WINDSOR
The Windsor Library has been holding programs that highlight crafts over the last year and a half for community members to learn new things. However, lately, they have added several programs that are new for the area and attracting even more people to attend. This Thursday, one of the new programs they held was a workshop on fairy gardens, the second one this month because of the popularity of the first one.

“We have been working really hard to add new types of programming at our branch,” Windsor Library Branch Manager Lauren Lombard said. “The week before we had a lot of mothers and daughters come, and everyone seemed to have a good time.”

The workshop started out with Mark Campbell, teacher of the class, explaining what fairy gardens are and how he got into the hobby.

He explained that at first many people are confused about them, because of the word “fairy.” In this instance fairy doesn’t mean a small, imaginary being of human form that has magical powers. Instead, when it comes to fairy gardens, it means miniature.

There is no set of rules though for these gardens. They are really whatever the gardener wants them to be.

First off, the gardener has to decide if they want this to be an inside garden, or an outside one.

Once that is figured out, they are able to decide the size and kind of things they will need such as herbs, flowers, succulents, other greenery and other types of accessories that make the garden unique.

These gardens tend to be very accessorized and very colorful.

Some of the herbs that are normally used in fairy gardens are rosemary, oregano, chives, thyme and lavender; some of the flowers are pansies, foxgloves, bluebells and violets.

The more popular containers for inside fairy gardens are agaves, haworthias, miniature jades and exhevaria.

When it comes to accessorizing these gardens, there are no limits, but the more general items that can be found in them are figurines, rocks, colorful sand, fences, gazing balls and things to that nature.

After learning about fairy gardens, those in attendance were able to make their own out of several different supply items that were provided for them.

Everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves. They were able to personalize their fairy gardens and worked on them until they were pleased with the outcome. Before leaving, they all said how much fun they had and how they would attend another workshop on fairy gardens.

A few of them even said that they are hoping to make fairy gardening one of their new hobbies.

Lombard added, “I think it went pretty good. We are hoping to have more craft classes. We want to build up the programming for older children and adults, and the craft classes seem to fulfill that.”