YORKTON - With Christmas upon us.if you are still stressing out about holiday details that are crowding your “to-do” list, make a cup of chamomile tea and sit down for a few minutes and breathe.
If you still have some last-minute gifts to get, maybe for a gardener that might be on your list, here are some ideas.
Gardening gloves are always a good gift idea. I’m talking about the heavy-duty gloves made of leather or suede. At one point I had a leather pair of gardening gloves—they fit like a second skin and looked neat and trim. They were great little gloves, and I wore them until they were pathetic shreds and sadly had to be thrown out. Keith then bought me a pair of turquoise suede gloves which are now well broken-in, and I don’t start any gardening work without them.
You know how gardeners are: if we’re not out in the garden, we’re reading about gardens. A great gardening book is a wonderful choice. I love looking at garden books with lots of pictures, because there’s great visual inspiration there…but for practical, working advice for prairie gardeners, look to books by or for Canadian gardeners. My favorite authors/gardeners are Marjorie Harris and Lyndon Penner, who both write wonderfully informative books, each with their own unique connections to the land!
Here’s a very unique gift, but one that will come in handy over and over again. A roll of burlap is a gift any gardener will appreciate. Don’t laugh, it’s true! When we were wrapping our mugo pine just a few weeks ago, we marveled at how one or two seasons had significantly deteriorated some of our burlap pieces. We pieced them together and got the mugo covered, but what a delight it was to bring out a brand-new roll of burlap and make that final, top layer of protection with one continuous wrap! Burlap is used for so many garden projects, it is a gift that will be used over and over.
Because a gardener is on a life-long, never-ending quest to acquire new and interesting and different plants, another gift idea is a gift certificate from your local garden centre or a favorite seed catalogue. Then your gardener can choose the newest “plant of the moment” next spring! There’s always something new on the market, and we love to try them all! Seed catalogues have already been arriving, and gardeners are like kids in a candy store as they thumb through the pages. “If I could get anything I wanted…what would it be…?” A gift certificate could make that happen!
A beautiful clay planter is something that every gardener would enjoy but might not be something they would buy for themselves. But if it came from you, every time they look at it, they will think of you! Wind chimes add such a beautiful note to the garden; not only are their chimes very soothing, but many are beautiful to look at, like aerial sculpture in the garden. We once received some very special and melodic windchimes from dear friends, now sadly gone, and those chimes are a very special part of our garden décor, reminding us of the gift of their friendship.
Merry Christmas, gardeners! My husband Keith and I wish you comfort and joy and every blessing of the season. Thank you to our friends at YTW for their fine work in all kinds of weather! Visit the hort society at www.yorktonhort.ca and the best of the season to you!
