Jane Powers picks her dream gardening gifts.
Alan Titchmarsh has one, Belvedere Garden has one, and Ireland's most self-indulgent millionaires have one (or more). So dear Santa, please send me an Alitex greenhouse for Christmas. Ideally, I'd like one similar to the 10 x 6-metre Thomas Messenger-style Victorianesque structure at Belvedere, with built-in heating and external cold frames. €100,000 is too much? Well, how about the 2.6 x 3.5-metre National Trust model, for around €15,000? (Alitex agents: The Greenhouse Company of Ireland, Donore, Co Meath, 041-9880600)
Oh all right, just chancing my arm: a dinky little hardwood plant house will do just fine, €120 for the 78cm tall and 58cm wide one, and €150 for the 110cm tall and 76cm wide model. They look a bit like outdoor china cupboards, but with twin-walled polycarbonate "glazing" instead of glass, and will do nicely for starting out seedlings, hardening off plants and protecting my treasures (Mr Middleton, 58 Mary Street, Dublin 1, 01-8731118).
And speaking of treasures, nothing is as precious, extravagant and over-the-top as Chelsea Flower Show (24th-28th May), so I wouldn't mind a couple of for that. The first two days are for members of the Royal Horticultural Society, while the remaining three are open to anyone, as long as they have a ticket. (From £26-£38, plus £2 booking fee. Telephone: 00-44-870-9063780 (for members), 00-44-870-9063781 (non-members), www.rhs.org.uk/events/chelsea2005.asp. And if I can't have that (because I know such a present has to include flights and accommodation as well), perhaps a season ticket to one of my favourite Irish gardens? (From €25, prices vary.)
I'd also love a spring garden like Helen Dillon's Ranelagh patch, filled with gently nodding hellebores and other early gems. But, as I realise that that's highly unlikely, if I could take just the hellebores instead, I'd be happy. Murphy and Wood (Johnstown Road, Cabinteely, Co Dublin, 01-2854855) has a whole rake of them imported from Belgium in chic colours such as apricot, black and red, and paler ones with curious veins, freckles and blushes (€15.95). They're being forced into flower for Christmas with a bit of gentle heat, so at least my hellebores (for this season at least) will be earlier than anyone else's.
When I'm admiring them in the chill winter weather, it would be comforting if I could keep warm with sups of tea from a sleek, stainless-steel, insulated mug with a lid (from €8, camping and outdoor shops).
While we're on the subject of weather, Oregon Scientific makes a super-duper, touch-screen weather station (Viking Marine, The Pavilion Centre, Dún Laoghaire, 01-2806654) that I rather fancy. Not only does it display the temperature (both indoors and out), barometric pressure, time and date, but it also communicates with solar-powered gizmos in the garden that measure wind speed and direction, rainfall and humidity. It's not cheap, at €799, so if I'm being too greedy, I'll settle for one of the less exorbitant models. They have fewer features, but enough to keep this weather-watching gardener busy with her notes and records. Argos (36 shops in Ireland, including 18 in Northern Ireland) has a range priced from €62.99 to €219.99.
Every gardener should have a robin in attendance, and while I do have a red-breasted friend who burbles softly around me, I've yet to persuade it to feed from my hand. So, I'd like some delicacies for its Christmas dinner, to tempt it into my palm. A tub of approximately 700 dried mealworms costs €5.25 (from Mr Middleton). Of course, live wigglers (€9.99 for three tubs containing approximately 1,400) might be more enticing, but these need to be stored somewhere cool. For gardeners who are squeamish about this kind of avian treat, there are plenty of inanimate bird foods and feeders to place them in (in good garden centres, and at BirdWatch Ireland, Rockingham House, Newcastle, Co Wicklow; open Mon-Fri, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. and 2.15-4.30 p.m., 01-2819878).
Gardeners, being down-to-earth sorts, aren't really into branding, yet I (and my fellow soil workers) wouldn't say no to a Felco secateurs (€24.95-€69.95), a Haws galvanised watering can (€79.95- €99.95), or a decent stainless steel trowel and hand fork, such as those made by Burgon & Ball (around €25).
Other than that, what I'd really like for Christmas is a balanced and happy garden, six to eight hours of sunshine a day, and a gentle two-hour fall of rain each night in the growing season.