NEW GLARUS - Some twinkle, some glow the dark and some are seemingly invisible to passers-by.
Fairy gardens - tiny gardens in containers or small outdoor niches - have become a fascinating trend in the past year, even capturing a class of its own in the house plant judging at the Green County Fair this past July.
Carlie Manthei creates the magical gardens for Brenda's Blumenladen in New Glarus and brought her demonstration to the Prairie View Nursing Home earlier this week.
Putting together a succulent fairy garden for the story on Wednesday, Manthei said anybody of any age - "from four to one hundred" - can create fairy gardens.
"I know a lot of grandmas and granddaughters have gotten into it," she said. "They make good gifts year 'round."
That's because the types of fairy accessories that can be added to the potted plants are limitless. Companies make especially colorful fairy furnishings for the gardens: an array of miniature animals, patio furniture, houses, outhouses, insects, mushrooms, holiday and wedding décor. There are even tiny jars of fairy dust.
Nothing is off limits, if it provides the fairies with comfort and enjoyment.
The prices for Manthei's pre-made fairy gardens at the store range from $30-$160, depending upon the number of fairy accessories.
But, really, the fun is in the creating your very own fairy garden. They can be an inexpensive activity for fun or the can be made as a gift. A fairy garden can be built in as little as 15 minutes, before taking on a life of its own.
"You're always adding to it," Manthei said. "Like, if you find a cool rock walking down the street."
The main ingredient in creating your own fairy garden is imagination.
Manthei placed a blue ribbon under clear pebble to simulate a stream in one of her gardens. A glow-in-the-dark pot sticker becomes a moon in the background of another. And then, there's the right-sized patio bench. Larger fairy items are often used in outdoor creations.
"My brain thinks about scale," Manthei said.
Once fairy gardens are started, they can be rearranged, expanded, or cleaned out and refurnished.
In the store, fairy garden items get added or moved around all the time. Manthei said customers and, many times, children will do the redecorating. But that doesn't always seem to be a plausible answer when stuff gets moved around.
"So you come out here and think, 'Maybe there really are fairies,'" Manthei said.
Fairy gardens - tiny gardens in containers or small outdoor niches - have become a fascinating trend in the past year, even capturing a class of its own in the house plant judging at the Green County Fair this past July.
Carlie Manthei creates the magical gardens for Brenda's Blumenladen in New Glarus and brought her demonstration to the Prairie View Nursing Home earlier this week.
Putting together a succulent fairy garden for the story on Wednesday, Manthei said anybody of any age - "from four to one hundred" - can create fairy gardens.
"I know a lot of grandmas and granddaughters have gotten into it," she said. "They make good gifts year 'round."
That's because the types of fairy accessories that can be added to the potted plants are limitless. Companies make especially colorful fairy furnishings for the gardens: an array of miniature animals, patio furniture, houses, outhouses, insects, mushrooms, holiday and wedding décor. There are even tiny jars of fairy dust.
Nothing is off limits, if it provides the fairies with comfort and enjoyment.
The prices for Manthei's pre-made fairy gardens at the store range from $30-$160, depending upon the number of fairy accessories.
But, really, the fun is in the creating your very own fairy garden. They can be an inexpensive activity for fun or the can be made as a gift. A fairy garden can be built in as little as 15 minutes, before taking on a life of its own.
"You're always adding to it," Manthei said. "Like, if you find a cool rock walking down the street."
The main ingredient in creating your own fairy garden is imagination.
Manthei placed a blue ribbon under clear pebble to simulate a stream in one of her gardens. A glow-in-the-dark pot sticker becomes a moon in the background of another. And then, there's the right-sized patio bench. Larger fairy items are often used in outdoor creations.
"My brain thinks about scale," Manthei said.
Once fairy gardens are started, they can be rearranged, expanded, or cleaned out and refurnished.
In the store, fairy garden items get added or moved around all the time. Manthei said customers and, many times, children will do the redecorating. But that doesn't always seem to be a plausible answer when stuff gets moved around.
"So you come out here and think, 'Maybe there really are fairies,'" Manthei said.