You know Nandina,
I thought of a couple of different ways of how I would handle this situation.

Of course my first natural instinct was to reach towards my cynical sarcastic all to flippant commonly spewed retorical answers when such such frivolly is espoused.

But if I was working and representing someone else's biz'ness then I might just have to hold myself back and 'get into the moment'.

I'd probably sprout some wings, call myself Tinkerbell and flit around the mushroom heads looking for some little blue belly blooming thing to sell her, then I would call upon Peter Pan to help her load her bounty into the mini van.

By the way, does anyone know how much I can sell a bag of fairy dust for these days ?

Probabaly the same way you did...with perennials that would give an "Arthur Rackham" feel to a garden. A large, flat rock is nice for dancing...or a smooth piece of mossed ground. Think ballroom. Plantwise...a great deal depends on what said customer's garden's light conditions are. Hey, some folks believe in angels--some believe in fairies--some believe in genius locci. Actually--I think it all comes to the same thing.

If it were spring, and the customer had a spot with enough sun, I'd have suggested at least one annual--an Ipomoea alba. It would attract Pink-spotted hawkmoths (Agrius cingulata [Fabricius]) which I'd think fairies would use for pulling carriages...

Actually--there is a long tradition of Fairy gardens and fairy houses--I built them as a child when we would go to my grandparents cabin in upstate Wisconsin... and when I lived in Cincinnati a dear friend and I had a "fairy place" in a corner of her yard--I was very sad to leave my fairies behind when my family moved to Cleveland. There wasn't a good place in mynew yard for a fairy garden.

melanie

Here is a link that might be useful: Monhegan Island Fairy traditions...

The English poet Walter De La Mare once said that when you look at a blade of grass you see only one side of it, it is on the other side that the magic (and the fairies) lives. So I guess fairies like plants with broad leaves that they can hide behind. They also tend to gather near water, especially splashing water, somewhere at the edge of the woods.

I would have laughed at her...."Ha...Ha...Hey Betty...this crazy woman wants to build a garden for FAIRIES!!!" Then again if I were a nursery employee getting paid on commission I may have told her that fairies liked very expensive plants...and some of them insist that you remove plants once they are finished blooming and replace them with fresh plants.

Honestly, while researching kids garden ideas I know I came across a number of fairy garden themes. Since I have 3 sons, I did not examine them too closely (though I will admit that one of my sons claims pink as his favorite color and another has quite an attraction to female super heros). I imagine that a butterfly garden theme could easily be spun as a fairy garden...rocks to warm themselves in the sun, water to drink and splash in, nectar plants for nourishment, and maybe some herbs as well.

- Brent

I've never worked at a nursery, but being familiar with sales, I would have asked her to tell me a bit about her fairies. She wanted to talk about them, why else would she have mentioned it? Then a few questions about sun, shade, water and space. That would elicit a few plant recommendations from me for a pleasant garden. Humans are not so different from fairies in what they desire from a garden, after all.

You gave the best response possible--kindness and some sympathetic help. But that is a very strange story.

I've seen 'fairy houses' for sale as garden ornaments. Or maybe it was an elf house. I've also seen $75 castle style 'toad houses' made of cast concrete.

Maybe I should look into this and add it to my list of speaking topics? But would it be a garden club or a Samhain gathering?

I would have told her to hang on a moment, I knew just the right source of info to fulfill her request. Then I would have gone into the office, gone online and printed off this page for her.

A good start, anyway.

Melanie, my sister and I saw fairy houses every where and made up stories about how they lived. I should say she did, older and much better imaginaion. Twisted tree roots, the kind of grass that grows in clumps and lays over like a bang, stream banks, rocks, etc. When my daughter was little I would tell her about the faires in our garden and what they were doing that particular season. Anything growing in a garden faires would like.

Did I actually believe in faires, no, but we sure had a lot of fun with the stories.

Nandina, just what plants did you recommend?

Odd...I was just participating in my second favorite hobby, folding laundry, while watching my good buddy The Garden Guy. I am pretty sure it was an episode from last weekend. Composting...Daylilies...and then a segment on...yep you guessed it...Fairy Gardens!! The woman featured used a lot of plants with fairy like names, plenty of fairy statues and small scenes to create her fairy gardens.

- Brent

I am no lover of things Faerie, but even I found a few things in that Paul James segment to enjoy. I saw a similar segment on Rebecca's Garden not long ago. Apparently Fairy Gardening is becoming a fad.

Creatrix--

Perhaps you SHOULD research Fairy Gardens--they are very "in" at the moment. Some folks encourage Fairy Gardens and Fairy houses as a way to get kids and adults back OUTSIDE--away from tv, video games and computers. There is even a series of books about fairy houses. I think the gardens are an off-shoot.

Jill--it was fun, wasn't it?

melanie

Eric, I wonder if that is where the word "Fey" got it's association with the other kind Fairies?

My response to a query like that would be to stop, take a deep breath and ask "What kind of fairies do you have living in your garden?"

My degree of sarcasm would be dependent on the mood I was in and would have to be determined from tone and delivery. I most definatly would want to hear as much as this person would want to tell me. That isn't something that happens everyday. Curiosity!

I would hope that I'd say something like, if the fairies have moved in then they must like what she is doing and to stick with her own tastes and desires.

ilima

How wonderful since gardens are full of magic. I would tell her that I didn't know much but my instincts would lead me to mosses, violets, foxgloves, primroses (cowslip?) and plants found streamside in the understory of woodlands...water, dappled sunlight and fragrance seem to be the perfect for the faerie environment...

Nandina, I believe your response was quite appropriate and convincing. Most of us in this industry are living a dream, so it is natural that we help others realize theirs. I might have gone as far as offering your design services to her to make a unique and enticing garden for her faireies and any other mythical creatures that may inhabit her gardens. As already suggested, a variation of a butterfly garden would seem to be the right fit.

Kirk

So what plants did you suggest?

I would have used inspiration from the song I learned in Brownies:

"White coral bells upon a slender stalk
Lilies of the Valley deck my garden walk.

Oh, don't you wish that you could hear them ring?
That will happen only when the fairies sing."

At least I would have been able to suggest lilies-of-the-valley.

Seriously, any plant that has a charming effect could be used for a whimsical garden like a "fairy garden." Dicentra, the above-mentioned lilies-of-the-valley, pansies, ornamental cherries that drop their blossoms in a magical cloud, ferns and mosses, and anything dainty looking and/or fragrant - sweet alyssum, baby's breath, etc.

Here is the rest of the story. The customer told me that her two Marine sons were serving second tours of duty, which had been extended, in Iraq. To keep her mind occupied she decided to plant a shade garden and had read about fairy gardens. I suggested that her wee friends, in this climate, are probably happy and secure hiding high in the Live oaks nestled down in Resurrection fern which covers the branches. Then, of course, there are the long strands of Spainish moss upon which to swing in the breezes. We then set about selecting Azaleas and various ferns for her shade garden. She was interested in variegated shrubs for contrast. The nursery did not have a good selection of those on hand. So, I jotted down some suggestions for her.

Many of the plants one associates with fairies will not grow here. I suggested that she begin an Amarylis collection (perennial here), gingers, Ligularias and blood lilies (Scadoxus multiflorus). All do well in shade and compliment shrubs. She really had not Searched the subject of fairy gardens and I encouraged her to do so. There are times when you give a person just enough information to make their own journey of discovery. This was such a situation.

Now I have an image of helpless faeries being carried off by fire ants to their nest.

Not a pretty picture.

Nandina--

Sounds like you made just enough suggestions to send her to the library--where she can REALLY keep her mind occupied. Good for you.

The "traditional" fairy plants won't grow in the deep south, but I bet you could come up with regional substitutes. I can't believe southern fairies would want the same plants as theit NEastern or GB cousins anyways. The spanish moss suggestion was genius. I think there's a book series in here somewhere...

"Fairy Garden Selections for the Southeast" or somesuch. Perhaps we (The LD Loons) have our "winter project" before us?

Eric--ain't NOTHIN helpless about the wee folk. Don't worry. My guess is they eat fire ants for lunch...

melanie

At a flower show a few years ago, I saw examples of "fairy gardens" that were all the rage then. Each little garden vignette/display had tiny plants such as thymes, Sagina "moss," and ferns or similar plants. Some had tiny little chairs, livingroom sets or "toad stools" arranged for the fairies to sit and relax. It was like a planted sitting room for fairies.

I'm not joking. They really did.

The most popular item was a fairy birdbath/birdfeeder -- a statuette of a "fairy" girl holding the basin filled with water or birdseed. Or, in the case of some of the displays, glitter and metallic confetti.

Some garden magazines featured "fairy gardens" last year, with old vintage rush-seat chairs (with the seat missing), planted up with moss and primroses for the fairies to enjoy...

Judging by the famous Cottingley fairies, all the habitat you need to provide is a dense forest undergrowth.

And some really small pantyhose.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cottingley

I hope you recommended some tulips. When there is a Fairy Ball, the fairies stash their babies in the tulip flowers for safety.

Any bell-shaped flower works, as well as anything frilly, frondy, or flowery in general.

As for the fire ants, wouldn't the fairies be a little more cultured? I was thinking chocolate fondue with the ants as the burners.

-Audric

I've a good freind and garden expert who has an extensive collection of "faries" that are semi-hidden in many places in her lovely fairy garden. She has several books on fairy lore, so they are available. She often has tours for children in her garden and the little ones just love finding the fairies. In fact, the local school brings all of its first graders to visit her gardens in the fall.

She also had a collection of pigs of all sorts in another garden enclosed with walls made from panels once used on hog pens. Little pigs are found all about in that garden and the children see how many they can find. Then they take turns running the train set-up in another garden area.

This is her way of encouraging children to think of gardens and gardening as fun. It seems to work very well.

Rebecca

"though I will admit that one of my sons claims pink as his favorite color and another has quite an attraction to female super heros"

Brent, I realize this reply is *years* later, so I'll assume you and your sons have already sorted through their personal preferences, but I had to add that pink was at one point considered a "more masculine" color than baby blue, being a lighter shade of bold, authorative red.

As an aside, have you ever noticed how the comics draw those female super heros? Think Barbie on steroids, with fewer and tighter fitting costumes. It's not hard to understand the attraction. ;^)

The funny thing is, I don't think I would have been shocked by the question!

There actually IS a fairy garden tradition that I heard about years ago. Apparently, you are supposed to keep one small part of your garden untended--i.e. wild--and that is where the fairies will live. Doing this is supposed to keep your whole garden happy and healthy. I think this is an excellent excuse to let a few weeds go. Heh. :)

Also, I have heard that fairies live in clover, so you're supposed to leave it where it grows. So when people ask you why you have weeds, you can say... "They're for the fairies!"