Linda Hill built 11 tiny structures in her East Memphis garden in hopes of attracting a few fairies.

Like many others, Hill is intrigued by the small, supernatural winged creatures that bring good fortune and mischief to the gardens of believers.

Folklore has it that fairies like many of the same things human gardeners do, colorful flowers that attract butterflies and hummingbirds, oak trees, water and wildflowers.

Tom Pellet, the garden designer who works with Linda, told her about gardeners in New England who gather up materials from the forest floor for creating the diminutive dwellings. Hill liked the idea and got to work.

Linda said: When I am pruning or cleaning up the garden, I look at something and wonder if it could go in a fairy house? There is so much at your fingertips.

Suckering twigs pruned out of a viburnum became the building material for a ladder leading up to a fairy tree house made from an overturned basket.

She also make use of bits of moss, tree bark, rocks, seed pods, branches and other easily gathered items.

Linda said: I wanted to something red that would look like fire so I thought of a radish.

Brussels sprouts are used to line a stone walkway. In one house, light is reflected off some glass beads.

Pellet said: You can put them anywhere. They look good at the base of big trees and also among flowers.

It is fun to tuck them into inconspicuous spots where you have to look hard to see them. But they can also be focal points.

The houses are meant to be seasonal additions to the garden, although there are some Internet sites featuring sturdier structures to buy or to make.

Linda said: Even though they are ephemeral, you can use stones for the centers and then replace the wood parts.

She thinks building fairy houses is a great activity for gardeners with small children or grandchildren.

According to Linda: We get so practical when we get older it is fun to do something whimsical.

Pellet is so enchanted with them he is thinking of starting a Mid-South Association of Fairy Houses or maybe a Friends of Fairies club.

A book on the subject, Fairy Houses … Everywhere!” by Barry Kane and Terry Kane, is available at amazon.com

I will post a link for in the book section of the web site.