Gifts for Gardeners

Are you ready for more gift ideas for the gardener/gardeners in your life? I have more ideas. There are some neat tools that you may not even know about. A “dibber” is a tool that I read about a few years ago. It is not new, just not commonly sold and known. I never bought one until just a few months ago. What is a dibber? It is a tool about a foot long with a sharp point at one end and a crossways handle on the other end. You can use it to make quick holes to the depth of your choice for purposes such as seed planting, setting out young new transplants, and for planting smaller bulbs. I used it this fall for planting about 100 bulbs in a very short time. Poked a hundred holes – dropped in the bulbs – rubbed some dirt over the top to fill in the holes – Voila! I had one hundred Iris reticulata planted in less than thirty minutes. It would fit neatly in a Christmas stocking. I bought mine at www.smith-hawken.com.
Books about gardening are another great idea – there is always more to learn about gardening and a gardening book helps pass the time until one can get one’s hands back in the dirt. For those who desire to learn more about the care and management of perennials I recommend “Well-Tended Perennial Garden: Planting & Pruning Techniques,”
by Tracy DiSabato-Aust and her companion book - The Well-Designed Mixed Garden: Building Beds and Borders with Trees, Shrubs, Perennials, Annuals, and Bulbs.
“Roses for Dummies” is a good starter book for someone who wants to grow more roses but doesn’t know too much about them yet.
One of my very favorite gardening books I have ever read is “Dirt” by Dianne Benson. Dianne used to have her own clothing store in New York City and then decided to garden and then wrote a book - her book is highly opinionated, personal, very informative and inspirational. Richardson Wright used to be the editor of House and Garden magazine in the 1920’s and 30’s. He was a prolific horticultural writer and published several books – one of which would certainly be a wonderful gift – “The Gardener’s Bed Book” – a collection of 365 amusing and informative little essays about all sorts of things pertaining to gardening. After all these years it is now a beloved classic. www.amazon.com is my favorite place to buy books. Another one I discovered is “Green Thoughts” a collection of gardening essays by Eleanor Pernyi – an author who formerly was editor of Mademoiselle magazine and who used to be married to a Hungarian baron. I am currently not able to put this one down until I finish.
A subscription to a good gardening magazine would also be appreciated. In my opinion the best ones are “Organic Gardening,” “Horticulture,” and “Fine Gardening.”
For a child (or the your inner child – yes, we all have one!) how about a Flower Fairy? Pinetree Garden Seeds (mentioned last week) also carries a very cute selection of Cicely Mary Barker’s Flower fairy gift sets – including a polystone Flower Fairy, a book – “Flower Fairies of the Garden,” and a packet of seeds. They look so cute tucked in somewhere surprising in your garden.
A trip to an antique store also yields gift ideas for the gardener – vintage picturesque zinc watering cans, old flower frogs, vintage pots, charmingly aged framed pictures of flowers, old wrought iron gates and fence sections – all these add “character” to a garden or room.
A garden ornament is also a wonderful gift and here you can give a small or a big gift if you so desire. Statues of St. Francis, the Virgin Mary, various animals, etc. are all popular. I love my St. Francis statue that my mom gave me a few years ago. Surprise your gardener with a new fountain, or a card that says a small pond will be installed – the sky’s the limit!