How fun! The dinosaur prowling in the junkyard made me giggle. Myself, I never really got into the mini garden trend (mostly because I saw the "wee-fairy" plants being hawked at the gardening centers with over-inflated ogre prices) but I'd not considered thinking outside of the box like this.

Thanks for sharing.

--L

TY!

Added more stuff to mini garden recently.

"Stained glass" window is made of Shrinky Dinks.

Bricks, birdbath & mushrooms made out of clay.

Bought the heart-cake thing. The other food is made of clay.

Lithops are splitting again.

This continues to crack me up, Tiffany. I wonder if they make miniature beer cans.

Probably, LOL! TY! It may be time to start a 2nd one, this may have reached critical mass & I still have more stuff that just won't fit.

Amazing what you've done with the place LOL, I'll take my burger medium well and you could get the snake "Black Racer ?" off the patio !!!! Your so talented....

Boy has this piece evolved over time! Such attention to detail !

I know this may sound odd but the patio area looks "lived in" if you know what I mean...and the resident is a gardener.

Any plans to take the experiment further?

Maybe a trio of boxes that work together like a continuing landscape..?

Just throwing ideas at ya. :)

TY, Christine! The snakes only get so near the patio area right after a rain... they're usually in the desert near the junked cars. LOL! Burgers will be ready about 6:30...

Asleep, TY too! I'm sure the style in the mini reflects my style in the yard, though I don't do decorations besides potted plants in "real size." Lived in describes it well, there's always something in progress, working toward a finished state. It's weird that you would suggest continuing things into another box. This idea is already in progress! GMTA!

Anyone/everyone, feel free to throw ideas! :) I'll gladly take all I can get, and definitely use what I can.

Very cool! It's like I spy!

I really like your clay work. Must have taken you a long time

I don't know. It was time I would have spent couch-potato'ing anyway. ;) Just with hands moving around more.

Here's a pic with Sedum rupestre flowers blooming:

Looks so good with the flowers blooming, and I was happy to see the snake gone, sorry I missed the burger, I got hung up in traffic !!!!

Update pics, re-arranged & made some additions:

Stained glass window made from shrinky-dinks.

These pots are wine corks:

The cars in the junkyard are aging well:

Butt plants (Lithops, living stones) are still doing great!

This is a new one. DH made the box for me last year, but I just finally made a garden in it yesterday. Here's the planter, being used as a repository for potted plants before yesterday:

Now home to a mini garden. I took the camper away from the first mini garden & made a camping scene here:

The tree is Talinum paniculatum, planted high so the exposed roots look like a trunk:

Fire ring made from a piece of rolled magnet. Beer stolen from Barbie. Chair made from craft sticks.

Cooler also stolen from Barbie:

The camper is my absolute favorite!

I totally agree! :+)

The new one you made is my new favourite!

Really like the 'tree' you made!

TYVM!

Like the chair a lot,Purp.

You got skills !

Makes me wonder if you've ever thought about making a mini that featured only your own personal craftwork. Don't get me wrong,..the toys are cool,and in those boxes work swimmingly. The word "delightful" keeps coming to mind somehow. :)

TYVM! :+) That's probably the extent of my craftwork...

A couple progress shots of newest mini garden. Some fall coloring on some of the plants. The Talinum "trees" aren't doing well but everything else seems happy enough, so far.

Right end:

Left end:

Very nicely done. It reminds me of the mouse house dioramas my mom used to make.

TYVM! I'm just now noticing your comment. Much appreciated! After a few nights down to the 20's, I've taken some update pics.

Overall shot of original mini, starting its' 3rd winter outside:

Close-ups of various areas, Lithops are right in the front:

Graptoveria, Haworthia, Sedum rupestre:

Sedum kimnachii, Graptoveria, Crassula perforata:

Kalanchoe blossfeldiana, Sedum morganianum, Graptoveria, Sedum clavatum, Kleinia petrea:

Crassula muscosa, Sedum kimnachii:

Newer mini put together this summer, also outside, not as protected from rain. Sedum morganianum, kimnachii & rupestre, NOID Opuntia, Graptoveria:

Aptenia cordifolia feels possibly mushy, Sedum kimnchii feels iffy, Graptoveria, Sedum sarmentosum & rubrotinctum seem OK:

A shot of mini garden #2 from yesterday.

One of the little Haworthia cooperi plants bloomed in March:

Lithops are splitting again:

Graptosedum bloomed in April:
Sedum rubrotinctum is forming a cute little patch from leaf-babies that have grown around the base of the original mama stem. Mini #2 "in its' natural habitat." New pic of mini #1.

Closer shots of the tiny pots there. Rhipsalis with Kalanchoe marnieriana & Graptosedum babies.

Sedum kimnachii, Crassula 'Hobbit,' Sedeveria leaf babies.

Echeveria harmsii, Sedum sarmentosum, Rhipsalis teres.

Sempervivum or Jovibarba (not sure,) Rosette is probably Sedeveria, Sedum morganianum leaf babies whose mama leaves are gone by now, and probably K. marnieriana babies. (They could be a diff Kal., will know when they get bigger.)

Micro pots, a few wine corks & 1/2" clay pots.

Wine cork with Sedeveria leaf babies.

Sedeveria with either Sempervivum or Jovibarba.

Is anyone else working on one?

This mini garden is 3 yrs old!

I made a micro picnic table & bench yesterday with craft sticks (similar to popsicle sticks but the ends aren't rounded) for mini #2. The sticks not hard to cut with wire snippers. It makes the cooler look huge, but it's hard to keep everything on the same scale in a mini.

Oh my gosh, you are so talented! I love your fun mini gardens! And I mean really, giant coolers and shovels are way more practical when camping! ;)

This is very impressive. I love how you added the mini toy cars!

Purpleinpopp, I like the cut of your jib.

My kiddos go back to school next week. I may have to dig out my polymer clay and get busy. I have a few succulent leaves propagating..........

I won't be able to beat your awesome camper though.

TYVM for the kind comments, Marlene, Laqfoil, and Chipped!

Marlene, I guess I agree, the bigger the better. LOL!

Laqfoil, my son had so much fun donating and helping "age" those cars. He likes to move them around a bit occasionally. I can't take credit for the idea though, I saw someone else's mini junkyard garden on the internet. Theirs had a lot of other kinds of junk besides cars, mine is a hack of homage but I have no illusions that it's comparable, but I've had fun trying to incorporate that idea.

Chipped, I can't take credit for the camper, it was store-bought. It's been suggested that a ham tin could be used to make one, which sounded like a good idea to me, especially if I'd be the one financing it one way or the other. Stores are a little too proud of those campers, IMVHO. IDK what kind of clay Crayola sells, but I can report that items made from that stuff (and painted with inexpensive paint in tiny bottles from WM) last 1-3 yrs outside under a porch roof where rain blows in sideways occasionally.

Updates on some of the tiny pots that decorate mini gardens. 3 more corks planted this weekend.

Sedum kimnachii & S. Album.

More S. kimnachii & Kalanchoe marnieriana (mariner's Kal.)

Peperomia prostrata/rotundifolia & some kind of Phedimus (a former Sedum.)

Update/redo on a few of the previous tiny pots. The rocks keep these from blowing away.

I love the tiny pots and the tiny succulents Purple! They're so cute together :P

Do you just poke a hole in the cork for a drainage hole?

Thanks, me too! Yes, there's a little hole in the bottom.

During the drought last summer, some thirsty critter ate just about everything that was in this mini garden. I've been sprucing things up for this year, with new little bits'n'pieces of plants, and put some pencil plant cuttings (Euphorbia tirucalli) as "trees."

It's a rectangle, here's the other end with a new bridge I found at Dollar General, of all things, and sunflower & tiny house my daughter gave me. I love the moss that has covered the surface in a few spots. The tiny volunteer Veronica are cool, I keep pulling their tops off so they stay small as long as possible.

Is anyone else doing any mini gardening?

Pencil cactus sap is very dangerous to the eyes and skin, caution advised

TY! I'm aware and unfortunately sensitive to getting a rash from the sap. Handily enough, the cuttings can callous overnight and that allows me to be able to work with them the next day (or up to a week or 2 later, if needed.) A surprising number of plants have latex (or other irritating) sap.

A discussion about irritating house plants if you want to gather or add more details: http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/1489753/mystery-poison-ivy-contact-dermatitis-rash-from-house-plants?n=20

My new things didn't show up well in the above pics, so I took some closeups. Found this cute little bridge at Dollar General.

My daughter gave me the flower & tiny house.

Updated placements / how some things are aging:

Florist wire & furniture upholstery sample chairs, Barbie's cups, mini watering can from Hobby Lobby, table stolen from Barbie's little sister I think, painted:

Garden implements to the side of the "patio."

Many new micro-pots, mostly from lids with the dispenser part pulled out, painted.

New pots dispersed throughout garden. Need to grow a new supply of plants for the surface & sometime this year, take everything out & start again with fresh soil. It's been 4 years, so that's why I didn't add any new ground plants after thirsty critters ate a lot of them last summer during the drought.

These are too cute! I love the dinos, gnomes, and especially the tiny little pots! How long do you leave the babies in wine corks before moving them? I imagine they outgrow them after while.... I have plenty of wine corks at my disposal and a hard time getting cuttings to propagate into new plants, so I might try this.

I have just read this whole thread, how fun! Thanks so much for showing these pics and descriptions Tiffany! Keep updated please. How are these watered, just by rain or a garden sprinkler or watering can?

TYVM, Christy! The wine corks were a new addition this past summer and unfortunately most of the plants that I had already going in them succumbed to cold (2 nights of mid-20's) in January. I'd meant to bring them in because they are easily small enough to freeze completely but forgot. So I can't answer that question directly except to say probably more than a year. It's been very eye-opening in regard to how a too-small pot can really affect growth rate. Similarly sized cuttings placed in the ground or much bigger pot grow much more quickly. I think the most important thing regarding propagating succulents is to let them callous at least overnight before trying to pot up, so the wound is sealed, reducing the risk of rotting.

TYVM, Barb! I keep mini gardens under porch roof and under the shelter over my potting area because it can rain hard enough to literally wash everything out of them if left exposed. Sometimes they get wet when the wind is blowing while it's raining, but not pounded directly by it. I use my little watering can that I use to water everything, with rain water whenever mother nature cooperates.

I have 2 indoor ones & will be making 2 outdoor ones.

This is part of the smaller of the indoor ones....mini Saintpaulia & a Asplenium I believe.

This is the bigger of the 2. there are 2 ferns in it

That little campfire is a tealight that flickers..

As you can see my kitty has been chewing the grass.

The blue jar has faerie dust in it. and the kitty by the birdbath looks just like mine.

The fern in the corner is a Humata Tyermanii.....

March 18, I took everything out of this, got rid of the old soil, and replaced with new. Plants are back, but no decorations yet.

The rest of the pics are from today, June 24.

Bottom R corner.

Left side

Bottom left

Bottom middle.

Most of the Peperomia prostrata cuttings I put in here did not take, but this little patch has taken off, in the upper R corner in the pic directly above.

Top middle. I've had to cut these back several times already.

A couple scenes from mini garden #2.

So So sweet! I would live there!

TY! I guess I was in a mini mood yesterday. I took almost all plants out of the first mini garden that I made in 2013 so I could add more soil. When I redid it a year ago, I thought it was full but it shrunk so much. So glad I waited to see if it would do that before I put the gravel back on. Anyway, I filled it level with the sides this time. I had to stop after that, reached my limit of bending for the day, but hoping to get the gravel & stuff back in it today.

This one with the camper just has ground dirt in it. Closer pic of the window box. The hardest part about getting a little Sedum album stem to root is the wind blowing them around, or even out of the "pot."

The "patio" in the middle still needs tweaking, but the gravel, some rocks, and a lot of other stuff is back. Except for a few cuttings in the back for temporary height this summer, everything else has proven to be hardy in my location.

Ghost plant (Graptopetalum paraguayense) is disproportionately big, but it seems so happy dangling over the edge, I did not disturb it. It's been blooming for a few months.

Peperomia, Ficus, false Aralia, are not hardy. Just cuttings stuck there to be "trees" while it's warm out.

The pillars were found in the cake decorating section @ Michael's or Hobby Lobby, don't remember which. I thought they looked like tiny columns, and they're hollow... so why not paint them blue & put little plants in them? I couldn't come up with any reasons not to, so I did.

Stained glass window made of Shrinky Dinks has held up well. The sun doesn't shine directly on it for more than about 45 minutes, but I was still worried it would fade very quickly. The purple & blue bird baths are made of Crayola air-dry clay, painted, then coated with urethane. And after all of that, I forgot to put water in them. The one with the 2 birds was found @ Dollar General last year.

What is going on in other people's "mini worlds?"

wow how cool is that! make a stream!