More Gift Ideas for Gardeners

Wellness Gifts for Gardners

We’ve covered some of the books and tools that I think every gardener should have. Now mind you, gift certificates are almost always the best gift for the gardener in your life because they get to choose.  And of course, we think BBB Seed gift cards are the best possible gift especially because you can get it at the last minute without leaving the house. But today’s gift ideas for gardeners are really for the gardener and not for the garden.

Here are some good products for the gardener’s health and well-being that are my daily friends:

Stainless Steel Water Bottles BPA free and insulated, good water bottles will help keep the gardener hydrated.  It takes a lot of discipline to drink enough water to compensate for working hard in the garden. Chronic dehydration from not getting enough water when you need it contributes to a variety of health problems. Do what it takes to hydrate your gardener.

Sunglasses My eye doctor read me the riot act when she found out how much time I stay outside without sunglasses. Always. I’m not likely to take her recommendation of only 15 minutes of direct sun per day, but after hearing about increased risks of cataracts and macular degeneration, I agree high UV sunglasses is a good idea. Pick a light gray tone for best true color. Here’s a great article on sunglasses. http://tinyurl.com/6d62ukj

A Good Hat Pick one that lasts, protects your face, and can get washed. Wallaroo hats are my favorites and attractive too. They have a great collection of SPF 50 hats for men and women and kids.  http://www.wallaroohats.com/

A Full Body Massage No matter how much stretching and exercising I do, my body is out of whack by the end of the season.  My right side back muscles are over-developed. My rotator cuffs are tender and my body has been spending too much time bending forward and not enough bending backward.  A professional massage straightens me out again.

A pre-season gift:  A manicure Your gardener may not be the manicure type, but most of us gardeners enjoy touching the soil and the plants and we leave our gloves in the bucket too often.  There’s always a bit of dirt under our nails and our hands are, um, rugged.  This becomes obvious the first holiday party I go to and put on a nice silk blouse and the silk snags on my fingers!  Winter is the perfect season to treat the gardener well. You can seek out a professional manicure or do it yourself at home with our “Hand Rescue” salve.

Want to see what gardeners’ hands look like?  This is a fabulous art montage by photographer Paul Debois:  43 Gardeners’ Hands. http://tinyurl.com/c88fgq8

Ode to Lavender

Why You Need to Grow Lavender

by Sandy Swegel

I awoke this morning dreaming of lavender. I adore everything about lavender.

The Fragrance: exotic yet tender and sweet.
The Blossoms: intense purples and blues and even dusty whites and pinks.
The Herbal Essence: healing, calming, sedating yet inspiring.
The Foliage: lavender plants paired with sages and blue fescue grasses in a blue border.
The Smudge Stick: foliage, stems and blossoms mixed with white sage purify home and heart.
The Oil:  condenses all its attributes and essences in a single drop.
The Woody Stems: reminders of the Mediterranean climate it adores and fragrant thrown on a campfire.
The Seed: easy to germinate and though perennial can often produce flowers the first year.
The Plant: low maintenance, sturdy, tolerates even thrives in drought.

Lavender is a wonderful plant to think about in the fall.  It continues to bloom a bit, even after killing freezes. Stalks of lavender blossoms erupt through mats of fallen leaves offering food to the bees and encouragement to the gardener.  Lavender reminds us in the fall how many home-crafted gifts from the garden we still can make.

Friends who don’t wait till the last minute to make holiday gifts have been busy turning lavender into treasures to be shared with friends.  Julia makes the most exotic of lavender gifts:  white chocolate lavender popcorn.  She also infuses jams with lavender.  Sarah takes lavender essential oil and mixes it with the unscented all natural body lotion from Costco or mixes the oil with rose oil and bath salts.  I mix the oil with spring water in a mister for spraying the bed linens. Elise grabs leaves and stems and flowers that have dried on the plant and with adjacent white sage and a little twine created those smudge sticks that cost $10 at the health food store.  A bit of purple ribbon for wrapping all these simple creations turns Lavender into a thoughtful gift from the heart.

May your dreams be so sweetly scented.

Popcorn recipe:http://www.howsweeteats.com/2012/07/white-chocolate-lavender-vanilla-popcorn/