8 Inspiring Fairy Garden Ideas

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Square feature image of four snippets of different fairy gardens featured in this post.

Get fresh and inspiring fairy garden ideas as well as a few easy DIYs!

If you love magical gardens then you’re in the right place. One of the best things about creating fairy gardens is that you can make them even on a budget!

With a little imagination, you can create beautiful tiny decor from ordinary items you have around the house and use pretty much any containers you have on hand.

If you’re not a DIYer then purchasing a few miniature pieces might be an easier way to get in on the fun without a ton of work.

This post has a mix of both. I’ll step you through easy DIYs to make beautiful handmade mini decor and give you links to items that will make your miniature gardens sparkle. I’ll also provide a few ideas on containers and what to plant in a fairy garden as well as tiny garden ideas that are more diorama-style!

The Best Place for a Fairy Garden

Place a fairy garden anywhere you have space. If you live in a small apartment, that may be in a teacup on the windowsill. If you have space in a backyard, it could be in a garden or in the hollow of an old tree stump! Mainly you want to pair your location with the right plants so you’re little garden thrives. More on plants and flowers below.

What Containers to Use for a Mini Garden

I’ve found that wide, shallow planters work best for small container fairy gardens. That said, you can honestly use any container and if it’s too deep, try adding plastic bottles or rocks as a filler to the bottom of the container.

And, your container doesn’t have to be expensive, check around the house for unused flower pots, bowls, baskets, or other vessels. Garage sales, thrift stores, and flea markets are also great places to find unique containers.

What to Plant in a Fairy Garden

If you have a large outdoor planter or garden space try planting bigger more hearty plants in your garden. If you plan to make a small indoor fairy garden then choose plants that maybe don’t need as much sun and remain fairly small. Here are a few examples of plants and locations to give you an idea of what to try:

Late spring fairy garden on a covered patio (Full sun to part shade)
Herbs like rosemary, thyme, and sage
– Pansies and Miniature Ivy

Large summer fairy garden (Full sun)
Petunias, marigolds, and miniature daisies
Boxwood (kept trim)
– Outdoor grasses that stay small (about a foot tall) like Dwarf Mondo Grass or Elijah Blue Fescue

Small indoor fairy gardens (Filtered sunlight)
Succulents like jade, hens and chicks, and pincushion cactus
Mini ferns, and terrarium plants
Chinese money plants
Miniature Ivy
– Air Plants (learn more about air plants here).

No-fuss fairy gardens
– Faux flowers and faux succulents (this is a great option and many faux plants look just like the real thing!)
Preserved floral moss and moss rocks
– Or skip the foliage and opt for pebbles, shells, sand, and other elements.

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1. Rusty Wheel Fairy Garden

This fairy garden was inspired by an old rusty wheel that I found at the antique store. I set the wheel into a shallow plant tray and filled it all in with dirt and a variety of succulents and miniatures!

Fairy garden featuring an old rusty wheel with two fairys, one sitting in a spoon, several succulent plants and an old door latch.
Rusty Wheel Fairy Garden
Closeup of the two fairies, on sitting in a spoon in the my finished rusty wheel fairy garden.

2. Wine Cellar Fairy Garden

I was inspired by this little bistro table and chairs to make a wine cellar fairy garden. Actually, I fell in love with the cute mini wine and cheese platter! Isn’t it adorable?

To add a little greenery, I planted Ivy in a wine bottle planter. The wine barrels, crate of grapes, and miniature shelf were flea market finds and I felt like I hit the lottery because they were just the right size and scale.

Horizontal photo of a wine cellar fairy garden with wine barrels stacked, wine bottles on a shelf and a bistro table in the front. Ivy planted in a wine bottle to the left sticking out of a wine bottle crate.
Wine Cellar Fairy Garden
Vertical closeup of the bistro table with barrels and shelf with with bottles in the background that make up a miniature wine cellar fairy garden.

3. Spring Herb Fairy Garden

Spring fairy gardens are my favorite! I collected the miniatures and the cabbage bowls came from different Fleatiques to complete this cute herb fairy garden. If you’d like to make a similar garden, you can get the carrots here. And, these are links to similar bowls and bunny miniatures.

Vertical feature image of a spring Easter herb fairy garden with a rabbit and carrot patch, an Easter chick cart and cabbage bowls with herbs planted in them.
Spring Herb Fairy Garden
Photo showing handmade mini basket of carrots for a fairy garden.

Fairy Garden DIY

Make a mini basket by hot gluing burlap trim onto an upside-down bottle cap! Fill your basket with floral moss, mini fruit, or vegetables.

Closeup of a miniature rabbit with a basket of carrots and carrot tops planted as part of a Spring Fairy Garden.

Check out the Video:

YouTube video

Closeup of a miniature Easter chick cart in a spring herb fairy garden.

4. Seaside Fairy Scene

I love the beach and my bedroom has beachy decor so when I found this old glass canister at a thrift store, I knew exactly what miniatures I wanted to add to it.

My first stop was Dollar Tree for bags of sand. Then I gathered up shells that I had from visits to the beach. The Adirondack chair was originally white. I painted it aqua so it would stand out in the white sand.

All of the beachy miniatures came from The Little Hedgerow on Etsy. This store has so many amazingly detailed miniatures. If you’d like to check her store out and all of the cute beach miniatures, here’s the link –> The Little Hedgerow.

Clear glass kitchen canister repurposed to hold a small beach scene fairy garden. Shows canister on a wood table with a mini teal adirondack chair, a mini sandcastle, shells, red polka dot flip flops and a mini yellow pail with red shovel.
Seaside Fairy Garden

5. Twig Chair Fairy Garden

This is a simple fairy garden that I put together for Fall. I found this twig chair at the antique store and I made a small drawer out of leftover wood trim pieces to use as a planter. The rest came together, one gnome later (from the Target Spot) and small scarecrow found on Amazon!

Vertical image of a fairy garden using a small wood drawer on a chair made of twigs. Filled with red and yellow mums with pumpkins a gnome and scarecrow in the front.
Twig Chair Fairy Garden

6. Tooth Fairy Garden

I’ve shown a lot of fairy gardens with purchased miniatures but this fairy garden was almost completely DIY! The container is a Dollar Tree oil pan and my son and I made all of the elements from the house to the mailbox.

Feature image of a tooth fairy garden with DIY house, mailbox, wishing well and clothes line.
Tooth Fairy Garden

Most of the items were things we had around the house or purchased at Dollar Tree. If you’d like more detail on this fairy garden click here to check out the full post and get the free fairy garden house template.

7. Paris-Inspired Miniature Scene

Turn an old clock into a fairy garden! Here I created a Paris scene complete with a mini easel and painting. The pot of sunflowers and cage top from a champagne bottle (made into a chair) are my favorite pieces in the mini Paris scene.

Vertical photo of a Paris clock with a small drawer pulled out and turned into a fairy garden with an easel, painting, sunflowers and a mini Eiffel Tower.
Paris Clock Miniature Scene
Closeup horizontal photo of a Paris clock with a small drawer pulled out and turned into a fairy garden with an easel, painting, sunflowers and a mini Eiffel Tower.

8. Mermaid Fairy Garden

This is another beachy fairy garden idea. I love this sweet little mermaid. I spent a little more on this miniature than I usually would … but sometimes you just have to splurge a little for quality and cuteness! Her tail matches the purple of the resin shell so with those two pieces I was able to plan the rest with items I had at home.

I did order air plants last minute to add a tropical vibe. I bought a set of five air plants from this seller on Amazon. These plants arrived quickly and they’re so pretty!

If you’d like more ideas for caring and displaying air plants, check out my post —> 4 DIY Air Plant Holders to Beautify Your Home.

Photo of a mermaid fairy garden with mermaid on a rock, conch shell with pink, purple and green live air plants, a resin shell with purple accents in a clear pedestal bowl of sand and light blue beach glass.
Mermaid Fairy Garden
Close up of a miniature mermaid on a rock with purple tail and shells in her blond hair, placed in a mermaid fairy garden.

9. NEW!– Halloween Diorama

Make a spooky Halloween diorama using items around the house and thrift store finds. Click here for more details on this easy DIY project!

Horizontal feature image of the finished graveyard diorama set in place in an old square 11" x 11" drawer that can hang on the wall or sit on a shelf. The background image shows a spooky illustration of a Halloween town with lights in the windows, a haunted mansion in the distance and haunted house in the foreground. This 3-demensional scene features a vintage ceramic witch an eerie grapevine fence in front and a grave yard with four gravestones set on a hill of Spanish moss. The image is on a dark background with orange mini fairy lights to light the inside.
Vertical image to pin to a Pinterest board to come back to later. Features six images of inspiring fairy garden ideas.

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