Miniature lawns and ground coverage make fairy gardens look all the more realistic. Choosing the right ground coverage is crucial though as anything too big with obscure your fairies and anything too small will make the garden look patchy.
Scotch moss is the best type of grass for an outdoor fairy garden. It is a perennial evergreen that grows close to the ground and spreads at a moderate pace. For indoor fairy gardens, use scenic turf and grass from modelling shops and scatter it onto a green surface to create realistic looking grass.
Below, I look at Scotch moss and other types of fairy garden grasses in more details, so you can pick the perfect grass for you fairy garden project. I’d like to give a big thank you to the members of the Facebook group Fairy Garden World for their amazing suggestions for different types of fairy garden grass.
Grass ideas for outdoor fairy gardens
Outdoor fairy gardens usually contain real plants and finding the right ground coverage for a fairy garden can be tricky as there are so many options to choose from.
When choosing plants to make a miniature lawn, the plants should:
- grow low to the ground
- be easy to maintain
- won’t need regular trimming
- provide even coverage
- won’t spread too quickly and take over the fairy garden
Regular grass seeds are quick growing but are patchy and take a lot of maintenance as they grow tall very quickly. My daughter received this My Fairy Garden set for her birthday and after a couple of weeks the grass was completely out of control and trimming it was a fiddly job. Although that set was meant for indoors, the same thing will happen in an outdoor fairy garden, before you know it the turbo-growing grass seeds will have obliterated anything in the garden!
Here are some tried and tested plants you can use to get perfect lawn coverage in your fairy garden.
Scotch moss
Scotch moss won’t grow taller than a couple of centimetres which makes it ideal to use in fairy gardens. It likes sun or partial shade and won’t tolerate being too wet, so grows well in a container with good drainage. Scotch moss looks very similar to grass and the added bonus is that in spring it develops super-cute clusters of tiny white flowers.
It was tricky to find anywhere online that sold Scotch moss but I did find a supplier on Etsy who sells live Scotch moss.
Irish moss
Irish moss also makes excellent outdoor fairy garden grass and looks very similar to Scotch moss, except it’s a more luscious green – Scotch moss tends to be yellower in colour. Irish moss is easy to grow in pots or in the ground and prefers sunny or partial shade in a well drained area of the garden that doesn’t get too hot or wet. In spring this plant develops charming individual white flowers like in the image below.
You can buy Irish moss from the wildlife specialists CJ Wildlife. A lot of the Irish moss for sale online is actually dried sea moss so be extra careful you’re ordering a live plant!
Alyssum
The pretty pant alyssum will give your fairy garden a carpet of flowers from June to September in the UK. It grows slightly taller than Scotch and Irish moss, reaching a height of around 10cm, and when planted in containers it will spill gently over the edges which can make a fairy garden look all the more inviting. Alyssum grows back every year and will grow well proved it’s planted in full sun.
Alyssum is common in nurseries and garden centres but if you want to buy online, Dobies sell a colourful mix of plants starting from £4.99.
Baby tears
This interestingly named plant is also known as ‘mind-you-own-business’ and forms a dense mat of tiny green leaves that spreads quickly, so is ideal if you’re planning to build a large fairy garden. However, in mild conditions it can become invasive and take over large areas, so you might want to stick to it being in a container or grow it indoors instead. It’s a low growing plant that can reach around 8cm but it does look more like a plant than lawn grass due to its round leaves.
Baby tears is easy to find in most garden centres but if you want to buy online Crocus sells the plant for less than £10.
Ornamental grasses
Low growing ornamental grasses are hardy plants that can add height to a fairy garden and look great planted near fairy houses and can make them look all the more cosy and inviting . Dwarf mondo grass reaches a maximum height of about 15cm and grows in attractive little clumps, so could be used as ground cover in larger fairy gardens or as feature plants in smaller gardens.
Another low growing ornamental grass is Ice Dance Japanese Sedge which grows to around 15-30cm. This robust grass would look wonderful as an accent plant in a fairy garden but be warned – its pretty green and white leaves can be super sharp so it’s not a good choice if children will be playing in the fairy garden.
most large nurseries or garden centres will stock the plants listed above
Grass ideas for indoor fairy gardens
Moss is a fairy garden staple and it works wonderfully as grass in indoor fairy gardens or terrariums. Unlike most plants, mosses gain their nutrients and moisture from the air around them rather than their roots, this means they need to be planted in a very well drained container as they don’t have roots to suck up excess water.
There’s something magical about moss and with its beautiful deep green colour and velvet-like texture, it makes the perfect lawn for fairies to enjoy. It’s a particularly good stand-in for grass in terrariums as moss purifies the air and helps regulate moisture levels.
The video below gives a fantastic overview of the conditions moss needs to thrive in an indoor miniature garden.
Below are four different mosses you can use to adda charm to your indoor fairy garden.
- Foraged moss can be found on walls and trees in woodland areas. All you need to do is peel off sections of moss, lay it on top of soil in your fairy garden container and spray it once a week with water. If it starts to look a little brown, then pop a Miracle-Gro Plat Food Spike into the soil to give it a boost.
- Cushion moss (also known as bun moss) grows in a rounded shape which looks exactly like a miniature grassy hill. To grow in an indoor fairy garden, add a layer of small pebbles to the bottom of your container, then add the same amount of horticultural charcoal on top of this, finally add a few centimetres of potting soil on top. Wet the underside of the moss with water from a spray and gently press your moss down on top of the soil and mist lightly with water. Cushion moss is available online from places such at Etsy.
- Fern moss looks just like tiny ferns and adds a lovely texture to an indoor fairy garden lawn. You can buy live fern moss for your fairy garden here.
- Reindeer moss is used in flower arranging and is preserved moss, it won’t grow in your fairy garden. Reindeer moss is a handy material though as it naturally clumps together so can make hedges and bushes as well as being able to be smoothed out on the ground for a grass effect. Keep reading and at the bottom of this page you can see how I used reindeer moss to make a small bush in a tiny campsite fairy garden.
If you want to find out more about using moss in a terrarium then this is a great video for making a terrarium with ferns and moss, add some fairies to it and you’ll have an enchanting fairy garden!
Using artificial grass in a fairy garden
I’ve never been a massive fan of artificial grass because it looks, well, too artificial! But I do think artificial grass can be incorporated into a fairy garden design, there are a few things to bear in mind though.
Firstly, choose artificial grass that’s made specifically for fairy garden projects, this is finer than other artificial grass as it’s a smaller scale. Finer grass looks more realistic, particularly when used at the edge of a fairy garden container. There are lots of different shades of green available and using a darker green will make the grass look more natural.
Sheets of fairy garden grass look best when cut to the size of the container, so the grass stops at a solid edge. If you don’t want the grass mat to go all the way to the edges then you can disguise the edge of grass with accessories such as stones or driftwood.
For a more subtle effect, try fake moss instead. This is commonly used for things like Christmas decorations or woodland themed decor and it makes a great ground covering for artificial fairy gardens. You can buy it from Amazon here.
Another option for realistic looking artificial grass is to use modelling grass usually used for dioramas or model railways. Brands like Woodland Scenics sell coarse and fine turf in different shades of green to create realistic looking grass on projects. It’s easy to find online and in modelling shops and is simple to apply. Just apply with PVA glue or Mod Podge or, if you’re painting the surface you’re going to apply the grass to, then scatter it on when the paint is wet and it will adhere as the paint dries. You can see how I used this technique in a fairy garden below.
3 More options for fairy garden grass
- Felt
Felt is a thick material made from compressing and matting fibres together, rather than from weaving them. This technique means the fabric has a coarse texture with lots of fibres laying in different directions, a little like grass.
Felt is cheap and easy to find in hobby shops, choose darker colours for a more authentic looking lawn. another bonus of felt is that it’s easy to cut and won’t fray so is ideal for adding a touch of grass to an indoor fairy garden.
2. Crotchet
This idea was suggested by someone in the Facebook group Fairy Garden World and I’d certainly never though of it before but a crochet lawn would look charming in an artificial fairy garden. If you’re not so handy at crocheting you can find crotchet squares on Etsy for a few pounds.
3. Green sand
This interesting idea also came from a member of Fairy Garden World, using green sand as grass is a unique way of adding colour and ground coverage to a fairy garden. This forest green sand from Etsy has a natural hue which would look wonderful in an indoor fairy garden or terrarium.
How to make a mini fall campsite with fake fairy garden grass
To show you what artificial grass can look like in a fairy garden, I made a tiny autumn/fall themed fairy campsite using Woodland Scenics rough turf and fine leaf foliage.
Step 1 – Cut a square of cardboard approximately 12cm by 10cm and cover it with green acrylic paint. Sprinkle the leaf foliage and rough turf on before the paint dries.
Step 2 – Add accessories! I made a tiny teepee which I made from kebab sticks and a fabric sample (tutorial to follow shortly!), the pumpkin and tiny cup are made from polymer clay and the cauldron is made from an upside down poppy head that I painted black and red. The smoke is made from cushion stuffing and the tiny leaves are made using a leaf shaped paper punch on red and yellow paper. I finished it off with a clump of reindeer moss I bought from Hobbycraft.
