The Laguna Beach Butterfly and Fairy Garden is an 1800sq ft wonderland on the South East side of the Laguna Beach Branch Library.  The garden has a mixture of drought tolerant pollinator friendly plants, mature shrubs and trees. On average, there are 30 fairy houses and fairy scenes nestled throughout the garden. The majority of the patrons are children accompanied by their parents, grandparents or caregivers. However, the whimsy and the beauty of the garden attract butterflies and visitors of all ages. We know this because people constantly stop to tell us how much they love and appreciate the garden and all of the hard work we put into it.

The garden is managed by the partnership of Kim Shields and Simone Adams who currently have a team of seven volunteers who assist in the garden.  Volunteer responsibilities include daily sweeping, deadheading plants, weeding, collecting dead leaves, cleaning and tidying the fairy houses and biweekly watering.  Month over month, the Fairy Garden has grown in popularity.  People congregate in the garden from sunrise to sunset and the visitors look forward to discovering the new monthly theme and decor in the garden.  The Fairy Mail is by far the most popular activity within the Fairy Garden. The children write letters to the fairies and then the fairies answer them.  Last March the Fairies received 90 letters from children and by June they had increased to 250 letters per month. Websites and Vlogs are now listing the Laguna Beach Fairy Garden as a must see family destination.

Monthly Events:

Each month we meet with the children in the library after story time to introduce the monthly theme of the garden.  Then the children go out to the garden and work together to perform an educational service like picking up leaves for composting, sweeping stones, or releasing live ladybugs which is always followed by an activity or a craft.  This helps the children learn to respect and appreciate all aspects of nature. In the summer months the Fairy Garden honors different pollinators to educate children on the importance of birds and insects and their crucial role in creating a healthy and vibrant ecosystem.  In this way, we teach children not to be fearful of insects like bees or even spiders.

Monthly Events:

Every new month brings a new theme to the garden.  This year’s themes are: 

January-          All things Fairy:

                        Tour of the fairy houses. Fairy chest craft, fairy charms and fairy law.

                        (expanding on fairy fun, kindness and love of the garden)

February-        Love the Earth and Valentine’s Day:

                        Focusing on all things green: recycling, composting and minimal waste.

March-            Flowers:         

                        Seed to Flower growth cycle with decorate your own pot and Spring planting.

April-               Easter/Earth Day: 

                         Hide the Eggs/Find the Eggs Easter Basket Game + Earth Day Celebration with                                      interactive Mammoth Sunflower planting.

May-                Hummingbirds and Dragonflies:

                        Kicks off the Summer pollinator series with a Fairy Garden Tea Party

June-               Be kind to Bees:

                        Highlighting the importance of bees and all of their busy work.

July-                Caterpillars and Butterflies:

                        Teaching the Butterfly lifecycle and witnessing it first hand in the garden.

August-           Shells in all their unique shapes and colors:

                        Listening to shells. Focusing on Hermit Crabs and Snails as well.

September-    Ladybugs:

                        Life cycle and benefits of ladybugs to a healthy garden (releasing live ladybugs                                        in the garden.

October-         Fairytale Month…The lighter side of Halloween

                        Creating an enchanted, magical kingdom with a costume party, refreshments                                          and fairytale games.

November-      Fall Leaves and Thankfulness

                        Gratitude activity

December-      Winter wonderland:

                        Children will help put up magical holiday decor. There will be a live Christmas                                          tree in the garden.