Hi!

I'm new to gardening. Being new to it AND living in San Francisco, pose too many challenges to mention. We recently moved to a town house (rented) that has several decks at odd angles on a sloping lot (what else?). The decks hide two "secret" gardens. I knew that my roommate wanted a meditation corner, so I fixed one up for him. It was relatively easy. The other space, however, posed a big problem: to get to it, you have to duck under a large bush (you can see only part of it from an upper deck). The plantable area was only about 10' long and 6' wide, narrowing (upward, to a tiny "retaining" wall)to about 16".

I really wanted to do something unique since it was, after all, a very secret garden. There was a very "kitchy" fairy statue about eight inches tall. It gave me some (little) inspiration: by taking pot bottoms of different sizes, I could create a "path" that would lead up to the little wall where fairies could jump into and out of a portal.

I talked to the local nursery about plants and flowers that needed very little exposure to sunlight. It developed into a project that I knew: if I can do it, anybody can, even kids!

The Portal "garden" contains ornamental kale (for trees), alyssum, heuchera (several shades and colors), lamium, dianthus, baby tears and scotch moss. I was able to take pictures for our nursery's "Beautiful Garden Contest" and, while it is definitely the smallest garden, I think that it might have a chance at winning. To see the results, you can go to Flickr and search for "Fairy Portal". There is also a small fairy with stained glass "wings" and the portal is surrounded by "stars" and "gems". You're welcome to check it out. You're also welcome to give me any other ideas for it, and suggestions as to how I could make this an adventure for kids to start their own "Fairy Portals" in small difficult areas of their home.

Thanks so much. This is a great site and you'll be hearing from me again with questions, tips, etc.

Dan Vojir