Gardener’s Gift List
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• Check your nursery for stocking stuffers: kid’s gloves, watering cans, bonsai figurines, seeds and bulbs.
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• Water living Christmas trees frequently while they are indoors, and put them outside after a week or ten days.
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• Sasanqua camellias have lovely, delicate flowers that bloom through the winter months. Find a place for one of these hardy shrubs in the landscape.
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• Primroses and pansies will add color to your flower beds and containers all winter.
Gardener’s Gift List
Cold winter days bring us indoors but many of us look forward to warmer days when we can spend time outdoors – in our gardens. Gardeners love to receive gifts that they can look forward to using out of doors. So here are some ideas for the gardeners in your life.
Good tools make a job much easier. Quality digging forks and spades are at the top of the wish list. The spade is essential for “double-digging” – adding organic materials to the soil to loosen the soil and add nutrients. The spading fork is easiest to use in light loamy or sandy soils, or in heavy soil that has been well-worked.
Hand tools are essential for all gardeners. Choose the best aluminum or steel-bladed trowel available. Flimsy, low-priced tools won’t last one single use in tough soil – they just bend out of shape. A hand trowel, a 3-pronged cultivator and a weeder make a nice “tool trio”. The Japanese Hori-Hori weeder knife is especially strong and versatile.
Looking toward pruning season, there are few tools more important to a gardener than a good pair of pruning shears. Felco® has long been the leader in pruning shears with a dozen different models to accommodate large hands, small hands, lefties, or equipped with a rotating handle to reduce fatigue. A Felco® pruning saw is a must-have for every orchardist. All Felco® tools come with a lifetime guarantee, and replacement blades, springs, etc. are available to keep them in tip-top condition.
Of course, a good pair of gloves is important to any gardener. The elbow-length, Thorngard gloves are great for pruning rosebushes and dealing with blackberries. The popular Nitrile Touch® gloves are loved by many gardeners. And there are even Kid’s Gloves, for the little gardener in the family.
The Garden Bench and Kneeler is an excellent gift for those who find kneeling somewhat difficult. The padded bench can be flipped over to become a kneeling pad with upright supports that serve as handles to get up and down. The cushioned surface is gentle on the knees while working in your garden. The kneeler folds up for easy storage.
We all enjoy time spent on the patio or deck surrounded by pots of flowers and maybe a water feature. Beautiful ceramic pots make nice gifts as do statuary of all kinds: birdbaths, angels, dragons, Buddhas, Madonnas, turtles and animals of all kinds.
Wind chimes are loved by many as they add soft music to the atmosphere when a gentle breeze blows.
Bird feeders are popular in the winter and spring as they attract and feed a variety of migrating birds. There are many kinds of feeders both for seed-eaters and for hummingbirds and orioles. Bird houses that are designed with the preferences of each type of bird in mind will give a home to the friends you enjoy the most. A birdbath looks lovely in any garden and is a must for the bird enthusiast.
Add a gardening calendar and you and your gardening friends can look forward to another great year of gardening pleasures. The Gardening by the Moon Calendar gives detailed timing for appropriate gardening activities, and the Old Farmer’s Almanac® is a helpful and fun book to have on hand.
We wish you all a very happy holiday season, and hope we can help you be successful gardeners in the year ahead!
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