week, and a few of them came looking for the fairy garden. I moved my miniature garden to the back patio in December to make room for Christmas decor. I never moved it back.

My son helped me carry it back to the front deck and the little ones got to work.

Aliens and Azaleas: The Magic of Being Six

Check out the detail work

Finishing touches

When I was six, our street ended where a field began. A nursery operated on the other side, so we enjoyed an expansive view. Across the street was a vacant lot that filled with weeds after the rain. With the freedom to roam that we had in those days, I remember gathering milk weed and clover and spending hours day dreaming while weaving creations with those glorious, green weeds.

It’s been years since I thought about that field, but it may explain my love of fairy gardening. Creating in miniature carries you back in time. It’s part wanderlust and a generous helping of nostalgia, but also a connection to a simpler time, of days spent belly down in a field of greens lost in thought until my mother called me home for supper.

With my younger sister in our back yard, Ontario, Canada, early 1960’s

Pages: Fairy Garden Frivolity

Gardening Nirvana

Sharing my journey in and out of the garden

fairy garden

A Fairy Garden for Elizabeth

Wildfire Updates:

No Bigger Than Thumbelina

Happy Easter

Shamrocks in the Fairy Garden, Green Books in the Library

What do you know?

Fairy Merry Christmas

The Luck of the Draw: Fairy Gardening 101

Fairy Garden Halloween

Nature vs. Nurture: A Garden in Flux

Welcome to the Garden

The Fairy Garden Goes Native

When Six-Year-Old’s Decorate the Fairy Garden

Wildfire Updates:

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Welcome to the Garden

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