Gift Ideas For The Gardener In Your Life

Start your engines, paste on a smile and muster all the patience you can. Today is the biggest shopping day of the year. It’s a day for traffic jams and rubbing elbows with strangers. Hopefully you’ll come equipped with a plan and a few gift ideas for those special people on your shopping list.

As for those on your list who enjoy digging in the dirt, perhaps I can lend a helping hand with a few suggestions:

Certain music has a way of soothing the soul. It invites us to relax, reflect and dream. Some of the most serene compositions are the enchanting sounds of a forest and all that it holds - instrumental adaptations that create the sounds of rain, wind and creatures of the earth.

These nature CDs or tapes can be purchased as a single gift or complemented with a Walkman or a tape player. It’s amazing how a little music helps lighten the workload and makes a task go by quickly.

Garden books are always a welcome gift, and there are literally hundreds to choose from. This year, though, how about giving one or more books written by our local authors: “Gardening in the Inland Northwest” by Tonie Fitzgerald, “Deer Proofing,” “Bugs, Slugs and Other Thugs” or “Dirt-Cheap Gardening,” all by Rhonda Hart, or “The Garden Journal” by the WSU Master Gardeners.

Fitzgerald’s book deals mainly with growing fruits and vegetables in the Inland Northwest. Hart’s books on deer and insects are self-explanatory. “Dirt-Cheap Gardening” is a collection of down-to-earth, inexpensive gardening solutions. “The Garden Journal” is an 8-by-10 composite of gardening information for this region along with a month-by-month and week-by-week calendar that allows us to jot down all our gardening endeavors. The journal also contains tidbits of information on all kinds of garden-related subjects along with tried-and-true Master Gardener recipes. It’s a handsome journal for only $15. The proceeds help support the Master Gardener program; call 533-2048 to order a copy.

One method for presenting this gift of garden books is to simply tie them together with ribbon, twine or raffia. Attach a few dried flowers or a garden ornament to the bow. Just like that, you have a fine gift that will bring hours of enjoyment.

Of course, a collection of books requires some type of support to hold it upright and in place. This obviously is a job for bookends. But, like everything else, there are bookends and there are bookends.

Bookends don’t need to be exactly alike. Today’s creations often tell a story. I have run across delightful bookends such as playful birds perched atop toppled flower pots and garden gates knee-deep in flowers.

Speaking of creations that tell a story - you can add interesting picture frames to the list. However, I think there are some that go just a little too far. There is so much commotion in some frames, you can lose sight of the main subject - the picture.

VCRs and computers have the potential for being the best gardening tools in our arsenal. There are numerous videos that take us touring through spectacular gardens, bring songbirds into our living rooms or show us first-hand how to accomplish specific tasks.

Computer software packages are available which allow us to design our gardens three-dimensionally or to identify thousands of plants. And it’s all at our fingertips. “It’s a new world, Golda.”

A gift that just keeps on giving is a package of tools for drying flowers. All that’s necessary is a container with a lid and a box of silica gel, which can be purchased at the larger garden centers. If you wish to make a more elaborate gift, throw in a batch of florist wire, florist tape (green and brown) and flower shears.

Ten days ago, I covered four gorgeous roses with silica. Today, these gorgeous roses feel like delicate, thin paper … keepsakes forever.

You can never get too many Christmas ornaments, especially those with a garden theme. This year I plan to weave some garden ornaments into a garland around the kitchen window.

A camera and/or binoculars are naturals for a garden buff. The ability to capture a rainbow, the changing seasons or our changing gardens is worth more than money can buy. Add a photo album with the camera and you have a mighty nice gift.

Binoculars allow us to see up close all the wonders of nature. There are even hard plastic binoculars for children.

If none of these suggestions are to your liking, consider decorative pots, watering cans, decorated bird cages, bird feeders, bird houses, bat houses, butterfly houses, decorative brass doorbells and water faucets, note cards, houseplants, throw rugs…. There isn’t a store in town that doesn’t carry something that reminds us of nature. Don’t you wish everyone on your list was as easy to buy for?

Here’s to patience and a smile.

, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Phyllis Stephens The Spokesman-Review