Fairy Gardening - the Plants part 1

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We have had cottage gardens and now prairie gardens are fashionable – so I thought I would expand on an earlier blog theme and talk a bit more about my idea of Fairy gardening. Who knows – perhaps it will catch on?

I went for a walk with my daughter through the woods this morning and she gave me her views on what a fairy garden should be.

“There should be little flowers hiding underneath the trees and shrubs”, she said, “waiting to be found.”

The statement was inspired by the bluebells and wood anemones all around but tracking it back to the garden it was clear that she was also thinking of that hidden flower par excellence – the Cyclamen.

I love Cyclamen, particularly as it flowers when the garden is so bare, and there are quite a few to space out the season but even so, it is nice to have a few hidden treats in the garden later on. I like to think that these might be the type of flowers that fairies would make their clothes out of.

Most woodland plants flower really early so that they make the most of the low dappled sunlight before the trees block out too much of the sun.

One shade lover which is flowering now is the Bergenia. I asked GOYers for advice on what to do to make mine flower, but all it needed really was time!

Retiring and shade loving it may be – but this is far too beefy for a fairy flower methinks. It can stay out of the fairy garden. Something else is needed entirely.

Now that is more like it! Violets positively love to nestle under a shrub and keep their colour better there. They also bob around engagingly on slender stalks which is delightful. This though is a bog standard dog violet and I pine for Parma Violets – not because they smell but because the scent stops you smelling temporarily: that’s why Victorian ladies used the scent in their handkerchiefs. It is that type of magic that I think is key to the effect I want in my fairy garden – something beautiful and yet just a little strange.

Talking of strange. I am growing two types of Corydalis in my garden at the moment. The first is Corydalis Lutea.

This is a really romantic plant because many children come across it first growing precariously in the walls of impossible chocolate box cottages. It is utterly unclear whether the cottage is inhabited by snow white or the gingerbread witch but either way such flowers are part of the temptation.

No use for me in this situation though – it is too partial of the sun I think (unless someone else knows better – please shout)

I digress – really I wanted to show you my other Corydalis which for me is even more romantic – and has the benefit of flowering quite happily in really shady places.

This one is Corydalis Flexuosa – now how weird a flower is that? I bought this specimen from a very lovely cottage in Wivelsfield, Sussex. There is a small tray of juicy specimens at very reasonable prices by the front wall. You post the money through the letter box and that is that. All quite delightful.

Problem is that the first time I bought one the Corydalis flowered its socks off and then died in the winter. I tried again and the same thing happened. Since the winter was not particularly bad I was confused by this, so eventually I plucked up courage to knock on the door and ask what I was doing wrong. I was told to dig it up and overwinter it in a pot, which I did. As you can see it has now sailed quite happily through a horrid winter remaining green even as the snow thawed. I assume that it just can’t cope with winter wet.It spreads quite happily and you just split it up to replant in spring.

This is definitely one for my fairy garden.

Part of the appeal of both the Corydalis and the Violet is that their slender stems allow them to move with the breeze and that is also true of Aquilegia. Aquilegias are growing like weeds in my garden and most of them will have to come out to make way for flowers which will provide colour in the summer. First though I want to be able to judge the colours, and move some of them into the fairy garden.

Both the joy and heart ache of Aquilegias is that they hybridise so easily. Every new plant is a new adventure – and some of them are about as exciting as a walk to the corner shop when you forgot your purse.

That one can come straight out!

The purple Aquilegia is closer to our wild flower – but this one looks quite a mucky colour. I will wait and see how it develops I think.

Now this peachy pink is surprisingly strong and works well with some of the other colours. I’ll be keeping this one. No good for the fairy garden though – the pink would just get lost.

Now that is more like it. I took this photo at 6pm on an overcast (frankly horrid!) day, but white and pale Aquilegias seem to create their own ethereal light and could easily give the impression that there is something flitting around in the gloom. This one I will put in the fairy garden – on the edge where there will be enought light to keep it going.

I’ll leave you I think with a picture of some of the plants already growing there. The ferns are lovely – a really delicate green and they have such an alien nature. I’ve already waxed lyrical about my passion for bluebells. The iris I love too. I assume given the bogginess of the land that this is Iris Ensata Variegata which I read needs full sun. Ho hum! I may have to live without flowers but the sword like shape of the leaves makes it worth it. Not sure about the bamboo though. Most of my plants are far from indigenous but surely bamboo really demands a panda rather than a fairy. Or am I being too literal? I will think on.

I would be really interested in knowing what you would include to entice the fairies!

• 9 May, 2010
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