I once suggested that a theme for a garden might be “freckled flowers” or “flowers with spots on them”. We could include many types of lilies, some foxglove, and this lovely canna blooming in a pot on my patio. Maybe I am partial to freckles since I wear a few of my own, but I like spotted flowers.
I even tell people that the spots are garden fairy foot prints, because that’s just a little more fun, right? So the theme of the garden might really be “plants that attract garden fairies”.
What else would you include in a garden intended to attract the garden fairies? How about pink fairy lilies? (Zephyranthes) But wait, they don’t have freckles on them. I think the fairies pick them and wear them as hats or something like that.
I’ve not shied away from admitting that there might be garden fairies lurking amongst my flowers. Most people generally think of them as as being in English gardens only, but I hope a few “faeries” came across the Big Pond, perhaps stowed away in Wardian Cases amongst flowers that the British just could not leave behind when they came to the New World.
I’ve provided some ‘evidence’ of garden fairies in a previous post about unexplained events in the garden, but I’ll admit the evidence is primarily circumstantial and might not hold up under close scrutiny.
But, it’s fun to think about having garden fairies none the less, and isn’t a garden supposed to be about fun?
My favorite “freckled” plant is lungwort. It looks just like someone sprinkle bleach on the leaves.
What a great idea for a garden theme! I especially like your speckled theme because I, too, have freckles. 🙂
Good suggestion to include, I’d forgotten about lungwort!
Flowers to attract fairies? Well, you’re probably not far off with the foxgloves. There are different types of faery in different places, but they tend to like wild things … in the UK you often encounter them in shady places full of mosses and ferns. But they also like wild flowers, especially potent ones … and the foxglove with its digitalis content (which is both a healer and a poison) is a good example. I don’t know if you’re aware of this but there’s an old tradition that foxglove can be used to assist communication between the human and faery worlds.
They might also appreciate monkshood (aconite), elder, thyme, fumitory, daisies and lily of the valley.
Rebsie… you certainly know a lot about garden faeries!