Plants liven up the holidays

Flowers are University of Georgia horticulturist Paul Thomas’s specialty. And, for holiday plant suggestions, they’re his top pick. But when asked, “What was the best plant you’ve ever gotten for Christmas?” his answer is: “A ming aralia that I got from my mother-in-law. It’s strictly a foliage plant, and it looks like a bonsai. It’s really awesome.”

Ming aralias, specifically polyscias fruticosa ‘elegans’, have carrot-like foliage and woody stems as they get older. A ming aralia was “the plant for kings and queens to have,” he said. “It grows slowly and beautifully.”

While they are beautiful and do make good gifts, they’re also a challenge, he said. The biggest danger is overwatering and over-fertilizing. They only need a tiny bit of diluted fertilizer every few months.

When it comes to buying gift plants, the best place to purchase them is at a local florist’s shop. “They have the best quality, and they’re grown by specialists for the highest quality,” he said.

Thomas likes to give flowering plants as gifts. A deep basket filled with a few pots of colored calla lilies or a basket with a cluster of cyclamen topped with white or silver grass “makes a stunning gift,” he said.

For gift giving, Thomas suggests:

• Calceolaria. The flowers look like a pocketbook, which gives it its common name of ‘pocketbook plant.’ “It’s just cool and unusual,” he said. Flower colors range from yellow to bright red with polka dots. The flowers are delicate, so handle it carefully.

The plants must be kept moist but not flooded with water. They like sunny windowsills that are cool but not freezing. There, they’ll last about a month. They can’t be saved and planted outside in Georgia, because they will die of plant diseases.

• Cinerarias. These plants look like daisies, but their colors are more intense, or, as Thomas puts it, they have “five times the impact” of daisy flowers. The blossom colors range from purple to yellow.

Like calceolaria, they need sunlight and water. “Don’t let either of these plants dry out ever,” he said. “I put them on my coffee table during the day and on the windowsill at night.” They will live about six weeks.

• Cyclamen. These plants bloom white, pink or bright red. They can be found in grocery stores, aren’t expensive and are a great substitute for poinsettias if someone is allergic to latex, which is found in poinsettia plants. Kept cool and moist, cyclamen blooms will last three to four months. “Buy five or six plants and put them in a big basket with white or silver grass, like the kind they sell at Easter,” Thomas said. “It makes a really nice Christmas gift.”

They’re also a good gift plant if the holiday you celebrate isn’t Christmas. Because they are native in Israel, they are a good choice as a Hanukkah plant, he said.

• Miniature roses. These tiny blooming beauties can do double duty as both a holiday plant and a garden attraction come spring. They prefer cool spots inside until all chance of frost has passed. Then plant them near the foundation or in another protected area of the yard.

• Calla lilies. “Normally, people would buy bouquets of calla lilies, but sometimes florists will sell calla lily bulbs in pots,” Thomas said. When growing calla lilies, their bulbs should be kept moist and their flowers dry. The stems also need to be staked so they won’t fall over and break.

“Three to four pots in a deep basket are a really nice gift,” he said. “They’ll last a long time.”

Before visiting a local florist, give them a call, Thomas said, especially if you have one type of plant you might want to give to several different people. “Get your orders in now to get the best quality for the Christmas season,” he said.

By Stephanie Schupska
University of Georgia

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Gifts for the Gardener on Your List

Avid gardener Charlie Christian says people like him enjoy getting gardening-related gifts for Christmas. But if you have gardeners on your shopping list, whatever you do, don’t give them cheap tools. Give them something they’ll remember.

“I speak for a lot of gardeners when I say please don’t give your gardening friends low-quality tools,” said Christian, 73, a retired dentist from Madison, Ga. “I’d much rather receive one high-quality garden tool than a bunch of cheap ones that won’t last a year. And please don’t give an adult a set of child-size tools.”

Christian has been gardening since his father helped him plant a Victory Garden in 1942. He’s also one of state’s 2,500 active Master Gardeners, individuals who have completed the 11-week Master Gardener program provided by the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

Gardeners' list of best gifts

He recently polled the Master Gardeners in his area for their opinions on holiday gifts. The high-end choice gifts were labelers, four-wheel carts and truckloads of garden amendments.
They also wanted Santa to deliver nice hand pruners, lopper pruners, ratchet pruners, garden gloves or garden hoses.

“A sprinkler with a timer would be a great gift, too,” he said. “And a container of Roundup will always be appreciated and put to good use.”

Plants top the list

Among his gardening friends, the most requested gift was plants.

“Everyone wants pass-a-long plants and rooted cuttings,” he said. “I toured a lovely garden recently, and the owner told me it consisted mainly of plants she had received from friends or grew from cuttings.”

Low-light house plants are also great. Gardeners typically like indoor plants, too, he said.
“A plant that can be later planted outside in the garden can serve as a reminder of the gift-giver for years,” Christian said.

Krissy Slagle, the Master Gardener program assistant coordinator, has put a lot of thought into the gifts she’d like to receive.

Hats, gloves and pants

“I’d really like a pair of gardening gloves with hooks on them so you can fasten them on your belt,” she said. “I’m always laying my gloves down, and then I have no idea where they are.”
For the same reason, Slagle wants a sheath or an apron with pockets to keep her gardening tools close at hand. “I’ve even thought of attaching a keychain with a cord to my pruners.”

Clothes are nice, she said, like a hat for sun protection or pants with reinforced knees. Camouflaged pants from hunting supply stores are flexible and hold up well over time.
Give a membership to a botanical garden, she said, or gift certificate from a seed supply company.

Cordless, low-emission power tools

Don’t forget cordless gardening tools, she said. They’re great for small jobs.

“The new cordless tools have lower emissions. So, they are better for the environment, too,” she said. “A cordless saw-all pruner is on the top of my wish list this year.”

She also suggests giving interactive CDs, garden design software or reference books. Her favorite insect book right now is “Garden Insects of North America” written by Colorado State University entomologist Whitney Cranshaw. Any books from CAES horticulturists Michael Dirr or Alan Armitage would be good, too.

Dream gifts, thrifty gifts

Slagle’s pie-in-the-sky dream gift is a Dingo. “It’s a self-propelled compact utility loader with attachments. It’s the all-time, ultimate gardening gift,” she said.

If your pockets aren’t deep enough for a Dingo, most gardeners would be thrilled to get a small tiller, she said.

If your funds are low, though, give a bag of manure, compost or potting soil. Or, build your gardener a compost bin.

“Better yet,” said Christian, “offer to till their garden for them in March. That would truly be a dream gift.”

By Sharon Dowdy
University of Georgia

Sharon Dowdy is a news editor with the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

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Handmade Gifts Make a Holiday Comeback

(ARA) – Instead of battling crowded shopping malls and rising prices, Kim Jacobson is spending time in her garage, building holiday gifts in her home woodshop.

For several years, the Minnesota-based occupational therapist has been handcrafting holiday presents as part of her husband Gary's family's unusual -- and refreshing -- annual gift exchange.

"There's only one rule," Gary explains. "Everything has to be homemade. You draw a name at Christmas and have the next year to make that person a present."

It's a tradition Kim says cuts through the commercialism surrounding the holidays, to the core of what the season is all about.

"A lot of love goes into what you make," she says.

It's also part of an emerging trend, according to Ann Rockler Jackson, chief executive officer of Rockler Woodworking and Hardware, one of the nation's largest suppliers of woodworking tools and equipment.

Jackson has seen her company's gift-related supply sales increase steadily over the past five years and believes more consumers are seeking a back-to-the-basics approach to gifts.

"People are getting tired of the shopping-mall mentality surrounding holiday gifts," she says. "Building your own can be so much more personal. There are a lot of creative people out there making incredible, meaningful gifts they couldn't buy at a store. And that do-it-yourself population is growing.

"Plus, it's a nice way to save money," she says. "When you have the skills and ability to eliminate labor costs by doing something yourself, it pays dividends -- particularly in a tough economy."

As the number of people building gifts increases, so does the flow of ideas. Rockler has organized an extensive handmade gift list on its Web site, www.rockler.com/handmade.

Some of the more popular projects on the list are relatively simple to build -- things like small jewelry or keepsake boxes. Dominoes, cribbage boards and wooden Sudoku sets are among the many options for beginners. And for those with wood lathes, hardware kits for hand-turned pens, Christmas ornaments and even ice-cream scoops bring the quality of homemade gifts up to -- or beyond -- the store-bought level.

For the Jacobsons, high-quality homemade gifts are nothing new. With several accomplished woodworkers in the family, they have seen some amazing creations over the years.

"Probably the most impressive was a dining room table my cousin made for his sister-in-law," Gary says. "That will be an heirloom, for sure."

Still, the beauty of the Jacobson's tradition -- and one of the driving forces behind home gift-building's burgeoning popularity -- has as much to do with fellowship as it does with craftsmanship.

"It's definitely brought us all closer together," Kim says.

Courtesy of ARAcontent

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