A succulent miniature garden…
The miniature gardening trend continues, and we’re sure having fun with it. From tiny gardens in glass terrariums to a saucer planted with driftwood and a place to sit along the “water”, these little gardens spark the imagination of gardeners of all ages.
Tiny temptations…
Two 20-something women walked in the other day, and one of them immediately spotted the miniature garden display. “Oh, look!”, she said excitedly. “Aren’t these cute?” Her friend was skeptical. “Uh, sure…”, she answered. “Whatever you say.”
Tending a tiny garden…
Not swayed by her friend’s decided lack of enthusiasm, the first started looking through the miniature accessories, oohing and aahing at each tiny piece.
A cozy spot to sit…
“I want to make one of these gardens!”, she declared. Her friend walked closer and looked at the pieces she had in her hand. “You should have a bench.”, she stated. “And look at this tub with wine bottles in it. That would be really cute, wouldn’t it?”
As I listened to them, it became quite clear that the skeptical one (I was beginning to call her this in my head.) was being completely drawn into the fun of creating a tiny world with her friend.
A pumpkin patch under a windmill…
I walked up and started talking with them, asking if they had any questions about the miniature gardens.
The first one again said she wanted to make one and asked if I would help her because she thought it would be so much fun. “Of course.”, I said. “It’s summer and pretty slow, I think we could put something together for you today.”
On the other side of the bridge…
Unfortunately, I don’t have pictures of the garden she made with a lot of helpful suggestions from her friend, but I can tell you it turned out really well. A red Adirondack chair, the tiny tub with iced drinks, a beach along the water, some succulents planted in strategic places, and – Voila! – a miniature garden completed.
Little chickens…
Soon new miniature garden accessories will be arriving, including tiny gourds and white pumpkins for fall gardens…and scarecrows too.
Meanwhile, the pictures here show some we’ve planted this summer using a windmill, tiny chickens (Everyone loves chickens!), little wooden chairs, driftwood benches, morel mushrooms, and more.
Maybe it’s time to let your inner child out…or create a miniature garden with your children. You just might get caught up in the magic like my friend, the skeptical one at the start of this post!
As with any container garden, these are designed to last as a true garden. Be mindful of the amount of light your garden will receive when you choose your plants. There are many houseplants that work well together, including fittonia, Neanthe bella palms, and many ferns. Succulents work well in higher light and will need less water. Haworthias, aloes, crassulas and sedums are just a few of the many succulents you can use. Have fun!
What does all this have to do with miniature gardens, you ask? Well, these tiny gardens have been very popular the past number of years, and the garden club organizers decided it would be a fun thing to have on some of the tables for one of their meetings. And they turned to Oak Street Garden Shop for help.
Because these take a great deal of time to make, I finally gave up on waiting for new miniature garden accessories I’d ordered since my deadline to have them completed was looming…but I still had plenty of fun things to play with. If you’ve ever made one of these 
Tiny pots of ordinary houseplants also work in these gardens. Little parlor palms, ferns, polka dot plants and baby podocarpus make good companions, and selaginella is a pretty groundcover.
For all of you 
Some people have asked why we don’t carry fairies and other inhabitants for our miniature gardens. For us, the garden is the key – creating a miniature garden world with plants that actually will grow for you…along with some judicious clipping when needed. (Fairies are there in spirit, not seen, and, if the garden has the magic of the creator’s touch, of course they’ll come.)
These miniature gardens have really struck a chord for adults and kids alike, and it’s so much fun to see the delight by adults and excitement of little ones as they browse (and play with) the tiny creations that can be used in their own gardens. Of course, any activity that stimulates imagination is certainly worthwhile! For children, it’s a make believe world; for adults it’s an outlet to grow plants in a different way.
All was well until the night the little girl had a sleepover party with a couple of her friends…you might well imagine where this story is going! Somehow the miniature garden, which she kept in her bedroom, was completely up-ended in the middle of the bed, an utter mishmash of soil, plants,pea gravel, stones and little accessories. It must have been like Humpty Dumpty falling off the wall in the fairytale! We helped rework the little miniature garden, and hopefully that little girl is still happily raking her pea gravel “path”…
Not long ago a parent, her daughter, and the girl’s little brother came in. The mother marched to the counter with the little boy and said that he needed to buy, with his own money, a stone for his sister’s miniature garden. Puzzled, I asked what kind of stone he needed. Well, the mother said, her daughter had a stone with the words “My Garden” written on it in her miniature garden. Evidently the little boy had turned it around and scrawled “bathroom” on the back! Of course, the boy’s sister wasn’t having any of that in her garden. So, we found the perfect stone, wrote “My Garden” on it for the little girl, and the little boy brought out his money to pay for it. Before they left, the mother gave the little boy the stone that he’d written on. Much later we found it hidden in the miniature garden displays and had a good laugh….he didn’t want it either!
Some of the fun things we’ve gotten in recently include a pair of ghosts (It’s never too early to begin thinking about Halloween!), wooden soda bottle crates with soda bottles, a wine basket with wine bottles, a metal tub (just right to put the wine and soda bottles in!), tiny turtles, frogs and one very fat cat, some pretty urns, a very realistic Celtic cross, a stone walking bridge, a triple trellis and more. And there will be additional miniature garden items coming in down the road too. It’s a good idea to pop in every now and then to see what’s new.
If you’d like to have us put one together for you we have containers here, or you can bring something of your own in and we’ll create one for you. All we ask is that you give us ample time to put your miniature garden together – they may look less time consuming to make than a full size garden, but we promise you the devil is in all those minature details!
Some plants that can be used for gardens that will be used outside are many low growing sedums, echevarias, hen and chicks, euonymous standards (They make great trees!), tiny bromeliads, air plants and miniature jade plants to name just a few…indoor gardens (or 
