I've shared before about my 10 year old daughter, Sweet Pea, and her love of gardening, fairies and her great imagination. Well, I just wanted to share her fairy village that she's been spending lots of time on. She goes outside for hours to work on it.
I only wish my photography could capture just how sweet it is.
An overview of the village in the wine barrel with a little red Japanese Maple.
A path up to the head fairy's house. You may be able to see that there are little wild violets planted to the right of the door.
Up close you can see her home is made of stones, tree bark and moss.
The well, complete with water and a bucket made from an acorn shell.
What fairy wouldn't want a tree house?
Another fairy home. To the right she has Lady Bells (adenophora) and Coral Bells (heuchera) planted in the "bell forest".
This fairy has lamium, Irish moss and baby tears in her garden. The stones behind her home form a pond with a glass pebble bottom.
Here is a quick update on her square foot garden. Both types of carrots she planted have sprouted, so she is very happy. Sugar snap peas and bush peas are really beginning to show signs of growth. The red onions in the front are growing like crazy.
Yummy chive flowers that she and her friends like to eat.
I love seeing her creativity at work. Right now she says she want to be an architect and I definitely think she has the creativity and talent to be one.
I think allowing kids their own space in the garden allows them the freedom to plant it how they like and use their imagination. Most of what she uses are things that are already growing or found in our yard. She's learned to transplant and divide plants, plant her own seeds and occasionally picks out a few plants at the garden center. Who says TV is more interesting when you can let your imagination run free outside in the fresh air?!
Hi Catherine~~ You're a great mom. What a lovely fairy garden. And the edible garden looks yummy.
ReplyDeleteKids and gardens just naturally go together and what a blessing when a kid's parents nurture that.
Unfortunately the teen years have brought a (hopefully temporary) gardening hiatus.
That is an awesome fairy village. Sweet Pea is quite talented! She'll make a super good architect!
ReplyDeleteI really hope that Sweet Pea is on the cutting edge of a return of children to play that does not require a power cord nor batteries. Her Fairy Garden is very impressive. What Fairy would not love to visit, or move into this setting?
ReplyDeleteI'd like to share one of my Fairy pages with you:
Fairy PianoSomeone gave me this trinket and it seemed most appropriate for imaginative play, even for an old lady.
I love it Catherine! She is very talented. Makes me want to go out and make my own fairy village.
ReplyDeleteI love Sweet Pea's fairy garden. I could spend hours enjoying all her creative nooks in the garden. The acorn bucket is adorable! So good that we have blogging now to record her imagination for later in life and also for all of us to enjoy it too!
ReplyDeleteI think this is so great that both of your girls love to garden. Sweet Pea's fairy house is priceless with all of the detail that she has thought out and put into it. Using brains and imagination - something many of our kids are getting away from - like someone said they need a power cord.
ReplyDeleteI'm so proud of my little guys for carrying through with their seeds and now they've even planted them in the ground. I'm beaming!!!
What a fantastic idea to make a "fairy garden"..I have never heard of doing that! She is so lucky to have a mom that is such an experienced gardener and can pass on all that knowledge that you have!
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of a fairy garden! My 4-year old daughter might be ready for something like that next year. Will have to tuck that idea away, thanks!
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful Fairy Garden! Sweet Pea is very talented and it's great that she is so enthusiastic.
ReplyDeleteI hope she goes on to be a successful architect.
You may be interested in the amazing vertical gardens grown up the side of tall buildings in cities. (Have I mentioned this before - I know I've put it in a comment somehwere!!) They were on Gardener's World on TV recently - a lot are in Paris - should be findable on Google. The structures and plantings were tremendously inspiring, and Sweet Pea may like them as they combine architecture and gardening.
That is precious! I love it! I am inspired to make a fairy garden and house. Wonderful
ReplyDeleteWhat a darling fairy garden she has created! I see a future garden blogger. LOL
ReplyDeleteWhat a great post! I see your daughter is a lover of nature like you are. Those fairies are lucky to have such a beautiful home.
ReplyDeleteHi Catherine, I recently started participating in Friday Shoot-Out and thought you might want to join us this Friday especially - the subject is water. There are NO rules and your post is your interpretation of the subject. With your lovely pond - I thought you might want to showcase some photos. Here is a link to explain more: http://fridayshootouts.blogspot.com/2009/05/about-friday-shoot-outs.html
ReplyDeleteAwesome job on both gardens, Sweet Pea! Lovely!
ReplyDeleteGrace - I wish more kids could experience the fun they can have gardening. I really think it gives them added respect for the world around them.
ReplyDeleteTina - Isn't it cute? I wish I could've taken better pictures of it.
Nell Jean - It would be nice if she were on the cutting age and things going back to how it was when we were younger. Most of her friends would rather be inside, she's always dragging them out with her.
I showed her that cute piano, it's so sweet looking. Wouldn't it be fun if you could hear a fairy playing it some night? :)
Susie - I think you should! I bet you'd have fun doing it.
Mildred - I think it'll be fun to show her all these pictures. That's one reason I take them. She has put a lot of detail into the village. I can tell she really thinks out what she's doing.
Thanks for the info on Friday shoot out. I will look into it. I definitely like taking pictures of my pond. I bet there will be lots of great pictures with a theme like water.
Linda - She has quite the imagination. She's always in the backyard creating something. I think it's great you are helping your grandsons learn about gardening. I think it will be a great memory for them and teach them about how much fun a garden is.
The Retired One - I've seen pictures of Fairy Gardens before, usually done by adults. She has done this 100 percent by herself. She has always enjoyed learning about flowers.
VW - I bet next year will be the perfect age. They have such great imaginations then. It gives them their own special space to do whatever they want outside. You'll be able to pass all your knowledge onto your kids too.
Phoenix - The vertical gardens sound really interesting. I will find some to show her. Wouldn't designing those types of gardens be fun?!
Dirt Princess - I think you should make a little one. It would be like being a kid again. I think my daughter is more creative than me though. I wouldn't have come up with the ideas she has.
Msrobin - She does talk about having a blog. She does have one, but she's only posted a few times. She rather be outside, maybe one day she'll put more time into it and show other kids the fun of gardening.
Ginger - She has always loved being outside, I have to make her come in. She loves creating all sorts of interesting things out there.
Sue - Thanks, I'll tell her.
ReplyDeleteI know she'll love hearing that so many people found her gardens nice.
That was so sweet and wonderful to hear. This is the first time I hear about a kid gardener and that warms my heart. I like her fairy homes and the pond was so perfect.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure your daughter would grow more creative and do great in whatever she becomes. Your wonderful photos of her creations are a witness to that. I repeat it again, and will do so in future - You're a great mother to expose your child to such a wonderful world rather than making them sit in front of TV, round the clock.
this is great! I love it. Can't wait for school to be out so my girls can play in the dirt too.
ReplyDeleteI think you have a budding architect there! Her attention to detail is amazing!
ReplyDeletesweetpea's fairy garden is magical indeed! Perhaps she should start focusing on attracting "brownies" to clean her room while she sleeps
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful little garden! Absolutely delightful.
ReplyDeleteChandramouli - Thank you, you are very nice to say that!
ReplyDeleteDarla - It is fun having them home, she had a 4 day weekend and it felt like summer. The sun has been out the whole time, just perfect.
Heather - She's funny, she just spends so much time working in it, and one idea leads to another.
Prairie Chicken - Believe me she needs the "brownies" to help clean her room. I wish she paid attention to to detail there :)
sweet bay - Thanks, she's very proud of it.
That is one amazing Fairy village. My fairies are going to desert me to join the ones in your garden. I better not show them how good other fairies have it. It shows an amazing amount of creativity and it's so great you know the importance of that attribute and encourage it to blossom. I think it's missing in a lot of kids today.
ReplyDeleteWhat a cute idea, I love the fairy garden! So great your daughter is joining you in the garden too!
ReplyDeleteMy daughter is in her twenties now, but she is still my "pea girl", or sometimes my "PG" - her nickname was "sweet pea" once upon a time but somehow morphed into pea girl instead :)
Plant Lady
I love faery gardens. I've been working on one myself. When I've got it more together, I'll send you and your sweet pea a heads-up so you can come visit online.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how I missed this and a few other posts - wonder if my Blotanical feed reader is not working? Hm. Anyway, amazingly awesome, please tell your daughter she is an artist, which an architect also must be (or good ones are, anyway). My daughter also is intrigued with fairy houses, she built a few but nothing with living plants yet, so they are temporary. Great of you to foster this gardening impulse in your kids. The world will be a better place for it!
ReplyDelete