[Tuesday] “Seeing Trees” Promotion

I’m trying to win a copy of Seeing Trees by Timber Press. It looks like a great book with gorgeous photos. I don’t relish having more competition, but I figured I’d be a jerk if I didn’t share the contest and the book with you. The book’s too pretty to keep to myself.

This is taken from the Timber Press website:

“For many, the tree is a symbol of longevity, integrity, and enduring beauty. But how many of us have truly seen a tree? How well do we know the intimate details and secrets of that old familiar oak in the backyard? In Seeing Trees, author Nancy Ross Hugo teaches us a whole new way of watching a tree. And in breathtaking shots of striking detail, photographer Robert Llewellyn shows us why it’s worth it.

On every page we see the miracle of seeds maturing, leaves unfurling, and flowers emerging. But moreover, this book teaches us what to look for when we slow down and take the time — what we can see in the scars of a leaf, the twig structure, and the pattern of the bark. With profiles of the most familiar and beloved species, including the American Beech, the Red Maple, the Southern Magnolia, and the Tulip Poplar, Seeing Trees opens our eyes to a tree’s shy magnificence, and invites us to deepen our relationship with these earthly treasures.”

If you’d like to enter the contest to win the book, click here. (You can buy the book from Timber Press for $29.95.) Contest ends on September 9th.

I’ll be back manana, hope to see you here.

[Thursday – Plants 101] A Modern Twist on an Old Favorite

When I was a little girl, growing up on a farm in Indiana, I wanted a Barbie Dream House for my birthday desperately. Actually, I wanted a real Barbie doll desperately. I knew, as the fourth of five kids (in a family on a budget), a brand new one was out of the question. I rarely got anything but hand-me-downs, even on my birthday. My older sister didn’t like dolls, so there were no hand-me-down Barbies. Every once in awhile, a friend would take pity on me and give me her old Barbie. On these occasions, I’d be so excited that I would race home and begin playing immediately. Then my brother would come along, grab the doll, and pop the head off. Every. Single. Time.

Dad wasn’t going to waste good money on new dolls for me, much less a huge house for them. So one year, he steered the gift idea a different direction. He decided that we would make a miniature cactus garden together. It would be a great birthday gift for me, and I’d learn all about Nature and such.

I remember we had a crafts book that had a really pretty ceramic container planted with gorgeous plants, with quirky accents like colored rocks and beads. It showed step-by-step instructions how to make one just like it.

It was no Barbie Dream House, but I remember thinking, ok, yes, let’s make something especially for me!

Right away, things went awry. Instead of an elegant ceramic planter, he got a yellow tub. And he didn’t want to bother with pretty colored gravel from a crafts store – he just used gravel from the driveway.

That’s where the story stopped in my little girl head. I know we had that planter for awhile, but I don’t remember becoming enchanted like he promised. I probably just ignored it after that initial disappointment.

Even though it didn’t work out then, I appreciate how Dad tried instilling a love of Nature in me from an early age.

Recently I was exploring ways I could make a modern version of the cactus garden I remember from that crafts book.

Here’s what I came up with – it’s a Desert Fairy Cactus Garden:

This one has rhinestones. That has to make up for my lost childhood dreams, right?

I made this garden mostly with found items, so it would be hard to duplicate exactly. I’m going to show you how I made it, in hopes that it inspires you to make one with your family, or just for yourself. If you get the general idea of how to make a miniature cactus garden, you should be able to make one out of practically anything, based on your personal tastes and what decorations and cacti you have access to. I do not recommend yellow tubs or gravel from the driveway.

How To Make a Desert Fairy Cactus Garden

Imagine being seven years old. Remember when you were little and everything was magical? When fairies were a part of daily life, as monsters in the closet were a part of night time? When you could spend hours playing with toys, making up stories and characters? Can you remember?

Even if you don’t see the world like a seven-year-old does, you can still appreciate creating something beautiful for your home.

Today I’d like to show you step-by-step how to create a Desert Fairy Cactus Garden.

What’s a desert fairy? Desert fairies are similar to other fairies, except that they accept cacti for who they are, thorns and all. They make their homes anywhere cacti grow together.

If you create a cactus garden for your home, chances are the desert fairies won’t be able to resist coming to live there.

Step One: Choose an appropriate container.

For my garden, I used a tv tray that I found on clearance sale at Target. Here’s what it looks like:

The glass bottom was for putting photos inside to make the tray more personal. I didn’t care for that. It’s a little beat up because it sat outside for a spell, it was used briefly as another planter last summer.

It’s a wooden frame that seems pretty sturdy. Will it last for 50 years? Probably not. But because cacti require little water, it’s a good choice for a planter and should last a nice long time. Here’s the view from the bottom:

The key to a good cactus garden is to reduce the chance of root rot, the most common killer of cactus. To do that, you want good drainage (the handles on the side of the tray are good for that) so that water can’t collect near the roots. It also doesn’t hurt to add a layer of pebbles, stones, marbles, whatever you want, at the bottom of the container to provide an extra layer of protection.

Step Two: Limit Risk of Root Rot

I had lots of stones that I hadn’t recycled yet and/or couldn’t bring myself to actually wash. They had originally gone out as gifts in containers with a flowering bulb on top of them (click here for more Nature-inspired gift ideas). I didn’t expect to see them again, but lots of people gave them back to me after the flower died back, hoping I could reuse them.

It’s really not a good use of time to scrub the water marks off, but they would work great as a buffer at the bottom of a plant container. So I used ’em for that:

They’d been in a craft box in my office so I dumped them all into the tray. Then I discovered a dead bee body in the mix:

Classy!

That meant, unbeknownst to me, a bee had at one point been happily buzzing around my office. It’s super to know that now.

Please, feel free to skip the bee carcass step if you’re playing along at home.

At this point, I remembered that I wanted to staple mesh over the handle holes in the tray-turned-planter so the soil would stay in but water would drain out. I should’ve done the mesh first – oopsie. I’d show you a close-up of the mesh but my stapling skills are laughable, so I’m not gonna. You’ll have to trust me when I say that the mesh is secure and it’ll help with drainage.

We’ll skip to the photo where I added a floral mat of sphagnum moss I found at the crafts store:

That’s to provide a layer of separation between the soil and the colored stones. It’s another layer of protection against root rot.

Step Three: Add the Potting Soil Mix

For indoor gardens like the one I made, it’s important to use high-quality potting mixes, the kind you find at your local nurseries. I found a small bag of Ferti-Lome cactus mix at Rehm’s Nursery here in Albuquerque.

The bags of soil at the big box stores, like the Miracle Gro they sell at Lowe’s and Home Depot, get left out in the rain, where they get infected with fungus gnats. It’s annoying. By spending a little more for high-quality soil, you save yourself the hassle of having gnats flying around your home.

I usually use FoxFarm potting mix, but Rehm’s didn’t have the size bag I wanted. (Rehm’s has lots of good brands, including Black Gold soil and Uni-Gro soil mix.)

Add the soil mix, pressing as much in there as you can:

Keep the soil below the lip, to prevent spillage when you go to water the planter.

Step Four: Start Adding Plants and Bling

I found some small bottles at a thrift store that I thought would add an otherworldly look, and placed them down into the soil:

Oh, the flower shaped candle holder is going to be the fairies’ swimming pool. Because everyone knows fairies need pools.

I checked out plants from a few different nurseries in town. My goal was to find a handful of compatible plants. They didn’t have to have exactly the same water needs, so long as they were similar. I was looking for different textures and shapes, and varying degrees of thorniness. Cacti and succulents tend to have shallow roots, so it wasn’t difficult to find suitable plants for the thinnish planter.

I found this Dyckia ‘Burgundy Ice’ at Osuna Nursery. It was grown at McLain Greenhouses in Estancia, New Mexico:

I cleaned the excess soil off the roots, then she went into the planter. I like how dramatic the planter looks already:

Also from Osuna Nursery, this Opuntia (of some sort, I think, it wasn’t labelled) has soft glochids and therefore didn’t hurt to handle. Very delicate though, so I had to be careful as I separated the two plants growing in the small container:

I planted each in different parts of the planter:

I had picked up three tiny cacti at Lowe’s a few weeks back because they were on sale and fresh off the truck. A Chamaelobivia ‘Rose Quartz’, Mammillaria elognata ‘Goldilocks’ and a Pilosocereus. Each were gently placed into the planter with the help of tongs and thick gloves.

Here’s the garden once the planting was finished:

The planter was big enough to give each plant its own space, and a little room to grow.

Step Five: Decorate!

Now the fun part, decorating! Beginning with decorative white sand from the crafts store:

When I poured the sand in, it naturally made dunes and valleys, which I kept rather than combing the sand even. It’s like a miniature White Sands, New Mexico!

Then I sprinkled lots of shiny things, including colored pebbles and rhinestones, throughout the planter. Because everyone knows fairies love shiny things:

Voilà, every seven-year-old’s dream garden. Well, most little girls don’t dream of thorns. But even so, this planter can be a great way to instill a love of Nature in kids of all ages.

So what do you think? Do you think you might try making a Desert Fairy Cactus Garden with your kids? I hope I gave you enough information to rev up your imagination to the possibilities. Let me know if you do make one, and please, take lots of photos.

I’ll be back manana with an all-new Ask the Experts panel. Tomorrow’s question is “Which, if any, houseplant would make a good gift for a college-bound kid?” Tune in to see how they answered, and for an all-new plant puzzler as well. Hope to see you here.

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In case you were wondering: The plural of cactus is technically cacti, although cactuses is accepted, as is cactus. I like to use cacti only when it’s really obvious I mean more than one plant (because I don’t like how the word cacti sounds in my head), and cactus the rest of the time.

[Monday] Happy Valentine’s Day

Hello lovers, and happy Valentine’s Day to you.

My wish for you is that your love grows as easily and as gracefully as Hyacinth bulbs do with a little care.

And that your relationships unfold, reveal, expose, blossom and shine. Even if they start out looking like turtles at first.

May you stay forever young.

I’ll be back manana, hope to see you here.

[Tuesday – Flowers and Flowering Plants] A Cure for the Common Winter

Hi candy hearts, and happy Tuesday!

Have you started thinking about Valentine’s Day gifts for your sweetie?

How about for your kids?

Flowering Hyacinth bulbs make great gifts for kids for Valentine’s Day. Why?

1. You can buy bulbs at 50 – 75% off normal prices (because it’s January) from your local nursery.

2. Kids will delight in watching the flower grow and participating in the process. If you start them together now, they should be blooming by Valentine’s Day.¹

3. They’re easy to grow. Bulbs grow in water, so kids simply have to add water every few days to keep the water line at the bottom of the bulb.

4. Hyacinths are wonderfully fragrant. It’s a special reward for the “work” of growing them.

5. Flowering bulbs can help instill a lifelong love of Nature in your kids.

The bulbs I recently bought at a local nursery were already budding:

Once I put them in water, it took only one day for them to begin sending out roots. So bulbs can be an easy last-minute gift, too.

And for kids of all ages, Hyacinth bulbs make great gifts for February and March birthdays and anniversaries.

If you decide to use Hyacinth bulbs as gifts this year, I’d love to hear about it. I’ll be back manana with a new edition of The Plant Lady Chronicles², hope to see you here.

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¹ Hopefully they’ll be blooming by then. It’s hard to predict – some bulbs are enthusiastic growers, some are slower. It also depends on how much light they are getting (the more the better). But does it matter if they’re not blooming exactly on Valentine’s Day? I don’t think so. It’s the thought that counts, not the date. Whenever you have fresh flowers indoors, especially when it’s snowy and dreary outdoors, life’s good.

² Fair warning to the faint-hearted – there’s a reference to poop in tomorrow’s post. Not human poop, but poop nonetheless.

[Monday] How To Stick It To the Man!

Hi sugar plums, and happy Monday!

I really like getting something for nothing. I don’t mean getting rewarded without doing hard work – I’ve never shied away from an honest day’s work. I’m talking about getting free stuff.

This time of year, I like to take advantage of what other people (Lowe’s and Home Depot) consider waste. Employees prune the bottom branches of their Christmas trees, then toss them into big boxes, and you can help yourself for free.¹

I went to a Lowe’s a few days ago and went searching for branches. There was a family there buying a tree, and the Mom was standing in front of the scrap box. I walked up and asked her, “Hey, these are free, right?” She said, “Yeah, but what do you do with them?” I told her my plan, and thought I’d show you, too.

I use the branches in a couple of different ways. I make wreaths for clients, family. It works great as long as you have a loose interpretation of what constitutes a wreath.

The first step is to use wire to tie the branches together:

Then you simply tie a festive ribbon around the top and hang your wreath.

Martha over at Plowing Through Life said she has done away with the mess and stickiness of having a live Christmas tree in the house. I was thinking of her when I decided to put some of the branches in vases. I wanted to have the smell of pine in the house, without the mess of a whole tree.

So I guess those big box stores are good for something.

I’ll be back manana, hope to see you here.

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¹ My regular readers already know that I do not recommend buying plants from the big box stores – they are always infested with bugs. If you want quality plants, you have to find a good local nursery.

[Thursday] Let the Holidays Begin!

Christmas decorations have been in the stores since before Halloween, I ignored them. One of the Albuquerque radio stations started playing all Christmas music – the same boring-ass songs over and over – back in October and I haven’t listened to it since. People have been trying to jam the holidays down my throat for months now, and I don’t get what everyone’s hurry is. Well, I do, everyone’s trying to make a buck, or fifty, but jeezlouise! It’s over the top! Right?

But now that it’s December, all is forgiven. Christmas is around the corner, then the New Year. This time of year is really fun, or really stressful, usually both.

I’m one of *those* people who pick up gifts all year round, then stash them away for this time of year. The way I look at it, I know this time of year will come around again – it usually comes whizzing forward, frighteningly faster each year – so I think about that in January, and in February and on. And I have a lot of people I like to shower with affection, and I think about those people day after day. So if I see something I think they would like, even if it’s in April, I’ll buy it and put it away until December.

If you think that’s annoying, well, too bad. I think it’s smart. Since I have the majority of my shopping done, I can spend December baking, creating, hanging out with friends and family.

I know there are people out there who really thrive and love shopping at the last minute, something about an adrenaline rush, I’m not sure. But I think what happens to most of us is that we intend to pick up little things all year round, but then life gets in the way and the next thing you know, bam, it’s December again!

Suddenly, you either need a tip (cashola) or an inexpensive gift for your kids’ teachers and bus drivers, your postal carrier, your kindly elderly neighbor, your therapist, your colleagues, your hairdresser, your doctor, the list goes on and on. Then the holidays become very stressful.

If that’s you, luckily, I can help. That’s right, I have an easy, inexpensive solution for anyone who’s feeling a little overwhelmed by the holidays right now. My regular readers can probably see this coming a mile away, but if you’re new, you’re going to be wowed!! Ok, maybe that’s a little too much pressure on me – how about we say you’ll be ok’d, like, “ok, that’s a decent solution for me. It’d be better if you gave me piles of cash, but ok.”

Here we go. Are you ready?

Flower bulbs! Yup, highly predictable of me. But let me walk you through the timeline and see if you don’t start thinking it’s a great gift right about now.

I started some holiday bulbs of my own on November 15th. You can read the post about it by clicking here. But maybe you don’t want to click, so in short, I like to get glass containers from thrift stores, glass stones or marbles from a dollar store or the crafts store, and bulbs from local nurseries. Bulbs don’t need potting soil – just water and a little sunlight. So I poured the stones in the glass containers, plopped a bulb on top, then filled them up with water, so the base of the bulb was in water, but the whole thing wasn’t submerged.

The very next day, all the Hyacinths had roots growing. Four days later, the first hint of green:

The following pictures were taken on December 1st, only 10 days after starting the bulbs:

Will they be blooming exactly by Christmas? Maybe, I don’t know, but I’m impressed with their progress so far. Also, I don’t care. They’re gifts now – they don’t have to be in full bloom.

Here’s what you do. Start a whole bunch of Hyacinth bulbs today, or in the next few days, and put them in a sunny spot (just do the best you can). You fill the containers with water just to the bottom of the bulb, then add water every few days to maintain that water line. Once you see the roots go, the green will be right behind it, then you’ve got practically instant¹ tokens of your affection that will happen to smell really wonderful once in bloom.

Since I said I would help you, I’ve composed this scenario with a conversation you can use verbatim. Hey, maybe a lot of you are shy, I’m just trying to be helpful.

Let’s say you want to do something nice for your son’s 2nd grade teacher. You start a Hyacinth bulb for her, care for it until you see a little green, then you go visit her in the classroom. Here’s what you say:

You: “Hi Mrs. Boyd, you’re looking as lovely as ever.”

Mrs. Boyd: “Why thank you dear, I remember when you were a student of mine. A fine student, indeed.”

You: “Thank you for remembering me. I remember you well. Funny thing, do you remember how you caught me popping my knuckles one day in the 2nd grade and you scolded me and told me to never, ever pop my knuckles because they would turn out gigantic and horrific looking like yours? You even included a dramatic pause before you whipped your hands out so I could get a good long look at my future as an old lady, do you remember that? Scared the crap out of me! Never touched my knuckles again. Well, turns out, science has proven you wrong. Popping knuckles does not make them bigger, it does nothing at all except make a child happy to be alive. The scientists said you must have bad genes if you have big knuckles. Oh, I made a gift for you, you’ve been a great teacher for my son.”

Mrs. Boyd: “Um, what?”

You: “All you have to do is add a little water every three or four days, and in a few weeks, you’ll have a fragrant lovely flower in your house, when it’s cold and dreary outside.”

Mrs. Boyd: “Why thank you. Er, I think. Wait, what?”

You: “The pleasure was all mine. Bye now!”

Then you beat it out the door. That’s right, that’s how you handle the stressful holidays. Does everyone feel better now? Good!

I’ll be back manana with a plant puzzler. The experts in our normal Friday “Ask the Experts” panel are on sabbatical until after the new year, so it’s just me. Gosh, I hope I don’t develop abandonment issues – you should check back often to make sure I don’t!

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¹ A reference to yesterday’s assertion that while we live in an instant gratification society, Nature has her own pace.

[Tuesday] Nature-Inspired Holiday Gift Ideas for Plant Lovers

Continuing on from yesterday, I spent a decent amount of time on Etsy.com over the weekend looking for gifts for plant lovers.

I get that everyone has different tastes – these are the items that caught my eye, as a Nature lover. I know most of my readers are plant people, so hopefully everyone will be inspired to help support these hard-working artists who make it look so easy to incorporate Nature into their art.

I would highly encourage you to visit Etsy on your own and do your own searches. I believe that handmade gifts say “I love you” better than anything you can find at a mall.¹

Nature-Inspired Holiday Gift Ideas for Plant Lovers

As with yesterday’s post, all the disclaimers about price and availability apply here. And as I said before, just talk to the artist – they’re generally very, very nice people and will accommodate you whenever possible.

I didn’t formulate specific criteria for my search. I knew I wanted beautiful, creative, unique or just plain awesome stuff. I knew I wanted a variety of gifts – kitchen items, artwork, cute kids’ stuff, jewelry – but only a sampling of each type. I could’ve easily included 5,000 items with owls or strawberries on them, but I didn’t want to do that to you.

There are a lot of items listed on Etsy. Searches for generic terms like “nature gifts” resulted in 34,681 thousand entries, just to give you an idea. Obviously, I missed a lot of talented people.

Some of the items are on the list I assembled for you because they’re adorable (like the kid’s stuff). Some because I liked the “upcycling,” (apparently that’s the new buzzword for taking an item bound for the trash and turning it into something new – it’s not recycling, it’s one better). Others I picked because they moved me in some way – by taking me to another time and place, or in some cases, by initially deterring me. There were a number of times I’d look at something someone created and I’d be like, “No,” but then I’d be forced to ask myself why I was reacting like that. Then blah, blah, blah, through that process I ended up liking the item. It was fun.

I’ll show you the item first, then explain my reaction to it, if I had one (it was mostly the art that caused a reaction in me, the other stuff is just, well, cool stuff). I’ll keep the explanations brief, because it’s entirely possible they are very boring.

Let’s start with the artwork (photography and painting):

This is called Endless Summer, by photographer Carl Christensen, from his shop BucksCountyFrames. $30.00. Aptly named piece, took me straight to the beach and all the happy memories I have with beaches.

This artist, ketzelphotography, has a selection of small prints that creeped me out, intrigued me. Something about birds – I have a hard time not staring at them. Once I got over that initial reaction, I began thinking how cool one of these would look tucked away in a bookshelf. $18.00.

This is a set of three 5×7 metallic prints from photographer bomobob. What can I say, I just think they are really pretty photos. $15.00

I’m a sucker for colorful abstract Nature art, hence this piece by ArtDivaCompany. $149.00

Love the artwork from ShannaCreations. She’s got lots of beautiful creations in her shop. The one above is listed for $225.00.

At first glance, I didn’t like these. I thought they were like a painted version of a polished geode, but then I realized the artist was painting Elm tree slices. Then I decided I LOVE them. Especially for a dreary apartment, a man cave, or a boy’s room. FocusLineArt, $98.99.

Before I leave the artwork category, I want to give a shoutout for wall decals. Artists, please don’t cringe – I’m a fan of buying original artwork whenever possible. But c’mon, wall decals are a great (inexpensive) invention. You can change the look of a whole room just by adding some decals. And when you’re bored with those, you peel them off and put new ones up. NouWall, $70.oo

Ok, next, kitchen stuff! Yay for cool kitchen stuff!

I really like these bowls – they’re graceful. Made from Box Elder Wood. Makye77, $46.00.

Queen Anne’s lace handprinted linen napkins. By SusanShinnick, $28.00 for set of four.

Three nature-inspired plates by 22pages, $35.00.

Now on to a couple of random items:

My first reaction to these tights were “hated ’em,” then very quickly, I changed to “love them.” Again, I have bird issues. By post, $21.oo

I think these seed packets are downright adorable, and such a good example of upcycling. From TheLittleRagamuffin, they sell them in packs of 100, good for wedding or party favors, $245.00.

A few gifts for kids:

I love these adorable soy wax crayons, by earthgrowncrayons, $6.

Awwwwww! Strawberry Mary Janes, by BobkaBaby, $25.00

Personalized Nature Kit by jawilder, $30.00. I haven’t seen a pond in ages, but if I were a kid with a kit like this and I was around a pond, bliss!

Sweet toddler duck t-shirt, by CritterJitters, $11.20. Remember when little boys were considered hyperactive and weren’t automatically medicated for life? Aahhh, the good ol’ days.

So what do you think of these gifts? I have a lot more artists I’d like to feature – especially in the jewelry department – but what do you think? Do you like these posts? Also, what type of gifts are you going to give this holiday season? I’d love to know!

I’ll be back manana, hope to see you here!

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¹ No, that is not an invitation to a debate on the matter, just in case there’s anyone out there inspired by my remarks to extol the virtues of shopping malls.

[Monday] Holiday Gift Guide for Plant Lovers

Hey peaches, happy Monday! Hope you all had a nice holiday break. I know I did.

I was in the mountains during the Black Friday frenetic shopping extravaganza. I like to avoid crowds when I can, but also, I just think shopping malls offer boring gifts. I like buying stuff for myself from malls, but when it comes to gifts for family and friends, mall stuff doesn’t say “I love you,” well enough for my liking.

I often turn to Etsy.com for gifts. My sister got me hooked on the fun of buying straight from the artists with her cute site, Charlotte’s Fancy. Her site is  primarily a family crafts site, but she also loves to feature her favorite artists from Etsy.

I decided to copy her idea, but with gifts for plant lovers specifically in mind. Today, I’ll share the best houseplant gifts I found. Most of these use easy-to-care-for plants, like tillandsia (air plants), so they’re nice gifts for someone you know loves plants, but doesn’t need the extra work.

Then I’ll be back manana with a more general category of “Nature-inspired” gifts, including artwork, jewelry, cute stuff for kids, kitchen items and more. Lots and lots of adorable items from which to choose.

Holiday Gift Guide for Plant Lovers

As I perused the Etsy site, I was mainly looking for beautiful plants and/or containers that would impress people who already had a love for houseplants. I was hoping to find artists who were skilled at incorporating plants into their art. There were several.

One thing to note about prices – I’m listing what the prices were listed over the weekend. I don’t know how often prices fluctuate on any given day, but I have heard that many artists are having sales for Cyber Monday. You may pay less. Woohoo if that happens!

Also, just a quick note about availability. These are handmade items – the artist might sell out before you get a chance to buy them. I’m sorry if that happens. You should contact the artist, because in my experience, these kind folks will work with you to the best of their ability.

Here are some of the interesting gifts I found:

I featured this artist around this time last year, Michael McDowell, aka mudpuppy. He keeps creating the most beautiful planters:

Beautiful! $32.00.

Check out this inspired living lamp from toHold:

Amazing, right? The Los Angeles artist used tillandsia to create a stunning piece of art. You can remove the globe once every couple of weeks to water the plants, or mist them where they are. $349.00

My regular readers know what a fan of succulents I am, so they’ll understand why I think this succulent wreath is so charming:

From SucculentsGalore, it’s listed as $68.95.

What do you think of these adorable “Three Tiny Terrariums” from TortoiseLovesDonkey?

The artist is pretty enthusiastic about making these for your window sill, too, so check out her site. $14.50 for the set.

I also really like these glass ornaments from artist plantology:

Wouldn’t they make sweet centerpieces for a holiday dinner? They’re listed at $28 each.

There were several artists selling living ornaments. I like this one from WarmCountryMeadows because she used coffee beans:

Aaahhhh, I love the smell of coffee. This is listed at $12.99.

I’m a big fan of this culinary herb wreath from Kyhunly:

It’s such a nice gift for the chef in the house – he or she could hang it in the kitchen and use the herbs all winter long. This one is listed at $40, but she has others that range in herbs and prices.

On the shop for TeenyTinyGreenhouses, I found that the artist uses pretty little containers:

The plant is included. If you don’t like her plant choices, I’ll bet she’d be willing to discuss other options. $11.

There were lots of variations on terrariums on Etsy.com. I really liked this artist’s, Jo2SF, creations:

He’s got lots of different terrariums on his site. This set is $80.00.

Also, I found these mini-terrariums interesting:

They are from SteamedGlass, $35.00.

Here’s a whimsical gift idea from AlissaRose:

She hollows out a cork, fills it with soil and a plant, and attaches a magnet to the side you can stick it on the refrigerator when you’re not using it as a wine cork. That’s pretty cute. $3.50 each.

All of the above items can be found on Etsy.com. One more gift I would recommend for plant lovers isn’t from Etsy, but it’s such a nice gift, I wanted to include it as well.

That gift is the gift of trees. You can buy trees for someone else at only $3 per tree, and/or you get 10 free trees for joining the Arbor Day Foundation. I think trees make a thoughtful gift, for plant and garden lovers everywhere.

As I said, I’ll be back tomorrow with Nature-inspired gift ideas from more Etsy artists. Hope to see you back here!

[Thursday] Nature-Inspired Holiday Gift Ideas

This should come as a surprise to no one: I think seeds make great gifts, too.

Yeah, huge shocker.

I’ll be back manana with an all-new Ask the Experts panel and a new plant puzzler. You still have time to submit a guess for last week’s puzzler – the deadline is midnight tonight, MST.

[Wednesday] More Nature-Inspired Holiday Gift Ideas

Hi grapes, and happy Wednesday!

Yesterday I showed you how to plant bulbs in containers now for fresh flowers in time for Christmas. I’ve been on this kick for the last few years to give gifts that can be consumed, rather than adding to anyone’s clutter. At this point, I’ve seen one too many episodes of Hoarders to reverse this trend.

I’ve seen a lot of garden bloggers write about how they’ve toiled away, canning their precious vegetables and fruits, preserving them to eat at a later date. It struck me as a great gift idea.

I’m not sure if those gardeners realize how special it is to get a little piece of someone’s garden during December (or anytime in the winter). I hope they do. I didn’t grow any fruits or vegetables, so it seems really special to me anyway. It could be that I’m super easy to please, but we’ll leave that discussion for another time.

So a few weeks ago when my friend Kitty asked if I’d like to help her with some canning, I jumped at the chance.

Kitty has an “urban farm.” I put that in quotes because Albuquerque reminds me more of the wild, wild west than an urban area, but it’s a city nonetheless. She has apple trees and grape vines, in addition to her vegetable and herb gardens, so she definitely qualifies as a farmer in my book.

To make sure she didn’t waste her bounty of fruits and vegetables, she canned as much of it as she could.

She started by showing me how to use her grapes to make a delicious grape jam.

This is a houseplant blog, so I’m not going to go on and on about how she turned fresh grapes into jam (I can, if you want, but I’m not going to assume any of my regular readers want that). Instead, I’ll show you a few random photos, then jump to how I’m turning her efforts into thoughtful holiday gifts.

The above photo reminds me of how wonderful her kitchen smelled that day.

She also made chutney with, among other ingredients, her abundant crop of apples:

Even though she did all the work, she was generous enough to let me keep several of the jars of chutney and jam. She knew I wanted to dress them up for the holidays and give them as gifts.

From the crafts store, I collected cute holiday decorations:

I believe that anything homemade makes a great gift. Fudge, cookies, chutney, jam, soup – whatever, as long as it’s made from fresh ingredients and with lots of love. Again, maybe I’m just easy to please, but I think it’s more than that – it’s about sharing the fruits of your labor and nurturing those around you.

If you have lots of preserved food but haven’t thought to use them as gifts, I hope you reconsider. Look how cute you can make them:

Aw, adorable! Who wouldn’t want homemade fresh jam or chutney to eat when it’s snowy and dreary outside?