A chapter book (possibly), with green binding, printed pre-1950s I’d say. Suitable for the 8-12 group, I think. It’s about a girl who is home (possibly sick), and goes outside. The garden is described beautifully with winding stone or brick pathways, and as she walks down them, she finds fairies among the plantings.
Here are some guesses:
The Garden of Heart’s Delight by Ida M. Huntington
Cinderella’s Garden by W. Macneile Dixon
Several children enter a garden which is inhabited by unusual creatures including Cinderella and the Fairy Queen.
The Enchanted Garden by Daniel Busch Boyden
The adventures of four small girls in the realm of Fantasea, a land beyond the Myriad mountains, ruled by Fairielle.
A Fairy to Stay by Margaret Beatrice Lodge
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17171203-a-fairy-to-stay
Pamela Perry lived with her elderly aunts because her mother had died and her father was working in East Africa. Pamela thought it was nicer when she was little and had a nurse to play with her and tell her stories, but Nurse left to get married and Pamela was now alone with the Aunts. The Aunts were very strict and decided that Pamela would be taught by them at home, instead of going to school. Lessons weren’t very interesting. The Aunts decided that Pamela would grow her hair in a long braid, and all the other girls Pamela saw had short hair. One day, after Aunt Isabella found Pamela reading a book of fairy tales before her math lesson, Aunt Isabella declared Pamela was too old for such books and took it away. That day, Pamela cut her braid off with the Aunts’ scissors. In disgrace, she was sent to the garden. There, once she had finished crying, she met a real fairy, and Pamela’s life began to change.
Always : the enchanted land which lies at the bottom of everyone’s garden if they are young at heart by Frances Dale
Wonderdays and wonderways through flowerland; a summer adventure of once upon a time by Grace Tabor
Oh my goodness, you are brilliant! I think the book I’ve been thinking of all these years is A Fairy To Stay! I vaguely remember something tragic about the mother, and that there may have been aunts in the story. THANK YOU!