PARENTING ARTICLES & TIPS

Flower Fairies

Everyone knows that Flower Fairies can be found at the bottom of any enchanted garden ...

When my daughter was little, her Grandmother gave her a set of coat hangers with illustrations of Flower Fairies on them, and she was enchanted by them. I then bought her the books and anything I could find with flower fairies. Now all grown up, she still has a thing about fairies.

These particular fairies are small, even by fairy standards, and stand between 4'' and 6''. Flower Fairies are the invention of author and artist Cicely Mary Baker who lived in 1895-1973. When Cicely was a child, living close to London, she was unable to attend school because of her epilepsy and she was taught at home. Often alone,  she began to draw and used the children in the kindergarten her sister ran as her models.

There was a fascination for fairies in England at the beginning of the 20th century, largely because of the popularity of Peter Pan, and people would wander around their gardens trying to see and photograph them. Cicely was a very talented illustrator and combined her love of nature and her inspiration from the Pre-Raphaelites to draw the Flower Fairies. The drawings were done in marvelous detail and delicately colored. Each flower and plant was accurately captured, as if in a textbook for botanists.

You will only see fairies if you believe in them, or so the stories tell us. Cicely created a whole world surrounding the Flower Fairies. The first book came out in 1923. Called Flower Fairies of the Spring, it was popular straight away. The other books relating to each season followed on. The fairies are very shy creatures, with tiny elf-like ears and gossamer style wings. They live in the woods and meadows and take care of the flower or plant they are responsible for. They are busy fairies, rushing around to plant seeds, because every time a seed is planted there comes a new member of the Flower Fairies.

There are numerous flowers and plants that give their names to the Flower Fairies. Most are familiar sights in the gardens and hedgerows. They include foxglove, daisy, candy tuft, crab apple, buttercup, and forget me not. Scottish plant life is represented with thistle and heather.

Today, the legacy of Cicely Mary Baker is big business. There are Flower Fairies in books, posters, prints, fabrics and wallpaper. Take care when you dig the garden. No one has disproved their existence yet, you know.

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