# How do Magic Gardens work?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-magic-gardens-work/440726>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 9, 2008, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-magic-gardens-work/440726 "2008-03-09T15:41:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Euryphaessa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Euryphaessa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euryphaessa)\
**Post date:** [March 9, 2008, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-magic-gardens-work/440726/1 "2008-03-09T15:41:29Z")

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The [Magic Garden](http://www.educationaltoysplanet.com/mg.html) is a sort of decorative item made of cardboard pieces shaped like a mountain and trees. You set the pieces in a little tray and pour the Magic Solution into the tray, and in a few hours the cardboard soaks up the solution and sprouts paper blossoms all over it.

How the heck does this work? I don’t know what’s in the Magic Solution, only that it’s non-toxic, but does anyone have any idea how it could make cardboard bloom?

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**Author:** ![The\_Them](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/898d66/32.png) [@The\_Them](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Them)\
**Post date:** [March 9, 2008, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-magic-gardens-work/440726/2 "2008-03-09T16:04:13Z")

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**Queen** , can’t tell from the picture there, but it seems an awful lot like a Crystal Garden, though those are underwater. The “Magic Solutions” are just some metal salts (iron sulfate might be the trees) reacting with whatever the paper cutouts are dipped in. Could be a starch, I dunno. The reaction makes lttle bubbles that grow through osmotic pressure until they pop and a new little bubble forms. IIRC. Which I probably don’t. It’s been a LONG time. There are also little sharp-edged crystalline shaped “trees” you can grow.  
If there’s a sixth-grade science fair that doesn’t have one of these, I’ve never heard of it.

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**Author:** ![Anaglyph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Anaglyph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaglyph)\
**Post date:** [March 9, 2008, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-magic-gardens-work/440726/3 "2008-03-09T18:25:09Z")

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I assume there are various salts in the cardboard. As the liquid is taken up by the cardboard, the salts dissolve, travel with the solvent to the surface, and deposit on the surface as the solvent evaporates.

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**Author:** ![Euryphaessa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Euryphaessa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euryphaessa)\
**Post date:** [March 9, 2008, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-magic-gardens-work/440726/4 "2008-03-09T21:26:01Z")

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Okay, I think I understand now. Thanks, guys!

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**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\
**Post date:** [March 9, 2008, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-magic-gardens-work/440726/5 "2008-03-09T22:46:39Z")

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Sodium silicate solution is the magic liquid in the different kits. The coloring in the precipitate is from the metal salts in the paper in that kit. The more familiar Magic Rocks has the different metal salts as colored rocks you drop in.

> **[Make Your Own Magic Rocks With This Cool Chemistry Project](https://www.thoughtco.com/make-your-own-magic-rocks-607653)**
>
> Learn about the chemistry behind magic rocks and make your own chemical crystal garden. Find out what chemicals create specific colors for your rocks.