A Fairy’s Garden

When the first baby laughed for the first time, the laugh broke into a thousand pieces and they all went skipping about, and that was the beginning of fairies.

Do you believe in fairies? If you believe, clap your hands!

J.M. Barrie

My daughter and I spend a lot of time in the garden. Tending the veggies, clipping the rose bushes, weeding, not mowing the so called lawn, watering and running through the sprinkler, swinging on the hammock, keeping the primula theater alive, blowing bubbles, bouncing on the trampoline, painting at her easel, having tea parties under the canopy by the fig tree, yelling at the scrub jays to keep out of our garden, leaving acorns out for the squirrels  and water for Moxie, our cat. And, most importantly, tending her shoe garden. She loves to water and arrange and rearrange all the potted plants. Recently, in a moment of “I need to simplify my life,” I went through her closet (um, not mine!) to clear some things out. After all, kids outgrow everything so fast, and I still had shoes from when she was a newborn. Naturally, I kept my favorite and then one of each pair. Clearly, I’m not good at cleaning out the closet. But I didn’t know what to do with the one shoe that I had decided to get rid of. I couldn’t possibly pass one shoe along to friends or donate, and I couldn’t throw it away! So, the shoe garden was born.

How to make a shoe garden:

• gather old shoes
• find objects throughout your house than you really like AND will weather
• keep it seasonal! we added pumpkins and gourds that look like swans, our favorite
• succulents
• succulent potting mix

1. Prepare your vessels. If you have any waterproof shoes, like rainboots, make some holes at the sole to allow for proper water drainage.
2. Pair your succulent with your shoe. This is very serious business and requires some thought. I used trailing succulents for the rainboots, and took into careful consideration the shape and color of leaf with the design and color of the shoe. Do your best to create your own style.
3. Depending on the shoe, add some succulent potting mix to the shoe, carefully filling the toe cavity.
4. Place the succulent carefully in the shoe, and fill the remaining space with more potting soil.
5. Continue until all shoes are filled.
6. Water carefully.

Once your shoes are properly filled and watered, you can arrange your shoe garden where you like. I recommend a spot where you can it admire it from a window or door, and where it has plenty of room to grow.