Grandson's Faerie Garden
When we constructed a faerie garden for our granddaughter, our grandson thought he might be interested also. So we decided to rework the area, above the retaining wall by the small patio, on our side yard hill and give that to him. This is the area where he played with his trucks, etc. when he was small (see Going Downhill From Here Part 1), so it held special memories for him. We started working here a couple of years ago, and he got more into it then. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to visit last summer, so we aren’t sure if he is still interested. But I did do the spring clean up, minimal since there isn’t as much here as there is in our granddaughter’s garden, and so it was ready, just in case he was able to come visit.
The first photo here is our grandson by the cave for his dragons. He took an old plastic flower pot and I helped him make The Cave Of The Dragons out of it. Then we planted ajuga over it. (If you have ajuga, you know you always have a plentiful supply on hand.) While he, understandably, wasn’t into “girlie” faerie gardens, I wasn’t too interested in “monsters”, either. So these cute little dragons are a compromise that we both could accept.
This photo shows the beginnings of this little garden. Which, by the way, I am going to keep up even if our grandson isn’t interested anymore. The foliage here is mostly from other parts of our yard. I am sure we will add other plants depending on if he is still interested, or if I am the one to maintain it. The second photo shows a tree “ent” who seems to have found a home here. Suitably “un-girly” for our grandson and suitably “un-scary” for me. The last photo shows a little more of the landscape here. You can’t really see in either of these landscape photos, but the little steam ends in a small waterfall. It was fun to construct, and I will try to show more of it in another blog post.
I’m sure you recognize this as a toad house. As far as I know, no toads have taken up residence. But I had these cute little pixies and our grandson thought they would go nice in his garden. (Aren’t they adorable?)
No toads in this house either, I don’t think. But it seems appropriate for a woodland garden, as does the other little house here. I am looking forward to this coming year and whatever may be in store for this little garden.
Final thought:
We all want to share what we love with the people we love: our children, our friends and other family members. Our children might be said to be a captive audience, and so it is gratifying if they show an interest in what we love. But our grandchildren are free to come and go, so it is extra special when they voluntarily share our interests. Even if they only share these interests for a short amount of time, the memories will last a lifetime. And love is the thing — teaching, learning and giving — that’s our legacy to the future generations of our family.