Mineral contributing to surreal garden (7)
I believe the answer is:
realgar
'mineral' is the definition.
(I know that realgar is a type of mineral)
'contributing to surreal garden' is the wordplay.
'contributing to' says the answer is hidden in the clue (the answer contributes to part of the clue ).
'REALGAR' can be found hidden inside 'surreal garden'.
(Other definitions for realgar that I've seen before include "pigment" , "rare find in a hot mineral spring" , "Soft red mineral" .)