Gardening with Margaret Matthews
Gifts for fifty-plus gardeners
by Margaret Matthews
If you have a fifty-plus relative or friend whose idea of a fun day is to don Wellies and turn over the compost heap, you need look no further than your local nursery for a suitable Christmas gift.
You will need to be careful, however, that you know the recipient of your gift well enough to avoid a horticultural disaster, such as giving a rose to a member of the Society for Growing Australian Plants, or a cactus to Aunt Millie, who grows only African violets in her bow window, which is festooned with starched white lace curtains.
Gifts for gardeners can range in price from a packet of seeds or a punnet of seedlings, through to a gazebo or an outdoor garden setting. Potted plants such as hydrangeas, liliums, roses in bloom and standard fuschsias, are always more expensive at this time of year. So are hanging baskets and any plants that will catch the eye of the Christmas shopper.
There are other alternatives if the budget has to be considered. You can buy the plants well before Christmas and hope they will still be performing well on the day. This depends not only on the weather, but also on your gambling skills as to when buds will turn into flowers. A better solution is to buy seedlings and plant them into baskets early in October, and to plant lilium bulbs so that they, too, will be in flower at Christmas.
Although this will save money, it requires much time and commitment on your part. It is also too late for this year, so you will have to pay up if you want to give plants this festive season. Having said all this, it is much better to buy a plant in bloom than to give cut flowers. The former can give joy for years; the latter will last only for days, or at best, weeks.
Gardening tools can be an acceptable gift. Here it is wise to think quality rather than size or quantity. It is better to give a stainless steel hand trowel or fork, than a hand trowel and fork that are both of inferior quality. If the gift is for an older gardener, a lightweight spade or fork might replace the old dinosaur in the shed. A garden seat could be a thoughtful present for an elderly gardener, as could a large colourful umbrella. A wide-brimmed hat, a pair of good quality gardening gloves, a basket for gathering flowers, a water-proofed apron with a large pocket, a watering can with a long spout for reaching hanging-baskets, and last, but not least, who would not welcome an extra pair of secateurs, which are so often mislaid just when the rambling roses are out of control.
These days a good general nursery will have shelves of products to help plants reach their optimum performance. They include seaweed in various forms to stimulate development, organic and inorganic fertilisers, and environmentally friendly sprays for controlling pests and diseases.
If you know that some of these products would be of use, you could fill a basket with a selection of them and wrap them in coloured cellophane and ribbon to make a practical gift look festive.
Plant containers have changed considerably over the years, and no doubt will continue to do so. ‘Real’ terracotta pots have always been the aristocrats of containers. Although they are elegant and do add style to any garden, they are very weighty when filled with potting mix; they are easily broken and also expensive. Synthetic containers have improved dramatically since they were introduced some years ago. They are now well-designed and hardly distinguishable from terracotta. They are lightweight and also light on the hip pocket.
Garden ornaments range from small figurines costing a few dollars to large statues suitable for only the grandest of gardens. Bird baths and feeders might be more affordable and they are useful as well as being decorative and welcomed by our feathered friends.
Herbs make a great gift for a friend who loves to cook. A pot of basil or parsley, or perhaps a decorative pot planted up with several herbs could be an ideal gift. Some packets of seeds of the more unusual herbs are available from Asian supermarkets. Sunday markets sometimes feature soap and other toiletries perfumed with herbs, rose, lavender or citrus oils.
I hope these ideas will help to solve your gift problems for gardeners and also non-gardeners, who might welcome a flowering plant or a pot of herbs on their doorstep.
Best wishes to all Fifty-Plus gardeners. Do make time to sit in the shade and smell the roses.
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