Halos And Rainbows | It's Magic you know - never believe it's not so!

Blushing Ivy

Have you ever wondered why pretty Ivy plants growning up the sides of fences and homes goes from her lovely shades of green to beautiful reds and orange in Autumn?

This is a lovely story I learned as a little girl, maybe you heard a similar one...

Once a sad little green plant stood in a shady corner of the garden, she was sad because no-one seemed to notice her. All the other plants had pretty flowers and stood in the sun so poor Ivy felt sad and lonely.

Summer nights drew in and the flowers hid their pretty faces to wait for spring so Ivy was alone. She clung to the wall and cried. The Sun shone on the little plant trying to make her feel better.

Then a Fairy flew through the garden and noticed the lonely little plant, she stopped and wondered what to do.

"Why are you so upset little Ivy?" she asked kindly,

"All the beautiful flowers have gone to sleep for winter and I'm all alone and no-one ever notices me because I'm so plain," said Ivy,

"But you are the most beautiful plant here!" cried the Fairy, "You have the loveliest shaped leaves and make the wall look so pretty!"

The Ivy felt her roots curl with delight and she blushed with pleasure.

The Fairy smiled and flew away.

So that is why Ivy Plant turns red in the Autumn, she is remembering the Fairys' kind words.

So now every Autumn everyone notices the beautiful red of the Ivy, and she is happy, remembering the Ivy Fairy and her kind words.

Good Morning Fairy

Have you ever noticed the morning dew? How it seems to make the grass and plants shine in beautiful rainbow colours?

Have you ever wondered why or how this happens?

Want to know a secret?

All those little points of colour are Dew Fairies resting and polishing the plants.

Then the Sun shines her friendly rays and the dew disappears.

The Rainbow Sprites for the day have taken flight, proud and happy to just maybe get to be part of a beautiful rainbow.

Well I think so and I know there are fairies in my garden!

Feary Stones - or Nuggie Stones

As a child I would look for one constantly in the hopes that maybe just maybe the fairies I so wished to meet would come if I had one; I thought if they realised I believed enough to have the stone they might come to visit.

A Feary or Nuggie Stone is a stone found on a river bank or the beach, perfectly dry with a hole all the way through it. This stone stops a Fairy from touching you, especially a bad fairy, unfortunately just like us humans Fairy folk are not all friendly.

Now I finally have one and it's in my kitchen, what a wonderful, magical world we live in.

Fairy in the Garden

We would all love to have Real Fairies visit our gardens, however small!

Let's get our little Angels out in the Garden and see if we can make it fit for Fairies

On this page which is still under construction, so patience please I'm going to find you little easy hints of garden magic, for indoors and outdoors, it doesn't matter if all you have spare is a window sill, we will find someting you can do with it! Plants are good for the atmosphere and their pretty prescence makes us smile - what more reason could we need?

Even the least green-thumbed person can grow cress and if you can grow cress you can grow almost anything!

I use my hanging baskets for strawberries, you can get some that flower and fruit all summer and autumn now, when the runners come just cut a little hole and plant them back further round the basket.

I've had hanging baskets of herbs before too, but I can never remember which herb is which so I need to leave the labels on. This is helpful in winter as they don't suffer from the wet ground and you don't get muddy picking them.

Carrots, lettuce, peas and beans will all grow quite happily in a large plant pot or old bucket, you may not have room for loads, but the kids faces when they eat home grown things they've helped with is well worth the effort. The kids can have fun decorating the old bucket before they plant the seeds too.

An old toy bucket or deeper old bucket is a good place for potatoes, plant them near the bottom and keep adding more soil as they grow, you'll get a few lovely meals when the flowers are dying.

Put fruit bushes like red current, black current, gooseberry, blueberry and raspberry now and again in your boarders, against the fence etc, you will be able to watch the fruit grow and the kids will love picking them, get thornless varieties if you can.

Remember those boxes of mushroom soil that never work - put them indoors unless your greenhouse is heated - in the airing cupboard, above the dishwasher or tumble drier or in the cupboard next to the oven and don't forget to keep the soil moist - yummy fresh mushrooms whenever you need them - even my Bear can grow these!