With Xmas only about 4 weeks away, many of you will be sorting out what Xmas presents to buy for whom.
Gardening related gifts are always appreciated by the beginning gardener through to the seasoned.
Garden centres these days offer such a diverse range of gardening and gardening related products that you are sure to find a number of products which are very suitable, at prices within your budget.
Water features are very popular at this time and you will see small units that are ideal for indoor use as well as outside.
An indoor setting of house plants with a small water feature will not only look great but the moving water will create a humid area which is ideal for plants.
Foggers also are a current favourite to enhance a water feature.
Container plants for outdoors can be purchased, or you can add a personal touch by selecting a suitable container for a feature plant and potting it up yourself, finishing it off with a few flowering seedlings such as lobelia around the edges of the container..
Alternatively select a few colour spots and a suitable container, then plant up these flowering plants for a great affect.
If you decide to make up a few containers as gifts, do so as soon as possible, so they have the next few weeks to settle down, before you give them away.
To ensure they are at their best, place the planted up containers in a sheltered situation outside that has a good amount of light. Water to keep the mix a little moist and that’s all there is to it.
Garden Centres have gifts suitable for children such as carnivorous plants, cacti and succulents.
For young children a few packets of seeds that are easy to grow such as marigolds, sweet peas, radish and lettuce will provide the child with a interesting time planting and caring for their plants.
If you have friends or family that have a new section you can have a field day selecting a few plants, shrubs and trees for their gardens.
Fruit trees are popular including all the citrus family and they will benefit from the fruit for years to come.
Gardening tools never go amiss (unless you send them to the tip with the rubbish) and there is many useful tools to choose from.
Gardening books also make excellent gifts and the range of titles and subjects will fill any needs.
I have two of my gardening books currently in Print; Gardening with Wally Richards and Glasshouse Gardening for New Zealand by yours truly.
They can be ordered from our mail order website here.
I will phone you when your order is received and sort out the details.
I autograph the books and put in a message for the receiver making it a very personal gift.
Gardening gift vouchers are excellent gifts and the lower nominations of $5.00 and $10 are nice to add to a Xmas Card.
You can purchase the current national garden gift cards in New Zealand, which are now branded as ‘Give a Garden gift cards’.
These cards are offered by the same industry association (now known as NZPPI/Nursery and Garden Industry New Zealand) and are widely available and redeemable at over 150 garden retailers nationwide, including major stores like Mitre10, Palmers, and Kings Plant Barn.
Being a gardener don’t forget your best friends, that live in the soil, of your own gardens this Xmas. Treat the soil life this Xmas with either Mycorrcin or Wallys Super Fish Fertiliser (you can double treat using both).
These products will enhance your garden’s soil life and be of great benefit to the health of your plants, giving you greater pleasure in the years to come.
If you would like to give friends or family some of Wallys gardening products you can order on our mail order web site and when I contact you after receiving the order we can make arrangement to send the products to the recipient a week before Christmas with Greetings and Christmas wishes from you the sender. (Or sent to you for you to give; which ever you prefer) This is only applicable to home addresses in North and South Island and not overseas.
Reminds me one time a gardener contacted me to send an autographed book to their newly married daughter and her husband.
The book was sent with their names and gardening wishes but a couple of weeks later the book was returned to me with a rude letter from the recipients stating ‘We did not order this book and refuse to pay for it and do not want unsolicited mail!
I found their phone number and explained that this was a paid for gift from their Mum.
Some red faces no doubt and we sent the book back to them. There is an old saying, ‘Never look a Gift Horse in the Mouth.’
(For those not familiar with the saying it means that you can guess the age of the horse by the wear of the teeth, thus even an old horse is a gift).
Image credit: Wander Fleur
Products mentioned are from Wallys Range of products and can be found in some garden shops or by Mail Order on www.0800466464.co.nz
Problems ring me at: Phone 0800 466464
Garden Pages and News at www.gardenews.co.nz
Shar Pei pages at www.sharpei.co.nz
Mail Order products at www.0800466464.co.nz
