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Hogwarts Castle Miniature Garden
As I’m sure you know by now, considering my Harry Potter-themed Christmas tree and all the magical ornaments for it, I love the Harry Potter world! It is so creative and fun. Who wouldn’t want to take class from Minerva McGonagall or receive letters over breakfast via owl? And who wouldn’t want to visit Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley? When I was choosing miniature garden themes for 2021, a Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle fairy garden was one of the first ideas that popped in my head.
I love, love, love the way the Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle Fairy Garden turned out! I’m not quite sure what spell Harry and Hermione are casting so you’ll have to use your imagination. Perhaps I should turn them so they’re shooting toward the pumpkins. Then they could be using the engorgio spell to enlarge the pumpkins for giant jack o’ lanterns for the Halloween feast.
If you’d like to recreate this garden, just follow my lead.
For more themed fairy garden fun, check out:
Supplies for the Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle Fairy Garden
The Pot
I definitely recommend choosing your pot for your miniature garden after choosing your largest solid structure or plant. For more about this and other fairy garden how-tos, see How to Make a Simple Enchanted Fairy Garden.
Since the castle I chose to use as Hogwarts is very large, I needed a very large pot. This is, in fact, my largest miniature garden. Pots this size don’t come cheap, so definitely shop around. This pot set me back $70. Mine is a heavy glazed ceramic pot, but you could also look into plastic or resin pots for lighter, cheaper options. Find something that you love that you’ll be proud to use year after year.
Outside diameter of pot: 18 inches
Interior diameter: 15.5 inches
Tip
The best way to ensure that you get a pot that will work for your fairy garden is to take your largest element or two with you when you shop for your pot. Since I didn’t really want to cart around that large castle, my husband traced its footprint on cardboard and cut it out. This worked really well and was much easier to carry.
The Main Structure
Isn’t this castle to die for? It is absolutely perfect! I found this at Petco. Definitely wait for a sale, because it is quite large and not cheap. Other smaller aquarium castles are available as well if this one is too large for your pot or doesn’t fit into your budget.
If you haven’t shopped pet stores for fairy garden accessories, you’re missing out! Take a look at my Comprehensive Guide of Where to Buy Inexpensive Fairy Garden Supplies for other great pet store fairy garden ideas.
The Accessories
These Harry Potter figurines are not strictly to scale with the castle, but since the castle is on a hill, the perspective actually works. I chose to use Hermione Granger, Minerva McGonagall, Harry Potter, and Ron Weasley. Albus Dumbledore was in the set as well, but I figured the students only needed one teacher supervising their spell work. Not to mention, trying to fit one more character in the scene would have made it very crowded.
The pumpkins were miniatures that I bought at a craft store on sale after Halloween.
As with Mando and Grogu in The Mandalorian and Baby Yoda Fairy Garden, these figurines are very lightweight and do not stand well on their own. I turned them into garden stakes by gluing 2.5-inch nails the bases.
The Plants
For this Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle Fairy Garden, I used four varieties of plants:
- Spikes – used frequently in pots and hanging baskets for its height
- Dichondra – a trailing gray-green plant with round leaves that looks great in pots
- Violas – also called violets or pansies, these come in several colors. I used dark purple, and later added an orange one (not shown in the photo) as well
- Irish/Scotch moss – a grassy mounding ground cover
I found all of these at my local Home Depot. You may not be able to find exactly the same varieties of plants where you live. Look for plants that grow well in your climate. If these particular plants are not available, just look for similar ones in a range of heights.
I chose the spike because I wanted something with height that I could plant behind the castle. It is tall enough that it sticks up higher than the castle.
And I like the dark purple violas with the purple and blue on the castle aquarium decoration. After getting the accessories and plants situated, I decided to add an orange viola. It perfectly echoes the orange pumpkins and Ron Weasley’s hair.
The Finished Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle Fairy Garden
Now that the pot, the main structure, the accessories, and the plants are all gathered, it’s time to put the garden together. For a complete walk-through of this process, see How to Make a Simple Enchanted Fairy Garden.
Now stand back and enjoy your garden art! Trust me, this miniature garden will get lots of smiles from everyone who sees it.
I’m ready to take the train from Platform 9 3/4 and join Professor McGonagall in class, aren’t you? I’d love to see your Harry Potter fairy gardens. You can always, always send me pictures at lucinda@swishandstitch.com.
See you at Hogwarts!
~ Lucinda
