Though it’s my tradition at this time in December to offer a few ideas on gifts for family members and friends who garden, I acknowledge that there is a different feeling about this year. For many among us, managing the upcoming holiday season will be an uneasy balance of priorities.
On one side are rising prices, rising interest rates and, for more than half the country’s population, escalating debt levels. The ocean of need throughout the world and immediately around us calls for consideration too.
Despite all these pressures, and probably even because of them, there is on the other side a greater need than ever for escape, for festivity, for at least a taste of care-free pleasure. We need a break. It’s time to celebrate. It’s Christmas.
Home. Home-grown gifts are both cost-effective and appealingly personal. I begin in December to look around for what might be on hand as material for making small gifts for my pot luck group members, other friends, and an assortment of neighbours and companion gardeners — people I see regularly. Sometimes it’s fragrant swags made with stems from the sweet bay tree. Sometimes it’s kiwi fruit.
This year, the Provence lavender bushes have provided the material for intensely scented, homey gifts. The dried florets, rubbed from the stems, have yielded enough for many sachets, which have been easy and fun to make with squares of floral fabric cut with pinking shears, the dried lavender, and raffia for tying. A basket of the lavender sachets is prepared, ready to distribute at our Christmas pot luck gathering.
Other offerings could include packets of seeds saved from the garden’s plants, or jars of jam, jelly, pickles or relishes made from the garden’s produce.
Need. The most prized gifts are things a person really needs. Among family members and close friends who garden, some may lack tools or aids essential to basic gardening projects: a good pair of secateurs for hand pruning, a hand cultivator, garden tote to carry materials destined for the compost, a comfortable trowel, a pair of garden gloves, or a book on the topic of a person’s current special interest.
For the avid food gardener, here’s a thought: dish towels that quickly slurp up moisture. Why? Food gardeners cook, and cooking means dishes, lots and lots of dishes — mixing bowls, spoons, pots, pans. My collection of dish towels includes some that are better at shedding rather than absorbing water. They are a constant irritation.
Just two weeks ago, in a local shop, I came across and bought a set of three “Baker’s Floursack” dish towels that have transformed my cooking adventures. They are soft, 100 per cent cotton, close to feather-light. They absorb moisture instantly and dry between uses with remarkable speed. They weren’t expensive.
Diversionary fun. In times like these, anything with the power to create delight or elicit a smile or a laugh has value beyond measure. Knowing the person to receive the gift will be the guide to just the right thing.
I’m thinking of objects like the “Garden Angel” on a stake stuck into a planter at the front of my house, and a concrete napping elf and a grinning piggy in the back garden. A laughing Buddha, a brightly coloured flowering house plant, whimsical garden fairies, an eccentric planter or bird house are all possibilities.
Local shopping. Consider treating yourself to a festive amble through a local garden centre, where you might just light upon a perfect gift — a holiday plant, packets of seeds, a weeding tool, herb growing kit, soil thermometer. Or, choose the gift of anticipation in the form of a gift certificate from your favourite garden centre.
Shopping at local businesses helps to ensure they will still be around when you need them. It supports your neighbours and the local economy.
GARDEN EVENT
Abkhazi sales and festive tea. Akhazi Garden, 1964 Fairfield Rd. in Victoria, is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Wednesday to Sunday. Sales are underway now of holiday and culinary wreaths and table centres. New this year are the Abkhazi Garden Teacup and Wreath Birdfeeders. The teahouse is offering a Festive Christmas High Tea along with their afternoon teas. Make reservations at 778-265-6466. The Gift Shop, located in the teahouse, features quality local artisan art, pottery, fabrics, jewelry, stationery and soaps.
