Miniature Fairy Garden

It was my step-mother's birthday last week and I wanted to make something for her. I saw this fellow on ebay and thought about making a fairy garden. I waited till she was away for a few days and snuck into the yard to do some guerilla landscaping.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/144031737682

Found a suitable tree with a flat area in front.

First step is to clear the vegetation, clean the base of the tree, and spread wood ash to suppress weed growth

Add a layer of sand to further suppress weed growth, to level the area, and to have a medium into which items can be bedded. Then rake it smooth.

Mark out perimeter. Place main features. Collect lots and lots of rocks.

Mark out garden beds. Use rocks to make garden bed edging. Fill with soil and plant out vegetation. Water in.

It took three days of heavy labour to get to this stage. Next step is to add a few more features and to finish the surfaces and pathways in different textures. Sawdust and fine woodchips should work well.



She hasn't seen it yet. She will either love it or yell at me for digging up her lawn.

Cool

Very sweet. I hope she likes it. And that she lets you go back and stage scenes with your figures in it.

What a fun surprise project! It will look magical when the new plant growth fills in the rock-bordered sections!

Haha I love how you completely escalated, I first thought it would be a door in the tree only but you got very ambitious, very thoughtful.

That’s a pretty cool project. And really nice — hopefully, as you say, your stepmom will like it. If we don’t ever hear from you again, we’ll know how she felt.

It looks amazing!

such a sweet idea and lovely execution.
I would be afraid of damage by animals or wheather...

Illusion wrote:such a sweet idea and lovely execution.
I would be afraid of damage by animals or wheather...

I deliberately chose not to use any light materials for this reason. Everything is made from stone, ceramic, or solid resin. It should withstand some pretty severe weather and that section has been fenced off so no large animals can get in.

The back two garden beds don't get much sun so I transplanted some moss. Hopefully it will look like lawn when it fills in.

So wonderful ! What a great Idea. You muste be the favourite stepson of her.


Please take care with the trees, they look rotten at the trunk. Hope they can´t fall on the house ?

Really like to see it finished

They are eucalypts. Shedding bark and branches is normal. When it gets damaged it floods the wound with sap, which are the dark patches you see. It has antimicrobial properties that prevent rot.

Love the garden gnome. His face is perfect.

Holy cow, Ephiane, this gnome looks so realistic I wonder if you didn't superimpose a real human's face on it LOL

That's some lovely work Shazzdan, I'm sure she will love it.

And that's a cool looking gnome that Ephiane made.

The planter pots are terracotta and because they are so small, they dry out very quickly. The only plants that can really be used in them are succulents, but I wanted the garden to look temperate, not desert, so I had to find succulents that didn't look like stereotypical desert plants, but they also had to have small leaves/stems so they didn't throw the sense of scale out.

shazzdan wrote:The back two garden beds don't get much sun so I transplanted some moss. Hopefully it will look like lawn when it fills in.

And this just gave me an idea for another project: a tiny golf course using moss for the greens. Most types of moss don't like full sun so it will have to be constructed in a semi-shaded area.

GubernatorFan wrote:Holy cow, Ephiane, this gnome looks so realistic I wonder if you didn't superimpose a real human's face on it LOL

Sorry Friends. I really don´t want to highjack this wonderful thread. This is no real person. It is a Alfred Pennyworth Sculpt. I use this Pictures for to make children in the neighborhood believe in Gnomes. I tell them i vistit Gnomes in the woods Awww... i´m so mean

Ephiane wrote:

GubernatorFan wrote:Holy cow, Ephiane, this gnome looks so realistic I wonder if you didn't superimpose a real human's face on it LOL

Sorry Friends. I really don´t want to highjack this wonderful thread. This is no real person. It is a Alfred Pennyworth Sculpt. I use this Pictures for to make children in the neighborhood believe in Gnomes. I tell them i vistit Gnomes in the woods Awww... i´m so mean

LOL and now I understand why he looked so familiar. It is a testimony to HT artists and sculptors' skill and your own! I hope they believed you! Because I very nearly did.

FYI - Sadly I can't see your photos, shazzdan. If you used the built in image upload feature then I would be able to see them. And comment. ^^