Merlin, Dragon and the Little Gem

I fall in love with this water-fountain with the castle on hilltop, many stairs carved in stone, bridges, crystals and mini bushes trailing on the rocks. And the Dragon and Merlin with their happy faces just remembered me the fairy-tales from my grandfather's "bottomless hunting stories bag". He loved to tell me every night one of his unforgettable bed-time stories with kings, princess, castles, dragons, witches and sorcerers, fairies and elves...

Merlin was one of these fascinating figures who enlighten my childhood - prophet, wise man, sorcerer, tutor, priest of wildlife and man of magic who learned to talk to the animals... :-)

In the Welsh legend, Merlin foretold a series of prophecies about Britain, one of these being about the fortified castle which always collapsed from Vortigern’s kingdom, standing for centuries on the hilltop of Welsh mountains. Merlin told the king about the 2 sleeping dragons trapped underground in a subterranean pool (one red dragon represented the Britons, and one white dragon was seen as the Saxons) who fought one another under the fortress walls (the meaning of this dragons battle according to Merlin's prophecies was related to England throne succession during 5th - 6th centuries).




Well, returning to my toy... I decided to use it as a pot. So, I took out the electric circuit and I planted a fairy tiny "Little Gem" nearby the main entrance of the castle. I choose the White Iberis Sempervirens (known also as Candytuft) due to the small and compact habit of it (grows only 20-25 cm high). It is an evergreen plant which likes well-drained sunny site and is very used in rock gardens or as accent plant in miniature landscapes. It makes small white flowers in spring (April-May) and the potted plant will bloom soon. The foliage is shinny green and the dimension of it is perfect fit with my unusual pot.



I love the Dragon's face when smelling it... although the foliage it is not scented, in one month the flowers will satisfy his sense of smell ;-)

The plant is almost 10 cm high (half of the waterfountain's high) and I passed its roots under the bridge in the bigger pool space situated at the bottom of water-fountain. On top of the soil I planted some moss to maintain  longer the moisture and to be more decorative. Merlin lurks in the towers' shadow, hidden under Litlle Gem's foliage and makes new predictions for following years ;-)

Well ... just kidding... it is just another green craft that we made. We love more how it is looking now - more realistic, more natural ... my only problem is that Candytuft is an outside perennial and we need to keep it outside ...