s m a l l w e e d s

Hello! My name is Kailay, owner/designer of smallweeds.

By trade I'm a graphic designer but I much rather spend my time in the garden with dirt in my fingernails than parking my butt for hours in font of the computer.

I discovered gardening when I was in my mid 30s. About 10 years ago I turned my previous little track-home yard in San Gabriel, California (left) into a lovely informal garden (below) that won an award in the Makeover category in Country Gardens magazine. It was published in the Early Spring 2001 issue. I was thrilled and honored!

I hired “muscles” to remove my pathetic grass. My then boyfriend, now husband, helped me with tree planting and made me a beautiful brick path in the backyard in addition to a simple but functional iron arbor for my Altissimo rose to climb on in the front garden. My most productive floribunda was Margaret Merril.

Weeks after weeks I spent every night after work and every weekend designing, planning, digging, sifting and planting alone. Lots of love, sweat and money went into my project. At the end I got rid of the typical track home yards and gained two gorgeous gardens!

The beautiful gardens helped me sell my house quickly in 2003 but unfortunately, the new owner soon got rid of most of the plants and turned it back to the way it was...my creation is now just a distanced memory...

Now let's talk about the miniatures.

My interest in miniature gardens started more than six years ago when I saw my very first at Filoli, an European-style country estate in Woodside, California (60 miles south of San Francisco.) I was immediately in love with this “big miniature” (photo) which was one of two replicas of the life-size knot gardens near by. However, I didn’t try to make one till about two years ago.

Making a miniature is easy and fun, soothing and therapeutic. It satisfies my craving to create many little gardens with different designs in a short period of time while doing it painlessly. No heavy lifting and not much space is required. With a bit of working area and basic gardening tools, plus a wire cutter, you’re on your way to create little mobile sanctuaries to keep or to give.

Try one for yourself. After one is done, I guarantee you’ll create another and another... Each one will be different and all your girl friends will be impressed and want one for themselves.

Have fun looking at my garden pictures and I hope you’ll be inspired to make one of your own. If you shall run into a problem or just like to share your garden pictures with me, please feel free to drop me a message.

Happy gardening!