Peonies

The greening is in full swing! Yesterday, I looked out the window and saw it. That beautiful spring yellowy green color dotted the sky. The leaves are popping, which of course means the peonies are dashing through the soil.

Our fairy house, intended to welcome the fairies who favor peony, fell over in the spring winds the other day. We will need to build a new fairy house fast. While walking in the woods this week, we saw a strong fairy house. It was obviously built by a kid who knew what she was doing. We are newbie fairy house builders, but we will model our new attempt on this more advanced house. I feel like the pig who built his house of straw. We need to focus on raising the standards to the piggy who favored brick. ("King Piggy" lives in my daughter's reading garden. He is originally from the "Little People" toy farmhouse, but he wanted a new residence. We took the bricks that were pulled up when we had a drainage system put in last year. We built his new house with these under his supervision. We should invite him to come supervise the fairy house. I'm sure he could advise us how to make it stand, even under heavy winds.)

Peonies remind me of ants. My mother had a white peony near the raspberry bushes when I was young. I remember their soft petals all over the lawn, the heavenly smell, and the ants. For this reason, I do not favor the peony. At least I'm not a fairy who has to live in one. I think I'd prefer to live in a rose. The thorns would provide protection from unwanted guests. I'd still get the heavenly smell and the soft petals.

I recognize that the peony is beautiful. We have three well established ones, planted by the previous owner. I wouldn't plant one myself. Not only do they have ants, they fade fast. Then, their brown leaves scatter on the ground and the stalks look icky. They are beautiful, but I'll visit the numerous varieties at my favorite local garden center rather than buying ones that require my care. I have no sympathy for their ways, so I think adding more to my brood just wouldn't work very well. When I cut back the peonies early in the season when the bloom fades, there is a great big gap in the garden. Maybe I'm doing something wrong? Maybe there is a way to plant so that something follows on the tail of the peony when it's done with its show? Maybe I should ask that fairy when she gets here.

It's Time for Fairy Houses!

A month ago my daughter informed me the Elina lives in a peony. "Ah..." I responded, "Doesn't she know about fairy houses?"

I had seen the fairy house series by Tracy Kane when I visited my local Audobon Center a few years back. So, I knew a little about fairies. I knew the time would come when I would need that book and it seems that today is the day. Elina is a much loved Barbie fairy in the Fairytopia series. My daughter is also reading about Tinkerbell's Disney fairy world. In case you are not up on your little girl contemporary literature, I should tell you that Tinkerbell is now a star unto herself. She doesn't need Peter Pan. She's got her own little world in Neverland and is surrounded by fairy friends. Then, finally, my daughter is reading about the lesser known Rainbow Magic fairies. In the Rainbow series of books, nine year old girls one day discover that they are fairies. So, you can see...If I hadn't known fairies were going to be a hot topic in my garden this spring I would have had to say that I was not paying attention.

Near our peonies, which are just starting to poke out of the ground, we piled sticks together in a teepee shape, tied string around the top, and covered it with pine branches.

"Mommy?"

"Yes, dear."

"How will Elina find our fairy house?"

"She'll smell the peony and come looking for it and since our house is right next to it, she'll find it. That's why we need to do a really good job and make it so pretty that she'll want to live here and not in the peony."

We took last year's dried flowers that I clipped from the yard to make the house "pretty."

Now, my daughter is only four, but she's a pretty bright kid. I'm know that she knows that fairies aren't real. Yet, four is that magical time when reality and make-believe mix so beautifully. We amuse our little ones imagining if the Easter bunny is tiny, but super strong so he can carry an Easter basket. Or, maybe he is big, like Daddy? (I wouldn't want to meet that bunny in a dark alley) Santa comes down the chimney to get in the house. (I like to now picture him using flue powder like they do in the Harry Potter books. And then, of course, there's the tooth fairy. My daughter has had a special pillow for this magical fairy since she was born. One day, when a tooth falls out, she will tuck it in the pillow flap so the little lady can easily find the tooth and leave my daughter a treat instead.

But the magic goes beyond the age of four when it comes to fairy gardens. Almost every true gardener I know has some kind of fairy in her garden - a statue, a doll on the windowsill looking out at, a fairy presence that she says she can feel. And why not? When we garden, the magical feeling of nature is alive all around us. A fairy is just a personification of the garden muse we feel on our shoulder when we are out in the yard deep in our own thoughts, beautifying our surroundings. I like my four-ear-old reminding me that I may be tidying up for a little fairy to appear. It's nice to think of my handiwork and cooperation with nature as part of a fairy story. I hope that my daughter never loses that innocent spirit that allows her to believe in fairies. I'm so glad that she brought them to me too.