Miniature gardening is just one way we can enjoy miniatures in today’s world. I’ve written about The Biggest Little Industry on Earth many years ago, and gathered a long list of how we love anything miniature. Heck, careers have been made out of miniatures and billions of dollars have been exchanged because of miniatures! Stop to think about how much they are a part of our every-day and you will see miniatures in a different light.

Meet fellow miniature gardener, Dr. K., who collects and documents how miniatures are a significant part of our culture by visiting her blog here: https://thewonderofminiatures.com/

With all types of miniature-making, scale plays a very important role. Without using scale as a rule-of-thumb in your gardens, scenes or dioramas, your project will look like a random collection of items or just a bunch of stuff. I’ve written about the use of scale before too (linked below,) but, in the gardening in miniature world, we use scale a bit differently. I can’t think of any other comparison in the miniature industry so, again, this hobby stands apart from the rest.

You see, when the right miniature plants and trees are used in the miniature garden, it’s only the accessories that have to be in scale with each other. The plants we use and recommend at TwoGreenThumbs.com, for the most-part, adapt perfectly to almost any miniature scale. Check out the video demonstration to see how scale is used in this miniature garden and you’ll see what I mean.

The tree behind the birdbath is a Just Dandy Hinoki Cypress, the tree to the left is a Jacqueline Verkade Canada Hemlock. See what’s available now in your Miniature Garden Center store here. We get several shipments of plants throughout the year and we ship all year long.

Apropos Proportion

Now let’s go a bit farther and talk a little about proportion, a valuable attribute for any kind of design, build or fabrication.

We know that the plants can adapt to any scale BUT the overall size of the garden is still a factor.

For example, if you use small-sized accessories for your in-ground garden, they won’t get noticed and will get lost at a distance. Large-sized accessories are ideal for in-ground because they can be seen from a distance, like from your deck or from a window in the kitchen.

Different-sized containers work better with certain scales too. Small accessories get lost in big pots and, this is a very common oversight, large-sized accessories can easily overwhelm small pots.

This is adapted from our bestselling Gardening in Miniature book, Chapter 3, Shrinking the Garden Rules:

• For containers that are 2” to 5” wide, use small-sized (1/4″)miniature accessories.
• For containers that are 5” to 10” wide, use medium-sized (1/2″) accessories.
• For containers 10” and up, use large-sized (1″) containers.

Of course, with any creative rule, there is a bit of wiggle-room between the sizes/scales, but I think you get the gist.

In summary: Make sure all your accessories match in scale and are in proportion to the size of the container. For in-ground miniature gardens, use large-size or 1″ scale.

Link to more about scale, with more photo examples:

Fun With Scale in the Miniature Garden

Miniature Gardening 105: Sizing Up Your Accessories

Let me know if you have any comments, concerns, compliments or questions below – it tells me what I’ve missed!

If you are serious about learning, creating and digging deeper into the wonderful miniature garden hobby, here are links to more:

The Miniature Garden Society

Your Miniature Garden Center Store

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