Create a Fairy Mary Garden

I’ve had a Mary Garden in my backyard for several years now. I have a stone statue of Mary that I love, and our family has enjoyed experimenting with planting different types of flowers around her over the years. She stands there, looking so strong and gentle, watching over my children as they run and play.

While I love gardening on a larger scale, I have to admit that I share a fascination with fairy gardens along with my children. The tiny little figures and accessories can’t help but draw me in to their fanciful miniature garden world.

This year, we decided to create our own fairy garden, Catholic style.

"Create a fairy garden, Catholic style. #marygarden #fairygarden"]

We spray painted an old metal tub a sunny yellow and added some pretty, low maintenance succulents. Depending on where you live, an outing to an outdoor garden center with a few of your kids might be a way for you to get out of the house safely for awhile. My daughters loved choosing their own plants for the project.

We then had fun adding fairy houses, figures, and furniture, much of which I purchased at our local dollar store. More expensive fairy garden accessories can be found at garden centers, but my kids are just as happy with the dollar store finds, and I won’t be out much money when they inevitably lose the little pieces!

I ordered a plastic miniature figure of Mary online to place in the garden. This provided a good opportunity to remind my kids of what is imaginary and what is real. You could even get creative with building a small grotto for your tiny Mary.

Our Fairy Mary Garden is meant to be played with. We have it in a “children’s garden” area near our play set and sand box. My kids can rearrange the figures, houses, and tiny stepping stones to their hearts' content, all while getting some fresh air and sunshine and with the visual reminder that Mary our mother is always watching over us.