I have been obsessed with Fairy Gardens for a few years now since I discovered they exist, but I need to know what works for my area and anything that will be helpful! I got this old rustic bathtub for my garden, and plan on lining it with windsor blocks. I need any tips or hints!! I live in Colorado Springs, Colorado. My garden will get some sun in the morning and lots in the afternoon. Please, any advice would be amazing!!! I'm so excited I can't stand it!

Hi & welcome! This sounds like a fun project. I'd love to see a pic of the tub. And am not sure what Windsor blocks are? Concrete? If so, they may be a poor liner for a planting because of the high lime content, which can cause stunting &/or yellowing (chlorosis) for some plants.

Sedum & Sempervivum genera have members that can survive being outside all year in your area. Probably some evergreen shrubs, which are not my area @ all. My minis aren't big enough for plants like that but your tub sounds like a slightly larger scale. Can't wait to see/hear what you do with it!

Not sure how far you've gotten with your project, but we've been a fan of using Plant Select program plants since we've started doing our yard last year. Part of the reason we like it is that it's a partnership program between Colorado State University and Denver Botanic Gardens to find plants that do well in CO mostly with little water or maintenance. Ideally, they should have less vested interest in trying to "sell" you something. If you go to their site, you can go to the "Find a Plant" section and filter to find plants you want. I'd suggest looking mostly at the Petites and Groundcovers. Although there might be some listed in the Perennials category that have small features good for a fairy garden as well.

Hi & welcome, GoCart! That sounds like great information! Is this the entity to which you are referring? http://plantselect.org/

One can also browse for plants on this site. More information about that in this discussion: The thread "Plants for mini gardens" in Miniature Gardening forum

Yes, thank you purpleinopp! Since I'm still new I can't post links myself. To add to what I said before, what I really like about the few plants on that site is that it makes it "easy mode" to figure what to plant in CO. Since they've taken the time to test and vet these plants, they should have a good chance of working and it's a nice, small list for beginners to start with.

On the other hand, I'm not completely blind to the fact that they partner with other growers who have influence on which plants get priority for testing through the program. I suppose that I should also note that the plants on the list aren't bulletproof as I have had no luck with Kniphofia yet. Tried a well established Kniphofia caulescens that didn't take.

Of course there are plenty of other wonderful plants out there and plenty of those will work in CO. Still, we designed our initial landscaping plan for our new home around the Plant Select program and have about 95% of our plants from that list.

That is awesome. Anything hardy in CO would be worth trying in other locations, down to Z5 anyway. Even in Z8, I'm anxious to find more tiny plants that are hardy here (given amenable conditions.)