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Fairy Garden Flowers
If you want to plant a Fairy Garden next spring you'll need to know which flowers attract and welcome fairies to your garden. I've compiled a list of the flowers in my garden as well as many others that really make your garden feel and smell magical!
Flowers in my Garden
Peony: (Paeonia lactiflora) - Considered by the Greeks to have the power to keep evil spirits at bay. In other parts of Europe seeds were collected and threaded together on to white thread to wear around the neck to ward off evil. In pagan times the roots were dried and carved into amulets. It was thought to have been created by the moon goddess and to reflect her light through the night.
Pansy:
Periwinkle: Periwinkle are very popular ornamental plants in gardens, grown for dense evergreen ground cover and their delicate violet flowers.
Firewitch Pinks:
Shasta Daisy: The Shasta daisy (Leucanthemum x superbum) is a commonly grown herbaceous perennial plant with the classic daisy appearance of white petals (ray florets) around a yellow disc.
Day Lillies: (Lilium candidum)) - it was said that if you plant lilies in your garden it will keep your house free of ghosts and other unwanted intruders. Oberon, king of the fairies and elves was said to carry a lily as a magic wand. Each lily is said to have its own elf, who is born with it, lives in it and dies with it.
Iris:
Petunia: If growing petunias, it's best to leave them in full sunlight and only water them when their soil is dry to the touch. Though commonly thought to be anual plants, Petunias are perennial, which means that they actually may survive for several years under ideal conditions.
Foxglove: (Digitalis purpurea) - the ultimate fairy flower, the plant has long and deep association with fairy folk. The Welsh called it 'fairy's glove' and the Irish 'fairy bells'. The name fox is a corruption of the word 'folks' - the flower was the 'folk's glove' or 'the glove of the good folk', the good folk being the fairies.
It was said that the fairy folk would smile favourably on any gardener growing the foxglove very tall so that it would nod in the garden - the taller and the more nodding the plant, the happier they would be. They should, however, be grown from seed and never transplanted as they may well be a home for a fairy.
It was said that the foxglove possessed the ability to tell when it was in the presence of a supernatural being and that it would bend its tall flower spike to pay homage and respect to any such person.
The flowers provided hats for elves and resting places for fairies but it was also said to protect mortals from fairies.
An ancient belief that children could be stolen by fairies engendered a method of 'testing' whether an ill child was real or had been replaced by a fairy child - 3 drops of foxglove juice would be placed on the child's tongue and three drops in his ear, it would then be sat upon a large shovel and swung in the doorway of the family home 3 times while being challenged if it were indeed a fairy, to leave; if human, then the healing process would begin.
In Welsh homes a large black cross would be etched in juice on the kitchen floor to keep evil spirits away and deny a witch or devil access.
In Northern legends, wicked fairies were said to put the flowers on foxes' paws so they could prowl in chicken runs unheard, and the marks on the inside of the blooms were said to the elves' fingerprints.
Icelandic Poppy:
Impatiens:
Columbine:
Geranium: (Geranium robertianum) - otherwise known as 'Herb Robert' this is the member of the geranium family which is most associated with fairies. The name is thought by some to be a reference to the folklore character Robin Goodfellow, better known as Puck - a household sprite often depicted as mischievous and sometimes fiendish.
Lavender:
Rosemary:
Lady Slippers: (Cypripedium pubescens) - A native American legend tells of a little Indian princess who, while out playing, encountered a rabbit which had injured its foot and could not get home. The princess took off her moccasins and gave them to the rabbit. On her way home her feet began to get sore and bleeding from the stones that had hurt the rabbit's feet and exhausted from the pain she sat down and fell asleep. A bird flying past spotted her and implored the Great Spirit in the sky to help her. When the princess awoke she found hanging on stems by her side the most beautiful pair of lady's slipper moccasins she had ever seen. They fitted perfectly and she continued home. The red-purple spot and scarlet lines inside the flower are said to be the marks left from the princess's feet.
Bleeding Hearts:
Forget Me Nots:
Cowslips: (Primula veris) - another name for cowslip is fairycup, as fairies are supposed to like nestling in the drooping bell of cowslip flowers. They are also supposed to reveal fairy gold buried nearby. Shakespeare referred to the cowslip in a number of plays. Ariel, the fairy in The Tempest was often to be found lying in a cowslip's bell (V.1.88)
Primrose: (Primula auricula) - the primrose has always been associated with safety - posies of the bloom would be left on doorsteps to encourage the fairies to bless the house and anyone living in it. Bunches would be left in cowsheds to convince the fairies not to steal the milk and should you wish to see a fairy, you would eat the flowers. A bunch of five freshly gathered primroses, especially if growing near water, is said to open the way the Fairyland if placed on a magical standing stone.
Harebells:
Ferns: Elves and pixies shelter in ferns so it is thought important not to crush them or speak close to them of secrets that may be carried to the four winds. In Russia it is said that, when ferns bloom golden at Midsummer, a handful of the seeds should be cast in the air and where they fall will reveal hidden gold.
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