Terra's Garden
Monthly Column by Terra Hangen

You can add to Christmas joy by giving gifts perfectly tailored to the recipient. Here are some unique gift ideas, for under $50.00, for gardeners, book lovers and for all kinds of folks.

Gardeners will love fanciful, colorful watering cans that look like roosters, elephants, lady bugs and more, each about 12 inches tall, and priced reasonably at $34.00. Daisy Fields Store in Oregon has a banquet of gifts, including floral design garden aprons and hats, garden gloves, and English trowels. The stainless trowels are $14.00 and for a splurge buy a trowel with brightly hand painted handle for $42.00. www.daisyfieldsoregon.com
1-800-294-1343

A Cup of Christmas Tea is a delightful book to read aloud during this holiday season. Written by Tom Hegg in the form of a poem, it describes a young man’s visit with his elderly great aunt, when they share a cup of Christmas tea. First published in 1982, readers have kept it in print, and I have a gorgeous hardcover edition, illustrated in color by Warren Hanson and published by Waldman House Press. www.christianbook.com $10.00 

Cabelas Company, “The world’s foremost outfitter”, sells wonderful hats for people who love being outdoors, riding bicycles, walking, and gardening. I love this hat because it has a chin strap so it doesn’t blow off when a wind gust heads my way as I walk along the ocean. Only $19.95, these hats, called Boonie hats, are waterproof and breathable and available in five colors. Available at www.Cabelas.com. 1-800-237-4444

Gardeners' hands have a rough time and hand lotions are a soothing gift. Aubrey’s Organics sells Rosa Mosqueta hand and body lotion, 8 oz. $12.95. Rosa Mosqueta is a rose that grows in the Andes, and the company says it is healing for skin. They sell many lotions, including Nature’s Balance unscented SPF 15 hand and body lotion, 8 oz. $12.95. All of their products are 100 percent natural.
www.aubrey-organics.com
1-800 282-2739

Sharon Lovejoy wrote and illustrated A Blessing of Toads: A Gardener’s Guide to Living With Nature. She shares a wise and humorous take on many garden topics, which her chapter titles show, like “How to enchant a wasp”, “The ladies on my windowsill” and “Skunk scentsibilities”. This is fun to pick up and read whenever you can’t be out in the garden. Hearst Books, 2004. $12.95

Children love a gift subscription to a nature magazine from the National Wildlife Federation. Wild Animal Baby is for ages 1-4, Your Big Backyard for ages 3-7 and Ranger Rick for ages 7 and up. Everyone in the family will love the gorgeous illustrations. Free binoculars or child’s dish set with each subscription. Children will look forward to getting an issue in the mail each month, addressed to them. $19.95 each for a year’s subscription. NWF P.O. Box 2038 Harlan IA 51593-0017. www.nwf.org/giftsforkids 1-888 213-5637

To create an ongoing Christmas tradition, buy a small Holly bush in a decorative pot, display it indoors at Christmas, and plant it outside in spring. You can give this to far away friends and relatives, by having it delivered to them. Six inch tall Holly plants are available for $34.95 from www.jacksonandperkins.com (1-877 322-2300).

If you are buying from a local garden store, remember that for most Hollies, only the female plant provides berries, with red berries from autumn to March, which birds including Robins, Cedar Waxwings, Cardinals, and Goldfinches love to eat. To optimize berry production plant a female and a male Holly in a sunny spot. Red Beauty and Satyr Hill are excellent garden hollies, and the finest fruiting Holly is Old Heavy Berry, which grows 30 to 40 feet tall, and has masses of brick red pea sized berries.

About the Author: For more of Terra Hangen's garden tidbits, fun garden photos of her black squirrel friend, tips for beginning writers, and a glimpse into her own journey as a writer visit her blog at http://terragarden.blogspot.com. She is celebrating the publication of her first book, Scrapbook of Christmas Firsts, written with 6 Christian writer friends, and scheduled for publication Oct. 2008 by Leafwood Publishers.