Over the past few weeks I’ve been collecting fake flowers to landscape the puzzle house, and today I made the first few plants. Click here for a close-up.

I want this garden to have more of an autumn color scheme than the Fairfield’s pinks and purples, so I’ve been looking for more subdued foliage. I found some great orange and yellow flowers at Ben Franklin’s, plus two “potted plants” at the Dollar Tree that have nice small leaves. (For some unknown reason they’re also covered with fine white hairs, but these are easy enough to remove by running the leaves under hot water, or even just scraping them off with a fingernail.)

Ever since I made the tree, I’ve envisioned a park bench underneath it. I got this one off eBay. It’s a Dept. 56 accessory and I think the scale looks about right. I’m not crazy about the color, and might paint the slats to match the trim on the house. (Or maybe not. I’m not exactly patient when it comes to painting tiny pieces…) I’m discovering that the various Christmas collectible villages are really good sources of appropriately-sized landscaping supplies—outdoor pieces like fences, paths, walls, trees, etc.—at much lower prices than half scale equivalents.

I made a trellis to hang on the side of the house. Haven’t decided yet what to put on it. It might look nice with climbing vines and roses… but then again, you always see trellises with roses on them. For now I just stuck a grassy piece in there to see how it would look.

I’m going back and forth on whether I should add a picket fence and arbor to the front of the house. I love the idea of it, but in reality it might be too cramped. I’ve got a birdhouse kit to assemble, and also a mailbox that goes on a post, and I’m planning to add a front step and probably a path of some sort. It might all turn out to be too much.

The fence and arbor are Lemax pieces and they were super cheap, so it’s not a huge loss if I don’t end up using them. If I do use them, I’ll paint them to match the house trim.

In other half scale news, I finally finished the balcony on the Fairfield. Painting the railing pieces took about four hours, and it was NOT fun. But it sure does look pretty. (And it’s no longer a safety hazard!)