Fairy gardens are a great way to involve children in gardening, and helping younsters select plants for their fairy gardens just got easier. Here at the NC Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox, we’ve revamped our fairy garden listings to take some of the guesswork out of finding the right plant for the right fairy place. 

A fairy garden is a small, whimsical space designed to be an inviting spot for fairies. These miniature gardens can be created in the ground or in containers, in the shade or in the sun. They can even be created indoors with houseplants. The gardens often feature fairy-sized accessories like miniature houses and benches. They can be tucked into a secretive corner of the garden (all the better for shy fairies), or these intricate miniature landscapes can take pride of place in the garden.

The selection of plant material will, as always, depend on the site of the fairy garden. In full sun, the plants can include dwarf conifers, small bulbs (like grape hyacinth), annuals (such as petunias and marigolds) and even miniature roses. Shade-loving fairies are lucky to have a wide range of ferns, small sedges and woodland herbaceous perennials to enjoy. To find the right plants on the Plant Toolbox for your fairy garden, enter the tag “fairy garden” in the search box, or go to the Find a Plant tool and select “fairy garden” as the Landscape Theme. Thereafter, you can apply filters to whittle down the list of fairy-friendly plants and find those that are suitable for the conditions of your garden. The curated list omits plants that might be poisonous to children or fairies.

For the young–or the young at heart–a fairy garden might be the entrée into a lifetime of gardening pleasure and connection to the natural world. 

Follow this link to the Plant Toolbox list of fairy garden plants.