A Miniature Christmas Garden from the Gardening in Miniature Prop Shop book showing the Christmas Projects: Snowman Yard Art and the Christmas Tree Dress. Photo is by Kate Baldwin.
Oh, Christmas Tree!
There is just something about seeing the holidays shrunken down to miniature that is irresistible to almost everyone save for the Grinch. Even if they don’t celebrate the holiday with a Christmas tree and lights, a tiny miniature garden decked out for Christmas was literately a show-stopper.
We spent many years selling at street markets during the holidays so we had a front-row seat to witness people seeing a living miniature garden for the first time. While a “regular” miniature garden is super-cute, adding miniature decorations to the equation was a little too sweet for a lot of people – that we stopped them in their tracks.
We would watch the person meander by our booth – not planning to stop, (Don’t engage! Just keep moving! Lol!) – but they would in front of the miniature Christmas garden. Then we would wait for the reality to sink in that it’s a real miniature Christmas tree, the decorations, shrubs, patio and everything else – was completely real. And the jaw drops slightly, the eyes get wider as the brain-gears begin to spin madly, and they just stand there, trying to make sense of it all – then they’ll smile, laugh or do both.
It was fun to watch.
Here are some of the miniature decorating tips I’ve learned over the years.
Bring it in…
You can bring your miniature Christmas garden inside over the holidays, just follow the same rules as a living Christmas tree: Stage it beforehand in a in-between spot for a couple of days to warm it up gradually. Inside, keep the soil at least damp and keep it away from any heat source. Stage it to go back outside after 3 or 4 days, the same way.The mini spruce tree is an excellent anchor tree for any miniature garden.Happy Holly Days From Janit and Steve, Your Friends at Two Green Thumbs Miniature Garden Center!
Change the Accessories, Change the Mood
Get your tiny light strings from just about any big-box store, hardware store or gift shop. I like the kind that can switch between white and red/green & blue so I can use them all year ’round. Rechargeable batteries are a must.
The same miniature garden, with a different mix of decorations…Same miniature garden as above, but with different accessories again. Change your accessories, change the mood. A hard thing to do in a full-sized garden! (Yes, that’s my log-dog. He’s not weatherproof so I don’t keep him outside. He’s a g’boy tho’!) See our Christmas ideas for the miniature garden here.
Everything is Cute in Miniature
Lugging your Christmas tree home is part of the Joy of the Season! Well, if you’re a miniature gardener, that is. Note that this arrangement is for the photo – put the Christmas tree the other way, so the pot is toward the front of the car, so the wind won’t damage the branches of the tree as you move on down the road… :o)
A “Little” About Miniature Christmas Decorations
Miniature Christmas decorations are one of “those things” that can only be slowly accumulated. Some years there are lots of options in the stores, other years, not-so-much. The time to buy a “good” miniature is when you see it – regardless of the Season. See our curated selection of garden miniatures, up in our online store here.From the archives: some of the ornaments on the tree are handmade. The faux lights, candy canes, twinkle garland, and birdhouse are from a miniature show. The flowers, string and beaded garland, and the bows, I found at Micheal’s Crafts.
On a Lighter Note…
What the miniature garden looks like in daylight. The trick is to put the lights on the tree so it doesn’t look like a trussed-up chicken. This year, I decided to intertwine the different types of garland to try to get around that. See our Christmas ideas for the miniature garden here.There’s that magic of the Holidays – in Miniature! Find the lights at your local craft store. The light-strands are usually long enough to light-up another shrub or two, to make more of a scene.
ID used to identify users for 24 hours after last activity
24 hours
_gat
Used to monitor number of Google Analytics server requests when using Google Tag Manager
1 minute
_ga_
ID used to identify users
2 years
_ga
ID used to identify users
2 years
_gali
Used by Google Analytics to determine which links on a page are being clicked
30 seconds
__utmx
Used to determine whether a user is included in an A / B or Multivariate test.
18 months
__utmz
Contains information about the traffic source or campaign that directed user to the website. The cookie is set when the GA.js javascript is loaded and updated when data is sent to the Google Anaytics server
6 months after last activity
__utmv
Contains custom information set by the web developer via the _setCustomVar method in Google Analytics. This cookie is updated every time new data is sent to the Google Analytics server.
2 years after last activity
__utmb
Used to distinguish new sessions and visits. This cookie is set when the GA.js javascript library is loaded and there is no existing __utmb cookie. The cookie is updated every time data is sent to the Google Analytics server.
30 minutes after last activity
__utmc
Used only with old Urchin versions of Google Analytics and not with GA.js. Was used to distinguish between new sessions and visits at the end of a session.
End of session (browser)
__utmt
Used to monitor number of Google Analytics server requests
10 minutes
_gac_
Contains information related to marketing campaigns of the user. These are shared with Google AdWords / Google Ads when the Google Ads and Google Analytics accounts are linked together.
