Gifts For The Gardener

Selecting Christmas gifts for the gardener can be easy or hard depending on the gardener's propensity and their needs. Is your favorite gardener new to gardening? Then new tools, plants, and garden accents can be easy to find.  But what if you have a gardener who has a mature garden, all the tools they need, and buying a Christmas present can be a chore? Here's some ideas for every budget that you still have time to get and place under your Christmas tree:

• Beautiful stainless steel compost pail for the kitchen.  A one gallon container for all your compost scraps comes complete with a carbon filter. Only 11 inches high to fit perfectly under your sink or even on your counter.  $40.00

• Bird House Chalet that will feed every feathered visitor. Decorated with bird seeds, this bird house will attract bluejays, cardinals, chickadees, doves, finches, jays, sparrows, and more. Hanging the bird feeder close to a window view or placing it on your fence will enable your gardener to enjoy watching the various birds who will come to your yard. $40.00
  
  

•  Wee fairy garden accents for miniature gardens. A wonderful way to create little garden vignettes for under a tall tree, or put on your patio or even indoors, this is an unique hobby for children, adluts, and those with disabilities, who can't get around a garden or can't lift heavy items. Each piece allows you to personalize the garden.  Individual costs vary from $3.00 to $10.00.

 

• Solar powered LED firefly lighting for your garden borders or used to highlight a small tree. These small LED lights with a low voltage transformer don't add to your electricity bill and are easy to install. These beautiful lights add fantasy and excitement to your nighttime garden.

• A must have in any garden is a noteworthy entrance.  Garden gates add a special touch to your landscape even if there is no fence.  Gates can reflect your house architectural style or just add whimsical structure to your yard.  Gates can be wooden, wrought iron, even twigs and branches from trees.  You can find unique garden gates at antique stores, yard  sales, or renovation outlets. Free to $100+.

• Celtic Mushroom. Perfect touch for an Irish themed garden. This three pound cement resin mushroom can be used outdoors in your garden area or beside your indoor plants.  Toadstools even come as a set with a large and small size.  Weather-resistant, it will be an ideal accent to your woodland garden. $40.00

•   And for the chilly, rainy, snowy days of winter when gardening isn't a viable option, the best biographical gardening book I've read in a long time is on a relatively unknown but early 20th century gardening designer, is "Edwardian Country Life: The Story of H. Avray Tipping"  In 1933, Tipping wrote "The Garden of Today." His garden designs reflect the Italian phase of the Arts and Crafts style. H. Avray Tipping, made an impact on Britain's culture when he became the architectural editor of Country Life, a popular magazine among the wealthy in the early 1900's. Tipping was instrumental in the preservation of country homes and historical buildings through the National Trust and the Royal Society for the Preservation of Ancient Buildings. 

A personal sidenote: I was introduced to this new book through my English parish priest, the brother of Helena Gerrish.  Helena lives in Tipping's house and while researching his life and restored his magnificent gardens.  I thoroughly enjoyed this wonderful coffee table book by Helena Gerrish. After reading the background history along with Tipping's biography and seeing the beautiful gardening photographs of beautiful British country homes, his homestead and his gardens are now on my bucket list for my next trip to England.

In Your Backyard: Florida's Gardener's Resource - All You Need To Know To Plan, Plant, & Maintain A Florida Garden

The most frequent question I get from beginning garden enthusiasts is: What gardening book do I use most at home? The answer is never simple. Most gardening and nature books are theme-specific, especially here in Florida where gardening has year-round opportunity. My best advice is always: “Depending on your interests, you’ll need several, but Tom MacCubbin’s books are must-haves for Florida gardeners.”

I can now amend my usual advice to put Tom’s newest gardening book at the top and recommend “Florida Gardener’s Resource - All You Need To Know To Plan, Plant, & Maintain A Florida Garden” that Florida green-thumbs, even non-gardeners, should have in their home library.

Tom MacCubbin, University of Florida/IFAS Extension Agent and Professor emeritus, is Central Florida's award-winning Orlando Sentinel garden columnist, television and radio personality. His books, ““Edible Landscape”, “Month by Month Gardening”, and Florida’s Gardener’s Guide” to name just a few, have made Tom the most relied upon horticultural expert in Central Florida for over 18 years.

A collaborative effort between Florida’s four most popular gardening gurus and authors, Tom MacCubbin, Georgia Tasker, Robert Bowden, and Joe Lamp'l, “Florida Gardener’s Resource” has what I need in a gardening book. The chapters are organized by plant categories for easy reference, with seasonal charts on planting. Monthly chores in the landscape and color photographs provide easy-to-understand information. Less than $15, this gardening book provides advice on lawns,fruits, herbs, and vegetables, natives, water conservation, and attracting butterflies. New residents and experienced master gardeners can now have that “one book". “Florida’s Garden Resource” should become our state's newest gardening attraction.

I'll be interviewing Tom on Florida Gardener's Resource and plant problems today on "In Your Backyard."

More information on where to find Tom gardening:

Tom's website: Better Lawns , blog Tom's Digs, and Tom and Joanie's new video website: "His and Hers Gardening.