What kinds of plants would you expect to find at the Crooked Man’s House? What’s poking out of the ground in MacGregor’s Garden? And just how does Mary Quite Contrary’s garden grow?

There’s a story behind every flower, shrub, and tree at Children’s Fairyland! Our gardens are thoughtfully planned to enhance our storybook sets and create an authentic experience for visitors young and old.

At Play Island, for example, you’ll discover tropical plants that might have come out of a chapter of Swiss Family Robinson. Desert plants flourish around the Owl and the Pussycat set. And many California plants line the Jolly Trolly tracks around Old West Junction.

The gardens at Children’s Fairyland were originally designed by Arthur Navlet, who owned a local nursery. Some of the original plantings still survive. Some are quite rare, such as the deciduous Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides), once thought to be extinct. (It can be found near the Emerald City Stage.)

Other plantings are more recent. The organic garden, for example, was started in the late 1990s. Vegetables from that garden feed our animals (and occasionally our staff!). Fairyland also has its own greenhouse, located under the Dragon Slide. Many of the plants you see at the park were propagated there.

Any substance put into Fairyland’s soil would drain into Lake Merritt, so we use no pesticides or herbicides on our grounds. Instead, compost and mulch enrich the soil, keeping the plants happy and healthy.

Our gardens—which include no fewer than 150 trees—are so well regarded that we’re regularly visited by garden clubs interested in themed plantings. We’ve even been featured on the Home and Garden TV cable channel!

If you’d like to take home a living memento of your Fairyland visit, stop by our ongoing plant sale, in the plaza opposite the Magic Lamp Gift Shop, where you’ll find many plants suitable for transplanting in your own garden…such as the very popular “Fairy Wand” plant.