Indiana State Fair-y Garden

It’s State Fair season! Most states across the U.S. hold their annual State Fair sometime between July and October. Indiana’s is currently underway, running from August 2-18, 2019. To celebrate, I decided to convert my zoo fairy garden to a State Fair themed mini garden on Friday, the first day of the fair. I’m planning to go to the fair soon and making this fairy garden fueled my excitement for my upcoming visit. I try to go at least once a year; last year’s visit is chronicled on the blog at this link.

The plants in my zoo fairy garden had become so overgrown by late July that the animals were no longer visible. I knew I had to trim all the growth back considerably before redecorating it. Check out my zoo fairy garden at this link to see what this garden looked like earlier this summer before I converted it to the State Fair theme.

First I turned the zoo garden around so that the plants that had been in the front were now in the back; the ageratum and polka dot plant had grown so tall that they looked better in the background. I pulled out one clump of ageratum to make room for the Ferris wheel and I trimmed the polka dot plant back considerably. I can’t believe how much it had spread. I yanked out the entire chocolate chip ajuga plant, whose thick leaves had completely taken over a corner of the fairy garden, to make room for the food cart. I trimmed the tall Ming fern “tree” back a ton so that it looks more like a shrub now that it is in the front of the garden. I didn’t have to trim the Scotch moss, Irish moss, and toadflax ivy at all since they only grow about a half inch tall and make a nice grassy ground cover. The oxalis plum in the front is a little tall, but I didn’t trim it either because its pink and purple variegated foliage with bright yellow flowers is so pretty. Next I added fresh pebbles atop the path to freshen up its previously muddy, sunken appearance, then I was ready to decorate.

This small scale State Fair is almost as colorful as its real life counterpart, thanks to the brightly painted accessories. The big Ferris wheel, “Welcome to the Fair” sign I placed in front of it, food cart, and ticket booth are my favorite parts of the display. I added watermelon slices, a rack of ice cream cones and bags of popcorn to the food stand. I was thrilled to find a fairy to fit inside the ticket booth. There is also a farm girl fairy, perched on a haystack, to tend to the crops and animals. I took the daisy fencing I used in my zoo fairy garden and moved it to the back corner by the farm animals. I found the two fairies at My Fairy Gardens and the fair accessories were all on clearance from Studio M Gypsy Garden. I tried to include the major fair highlights – food, rides, and agriculture – in my State Fair-y garden.

Are you planning a trip to the fair soon? What is your favorite thing to do and eat at the fair?