Elzer-Peters - Miniature Gardens

First published in 2014 by Cool Springs Press, an imprint of the Quayside Publishing Group, 400 First Avenue North, Suite 400, Minneapolis, MN 55401

2014 Cool Springs Press

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Digital edition: 9781-6-1058-978-9
Softcover edition: 978-1-59186-575-9

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Elzer-Peters, Katie.

Miniature gardens: design & create miniature fairy gardens, dish gardens, terrariums and more-indoors and out / Katie Elzer-Peters.

pages cm

Includes index.

ISBN 978-1-59186-575-9 (sc)

1. Gardens, Miniature. 2. Miniature plants. I. Title.

SB433.5.E493 2014

635--dc23

2013038735

Group Publisher: Bryan Trandem
Editorial Director: Mark Johanson
Acquisitions Editor: Billie Brownell
Editor: Tracy Stanley
Assistant Managing Editor: Caitlin Fultz
Production Manager: Laura Hokkanen
Design Manager: Cindy Samargia Laun
Design & Layout: Simon Larkin Cover
Design: Mary Ann Smith

Cover: Thanks to Tonkadale Greenhouse, Minnetonka, MN; www.tonkadale.com
Cover photo by Paul Markert

Design and Create Miniature Fairy Gardens, Dish Gardens, Terrariums and MoreIndoors and Out

KATIE ELZER-PETERS

Many thanks to all of the people, businesses, and friends who helped me get this book together. Garden centers around the country, including Transplanted Garden, Lous Flower World, The Plant Place, Allisonville Nursery, Succulent Gardens, Pender Pines, and Sullivans Hardware all allowed me to take photos of anything I wanted whenever I wanted. To the WORLDS GREATEST LIVING HAND MODELS, Susan Miller, Sharna Tolfree, and Joy Elzer, I appreciate your time and talents. Photography assistants Lexy Malone and Ashley Carr made the work of photo shoots in the heat and humidity much more bearable. Many thanks to Sharna for her creativity and artistry with project accessory design. To Francine Klimchak, who got the party started, and her chicken gardening friend Diane Jorge, I appreciate your help and generosity. My thanks to editors Billie Brownell and Tracy Stanley for your help and organization. Jerry Dockeryyou know I couldnt get anything done without you, your truck, and Sugah and Lucy Too. Thank you to my friends and neighbors Sharon Nalley and Kelley Rodill for letting me steal mulch, sticks, and other assorted flotsam from your garden. I couldnt do any of this without my dad, Bob Elzer, and my husband, Joe Peters, who have to bear the emotional strain book writing brings with it. Tiffany Polli, I will always think of you when I see your beautiful photographs and succulent container gardens featured in this book. Robin Stockwell, youve taught me so much about succulents that Im thrilled to share with others. Last but not least, thank you to all of my dear friends (not already mentioned above) who have helped me carry the load with all of my other work when I needed to clone myself or gave me a shoulder to lean on when I needed one: Jenny Peterson, Kim Sutton, Patty Davis, Barbara Bach, Lisa Schell, Jason Colclough, John and Amy Beausang, April Zilg, Susan Morrison, Rebecca Sweet, Laura Livengood, Kylee Baumlee, Barbara Fahs, Michael Nolan, Steve Asbell, Danielle Ernest, Chris McLaughlin, Brooke Foreman, and Shawna Coronado. And a very special thank you to Carol Michel and the Garden Fairies of May Dreams Gardens for their authentic stamp of fairy approval!

For Mom, my gardening angel.

We were gobsmacked to have been asked to write a foreword for a book about miniature gardens. We were so excited that we immediately called a meeting of all the garden fairies near and far to read the book and offer our opinions before turning it over to our scribe and most trusted garden fairy, Violet Greenpea Maydreams.

We garden fairies like how the book is organized. In the first part, Katie, the author, explains what a miniature garden is and what it is not, and writes about the importance of scale and design and the right plants so that the garden just looks right once it has been planted. She also tells how to care for the gardens, which we garden fairies think is of utmost importance because whether large or small, a garden that has not been cared for is one that we will leave faster than a rabbit can eat a row of green beans.

We garden fairies love that the book covers both indoor gardens as well as outdoor gardens. Dont think for one minute that we garden fairies wouldnt go inside in the winter if there were a good indoor garden to stay in. We would! We do!

But what really made us happiest was that Katie did not finish her miniature gardens by adding little plastic statues of garden fairies to all of them. We garden fairies believe in garden features like fountains, chairs, and arbors that are sized for a miniature garden. However, when people plant life-sized gardens, do they put life-sized people mannequins in those gardens? They do not. That would be ridiculous! We rest our case on why Katies miniature gardens, which are like regular gardens, only smaller, are just the right size for anyone who enjoys creating something beautiful and living either for the outdoors or indoors.

We are garden fairies, and we put our stamp of approval on this book. Yours truly,

Violet Greenpea Maydreams

Chief Scribe for the Garden Fairies at May Dreams Gardens, www.maydreamsgardens.com

What is the most fun about miniature gardening? The plants? The accessories? Its impossible to decide. Its all fun!

Miniature gardening is a way to garden, indoors and out, when space, time, or seasons are limited or when regular full-sized outdoor gardening isnt enough to fuel the fire of the imagination. With miniature gardening, you can create entire worlds in just a square foot or two of a container or a spot carved out in your big garden. Its like playing dollhouse but in an oasis of green instead of inside a wooden or plastic structure.

This type of gardening isnt limited to creating little worlds where a fairy or a small hobbit might find respite. Its also a way to enjoy plants (such as water plants or succulents) that require different conditions than your main garden can provide or to introduce variety to your landscape on a small and affordable scale.