THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 3, 1995 TAG: 9512010065
SECTION: HOME PAGE: G1 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Long : 158 lines
WHAT DO YOU buy a gardener for Christmas? It seems like many already ``have everything.'' But each year there are numerous new products and ideas on the market.
Here are suggestions from some retailers where Hampton Roads gardeners like to shop.
Every gardener can use Bag Balm. It is one of the most useful and least expensive gifts you can give. It comes in all sizes, starting at less than $5, it keeps your hands and heels soft and pliable. Made in Vermont for the udders of cows, it's become so popular that some beauty shops sell it. Available at Virginia Beach Feed and Seed and Norfolk County Feed and Seed.
Cool Clothes offers a new band that can be worn around the neck or head to provide relief from heat stress, fever and headaches. When your body is unable to cool itself sufficiently by sweating or increasing blood circulation to the skin, heat exhaustion, cramps, rash, heat stroke and fainting can result. This new device is soaked in water and worn around the neck or forehead. Evaporation of the water keeps the body cool. It's good for gardeners, runners, tennis buffs and other sports enthusiasts.
It's available in many colors and designs and can be washed in soapy water and used over and over. It's at the Norfolk Botanical Garden Gift Shop for $12.95 or available by mail on a charge card by calling (804) 496-9050 or fax (804) 496-9061.
From Foxglove on 525 W. 21st St., Norfolk, comes a wooden Christmas angel with a halo of faux gardening tools, handmade by Nancy Thomas of Yorktown. These individually crafted angels cost about $56 and are in limited quantities, so better order at once. Also from Foxglove are two English gardening journals, with roomy calendar pages for recording garden information. Each is $23. Call 625-5995.
Two unusual items from Johnson's Gardens, 3201 Holland Road, (Route 58) Suffolk, are small stone animals called ``keykeepers.'' These gray critters ($20) are 4 to 6 inches high and can be placed anywhere in a garden. On the underside is a sliding panel where you can hide a key. Another unusual item Johnson stocks are topiary forms for various pot sizes that include deer, rabbits and other garden animals. You plant ivy or other small-leafed vining plants and create your own topiary. Prices start at $12.95. Call 539-1919.
From McDonald Garden Centers, located in Hampton, Chesapeake and Virginia Beach, comes a Holiday Designer Basket, filled with a collectable Department 56 Village House, a Norfolk-Island-pine and a small Santa Claus, surrounded by shredded white paper snow and variegated ivy. A charming gift, starting at $59. Call 465-1110 in Chesapeake or 464-5564, Virginia Beach.
For the first time, McDonald centers are offering live cut Noble Fir Christmas trees from Oregon. They have bluish-gray needles and are very full. Height is 6-1/2 to 7-1/2 feet, priced at $59.50. McDonalds previously offered boughs of Noble Fir for home decorating. They proved popular enough to order the complete trees. McDonalds also have very small Christmas trees starting at 8 inches for $1.97, going up to 3 feet.
From Smithfield Gardens, Route 17, Suffolk, comes the Ruibal Topiary, planted with pansies for $55. It can be replanted for various seasons throughout the year, including an attractive poinsettia planting for Christmas. It uses sphagnum moss and ivies that will become established, and annuals can be added for color. It is recommended as an accent at the front door or can be used indoors with house plants. It also can be used outdoors with herbs. It comes in three sizes, and you can buy the frame and containers and do your own planting, if you choose.
Also from Smithfield Gardens comes a potted ivy wreath of Hedera Helix `Pixie.' The one-gallon size is $19.99. With the foil, ornament and ribbon, it costs $27. They can be made in colors of your choice and reused with other decorations for Easter, Thanksgiving and other holidays.
Smithfield Gardens horticulturists say you can make your own hydrangea wreath next year by planting a hydrangea now. The French big leaf hydrangea works best for wreaths. A decorated wreath costs about $29, but if you grow your own hydrangea and want to make your own wreaths, a 18-inch grapevine wreath base costs $8.99 or a straw form is only $1.59. Call 399-4331.
From White's Old Mill Garden Center, 3133 Old Mill Road, Chesapeake, comes an elaborate five-candle ivy candelabra centerpiece with ivory candles, tied with gold ribbon in a 9-inch clay pot. It is planted with solid green or variegated ivy. Designed for the Christmas buffet or table, cost is $99.99. Single candles in 5-inch pots are available for $14.99 each.
To watch birds take a bath up close, White's suggest a 17-inch hanging lily-pad birdbath from Sunswept ($49.99). It's hunter-green color, glazed on terra cotta, decorated with turtles and lily pads. The birdbath can hang from a tree limb, arbor or right outside your window.
White's also offers garden theme baskets in varieties to please every gardener-type. There are ones for bird lovers, herb gardeners, rosarians or indoor-plant enthusiasts. Prices start at $49.99. Phone 487-2300.
If you prefer to shop by mail, Gardeners Supply offers a beautiful dried floral wreath ($24.95) made from sweetheart roses, pepperberries, gomphrena, statice, strawflowers, baby's breath, eucalyptus and German statice. They're made in Maine where the flowers are grown. Each wreath measures 10 inches across. Call (800) 863-1700.
If you want to try a lifelike great horned owl decoy to scare rabbits and pigeons from your garden, Plow and Hearth offers one for $14.95. They say such decoys lose effectiveness if they are always motionless, so they suggest a mounting base that turns the owl when the wind blows. The mount is an additional $24.95. Call (800) 627-1712.
The suggestion to use 1 tablespoon of Listerine in 1 quart water to help cut flowers last longer created such a stir that you may want to subscribe to the magazine from which it came. It's a new publication named Garden Gate, and it would be a fine gift for a devoted gardener. Mail $19.95 to Garden Gate, P.O. Box 400806, Des Moines, Iowa 50347-0806. This magazine has lots of ``how-to'' illustrations and no advertising.
If you still need gift ideas, you can send garden-friendly bugs from The Bug Store, 4472 Shaw, St. Louis, Mo. 63110. There are lacewing eggs, a praying mantis egg case, trichogramma or beneficial nematodes. A box of ``bug ornaments'' is mailed at Christmas, followed by real bugs in the spring. Call (314) 773-7374.
If you want a full color water-garden calendar, Brooklyn Botanic Garden sells an excellent one for $11.95, mailed to BBG, 1000 Washington Ave., Brooklyn, N.Y. 11225-1099.
Finally if you want to make your own Christmas gifts, there's still time. Unique flowering moss wreath kits are available in a range of sizes from Holland's Flowers, P.O. Box 132, Cannon Beach, Oregon 97110; phone (503) 436-2574 or fax (503) 436-1061. Depending on size, cost is about $30 to $60, including shipping and handling. ILLUSTRATION: Color photos
RICHARD L. DUNSTAN/The Virginian-Pilot
CHRISTMAS ANGEL
Handcrafted wooden angels by artisan Nancy Thomas of Yorktown bring
the beauty of gardening inside. Available at Foxglove in Norfolk
($56).
BIRD BATH
This lily-pad birdbath can be hung anywhere in the yard for a
closeup view of the birds. At White's Old Mill Garden Center,
Chesapeake ($49.99).
SWEETHEART WREATH
This 10-inch wreath comes from a farm in Maine where the flowers are
grown and dried. It includes sweetheart roses, pepperberries,
gomphrena, statice, strawflowers, baby's breath and eucalyptus. From
Gardeners Supply ($24.95).
GIFT BASKETS
Theme baskets are designed to appeal to people with various
interests, from the avid bird lover to the indoor-plant enthusiast.
At White's Old Mill Garden Center (starting at $49.99).
BOOKS
English gardening journals are charming calendar books to record
daily successes, failures and observations about gardening. At
Foxglove ($23 each).
Photo
RICHARD L. DUNSTON/The Virginian-Pilot
Smithfield Gardens' Ruibal Topiary, right, planted with pansies
sells for $55. It also can be planted with poinsettias or other
seasonal flowers. Smithfield Garden's potted ivy wreath ($27), top
left, and White's ivy candelabra ($99.99), bottom left, make
attractive holiday centerpieces.
by CNB