How to Protect Your Outdoor Fairy Garden

If you’ve spent time on your outdoor fairy garden, you’ll probably want to protect it from the elements! Here’s my secret for making it last.

Scroll down to the bottom of the post to get a bonus video: create your own fairy garden! We’ll show you how to create a cute garden with paint, stencils, wood shapes, and a birdhouse.

I know I’m not the only one obsessed with the thought of a fairy garden – fairy gardens are crazy cute and make me want to squeal each time I see them!

I’ve always loved mini anything, so when fairy gardens became all the rage, I was on board faster than you can say “gnome home.” I even made a desktop garden so that you can enjoy the magic indoors or even at work.

AND get this . . . I’m planning an outdoor fairy garden project in the street across the park from where I live. I was walking by yesterday and noticed there are several large trees in public areas, and that’s when got a brilliant idea!

What is a Fairy Garden?

Before we dive into that, I should probably discuss fairy gardens in general. I actually get asked quite a bit, “what is a fairy garden?” I think a lot of people are wondering what the point is, especially when adults are making them. But the truth is, they aren’t just for children!

A fairy garden is a miniature garden, typically in a plant pot or some other vessel. It includes small structures (fairy houses), plants, and (sometimes) figurines.

The trend is based on an urban legend – that building a garden will lure fairies to your home, and they’ll bring good luck along with them.

Fairy gardens started with live plants, giving people a way to enjoy tending to a small garden all year ’round.

However, they’ve really evolved! Now they can include faux plants, gnomes (not sure where that came from, but they’re cute), and just about anything miniature.

How you choose to interpret this trend is really up to you. If it’s small, and it looks like a garden, it works!

My Fairy Garden Houses

I found a bunch of fairy garden figurines like mushroom house doors, windows, fairies, and other wood accessories at the craft store the other day.

I’m going to get quite a few of them, paint them, and stick them in the local park for kids to find. Won’t that be so fun??

My first thought about doing my outdoor fairy gardens project across the street is that I’m going to have to protect everything from the elements.

The Georgia weather is completely unpredictable, with storms one day and then burning sun the next. I want my project to at least last the summer (and hopefully longer) out in the elements. Here’s my secret!

Protect Your Outdoor Fairy Garden

So what is the secret sauce? Mod Podge Outdoor!! This is what I’m going to use, and it’s very easy to apply. I’ll be painting my items with outdoor paint and then several coats of Mod Podge Outdoor on the top.

And honestly you can use this formula to protect the pre-painted pieces you purchase as well (or any items you decide to add embellishments to). If you want to items to sit outside, this is exactly what you need to use!

I could leave it at that, but some of you live in particularly rainy or sunny climates like I do. If that’s the case, you might need to take an additional step and place a UV coating over your garden items.

In that case, I recommend doing the Mod Podge Outdoor as well as a sealer like Krylon UV Resistant Clear Coating. If the weather is pretty hard core in the winter like it is here, keep your garden underneath a protective cover (like on a porch).

It really depends on how long you want it to last, but the additional spraying and then moving underneath cover will really extend the life of your items. Trust me!

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Are you ready for your bonus video? Learn how to make a fairy garden using a birdhouse – just press “PLAY” in the center of the video in this post!