Awhile back the Institute of Gardenetics Research and Other Work (iGROW) conducted a survey on the subject of garden fairies, asking one basic question:
Do you think garden fairies are real?
35% answered “Yes, but I’ve never seen one.”
9% answered “Yes, and I have seen one.”
16% answered “Yes, but I’ve only seen what they can do.”
18% answered “Maybe”.
22% answered “No”.
A clear majority, 60%, believe that garden fairies are real, even without seeing one.
Here’s a sampling of the answers from those who chose to describe their interactions with garden fairies:
“They move things around while I am working in the garden and if I hold real still, I can hear their giggles in the breeze.”
“Just this year I checked my pickling cukes one evening… all I had were tiny… Then in the morning, as I bent to check the carrots in the next bed, I spied a few big picklers… 5 inchers and fat! The fairies! They were playing pranks on me!”
“I have no concrete evidence, only rumors and sneaking suspicions. But my garden is much more interesting with fairies than without, so I keep believing in them.”
“My tiny pots are moved about in the mornings. The wee furniture moved, ever so slightly… Cat is onto them too….”
“The fairies in my garden chase my indoor cat back inside when he escapes, they teach night school for all the critters who live here, and they sprinkle magical fairy dust on the plants that are struggling. They follow me around in the morning as I dead head and we have conversations.”
A total of 55 people participated in the survey. iGROW and I would like to thank them, whoever they are, for participating.
I just hope it wasn’t a bunch of garden fairies trying to skew the results in their favor…
Now that would be just like them wouldn't it?
Of course they have to keep an eye on you and the results.
My fairy garden, decorated with tiny tea sets just in case, had to give up its decors because the new dog loves trinkets, especially ceramic items and seashells.
I want to know who are the 9% are who answered that they've seen fairies. I can't remember what I answered.
Oh dear! I missed the survey. How could I do that?
I know the fairies live in my garden. They play with my cukes too and make them grow overnight. They also ripen my tomatoes and you wouldn't believe what they do with the peas and beans.
They also planted one seed from a giant sunflower. Thank you my little Faerie friends. I now have a huge sunflower head hanging by my bird feeder.
Thanks for sharing other folks stories.
When I was little, I thought the flowers of the Australian Bottle Tree were fairy caps. I choose to believe in garden fairies.
Congratulations on your Blotanical awards! Now, as far as Garden Fairies… perhaps the mischief in the garden is done by the squirrels instead? At least, that's who gets the blame! lol.
Carol, I see the little guys and am now writing about it. Would love to know where you found that survey. Would be incredibly interesting to me!!
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