Fairy tale

Friday was trash pickup day in our neighborhood and I saw this big shallow wooden tray at my neighbor's curb. I thought it would be a great container for a fairy garden. I hauled it down to the lower patio and put it on top of my grandchildren's outgrown picnic table.

Then I filled it with potting soil. I didn't put any liner in though I might be sorry later. As for drainage, there's plenty of space for water to drain out where the boards were joined together.

Here's all the stuff I bought to start out landscaping for the fairies. This stuff isn't cheap. But I did steal a few things from another smaller fairy garden I'd put together for my oldest granddaughter a couple of years ago. She prefers to decorate hers with fresh flowers from the garden, sparkly costume jewelry and glitter, and possibly a photo of Justin Bieber.  This new fairy garden is more of a Rocky Mountains theme.

How charming is this?

You kind of have to forget about scale in a fairy garden. I have lots of actual birdhouses around my yard but none of them are bigger than my lawn chairs. The birdhouse below is actually a pen with a birdhouse topper. Works for me.

The grass is some kind of artificial mat they were selling in the Fairy Garden section (yes, there is such a department) at the local nursery.

The fairy house is really a resin birdhouse. Found it marked down at the grocery store.

Gotta have a wheelbarrow and a shovel.

I like the rocks next to the blue spruce. They're actually shards from a pot that broke last winter because I didn't bring it in. The settee and the birdhouse have been out in the weather for a couple of years. They rust rather nicely.

I'm loving this sweet fence. I could only buy two sections without freaking out at the price. As it is, I merely winced. The little "bush" is Turkish Veronica.

The fairies will need a bicycle to use while their wings dry (it's supposed to be rainy this evening).

My youngest granddaughter was my helper. She placed the fairies in the proper areas.

This is the view of the fairy garden from my upper patio. I can check to see if squirrels are making off with the furnishings.

 My neighbor tells me that wooden tray was originally the cover for his sprinkler system valves. That was back in the day before they used plastic. I'm glad he decided to upgrade and I'm pretty sure the fairies are pleased about it too.