Jane Powers suggests some presents for horticulturists
Gardening requires an enormous amount of paraphernalia. This can be a little overwhelming when your little tote-about-the-garden toolbag has swollen to the size of Santa's sack, but it's good news for those who have horticultural loved ones on their Christmas lists. Remember, even if we seem remarkably well-equipped, we are always happy to receive plant labels, big balls of hairy string, green twisty plant ties, and gift vouchers from our favourite garden shop.
THE NEW GARDENER The most obvious, and highly covetable starter gift is a pair of Felco No 2 secateurs (€50-€55 at good garden centres, or €54.95 at Mr Middleton, 58 Mary Street, Dublin 1, www.mrmiddleton.com, with a free Victorinox garden knife). The Burgon & Ball stainless steel handfork and trowel set at €40 will be long lasting; add to them an enamel seed and bulb box (€37.50, both at Formality, Glasthule, Co Dublin).
Handthrown Irish pots from Kiltrea Bridge Pottery, Enniscorthy, Co Wexford are always welcome (€9.50-€270. See range and suppliers at www.kiltreapottery.com.) A Haw's five-litre enamelled watering can (€37.95) and a pair of Brier's "Pink Lady" leather and fabric gloves (€14.50) or black and grey "Professional" gloves (€29.95), all from Avoca, Kilmacanogue, Co Wicklow, are just a few gift ideas from a vast store of them.
A six-issue, one-year subscription to Garden Heaven magazine (€25 from 01-2962021) will arrive with a satisfying thump through the post box. Floral wellies are widely available; look for them at Avoca (€36.95-€49.95), Mackeys, Sandycove, Co Dublin (€30), and Funges, Gorey, Co Wexford, (€25). You might also consider a compost bin for those who will appreciate it: either 220-litre (€44.99) or 330-litre (€59.99) from Woodies, or a 200-litre compost tumbler (€135) from Mackeys. Badger sore muscle rub costs €13.95, from Avoca.
THE PLANTSPERSON The Brother P-Touch garden labeller, which prints fade-proof adhesive tape labels (needs six AAA batteries) costs €49.95 from Mr Middleton and might appeal to the plantsperson, as would a year's subscription to the Irish Garden magazine (10 issues for €38 from 01-2862649). Consider a packet of seeds from the Exotic Seed Collection at Avoca (€4.45-€5.95). The range includes the Ethiopian banana (Ensete ventricosum), datura (Brugmansia sauveolens), pomegranate (Punica granatum) and loofah (Luffa cylindrica).
A two-metre tall Acacia dealbata, A. longifolia full of flower buds (€77), or a camellia raised at Mount Congreve nursery (€11.50-€50) can all be found at Mackeys. Or try an Australian hairpin banksia (Banksia spinulosa), which flowers through the winter (€25 from Murphy & Wood, Cabinteely, Co Dublin) or a Madagascar areca palm (Dypsis lutescens), €59.95, from Avoca.
A huge clematis and rose pot designed by clematis expert Mary Toomey can be found for €94.50 from Mackeys and Kiltrea Bridge Pottery. And gardener's chunky twine in green, red or natural colours (€8.95), Scottish Fine Soaps hand scrub with lemon and tea tree (€6.50), and barrier cream with avocado oil and aloe vera (€10.95) are all available from Avoca.
THE GREEN GARDENER A stainless steel dandelion weeder (€10.95) or deep root weeder (€9.95) from Avoca are starting points in this category. A paper potter, made from beech, for transforming old newspapers into biodegradable pots for seedlings (€19.95, from Mr Middleton) was mentioned in this magazine recently. The choice of bird and wildlife housing is enormous, but we like the Peckers cedarwood range, which includes bird boxes (€12.95 and €14.95), a hedgehog box (€39.95) and a frog box (€29.95), from Murphy & Wood; and the "Multi-bird" birdhouse with four interchangeable panels with different size pop-holes for different bird species (€25.95 from Mr Middleton).
A gift voucher for a gardening course at the Organic Centre, Rossinver, Co Leitrim, 071-9854338 will always inspire. See the range of courses at www.theorganiccentre.ie (from €10 upwards; order before December 20th). Rare varieties of Irish-grown organic vegetable seeds can be had from the Irish Seed Savers Association for €2 per packet, or a year's membership of the organisation for €35 (both from ISSA, Capparoe, Scariff, Co Clare, 061-921866).
A gift of seeds and tools for an Angolan family costs €29, or 4kg of vegetable seeds for a farmer in Cambodia will cost €37, all from Christian Aid (order by December 15th from 17 Clanwilliam Terrace, Dublin 2, 01-6110801). Burt's Bees Hand Salve is an old favourite and costs €12.60 from Avoca.
THE URBAN GARDENER City folk may like an anodised aluminium long tom flower pot in silver or purple (€12.50-€64.95, from Avoca), or a Haw's 2.5-litre enamelled watering can with a down-curved spout for watering pots (€38.95 from Avoca). Clean-lined, minimal Swiss-made birdhouses and feeders in marine-ply and metal cost €68-€75, from Formality.
A miniature lollipop-shaped standard myrtle Myrtus communis (€12 and €20 from Murphy & Wood) and a Burgon & Ball topiary shears for keeping it in shape (€40 from Formality) may also appeal.
A Coronet two-variety apple tree bearing both 'Cox's Orange Pippin' and 'James Grieve' apples will grow no larger than 1.5 x 1 metre and costs €49.95 from Mr Middleton. Coloured tub trugs in pale blue, orange, green and yellow, are widely available, but cheaper than most at Murphy & Wood (26-litre: €8.30, 42-litre: €10.50, 75-litre: €20.71).
Buy orchids only in good garden centres where they are well cared for (€14-€45). A transparent feeder for seed, water and fat balls, with suction cups to attach to the window, costs €24.95 from Mr Middleton. A "Garden" sign to denote the smallest balcony as a corner of Eden (€10 from Formality).
THE GARDENER WHO HAS IT ALL A citrus tree, either a calamondin or a Tuscan lemon costs €27.50-€44.95 at Avoca. A decorative cast-iron pot skate (square or round) for moving around specimen plants in pots is €9.50 at Murphy & Wood. What about an orchard of native Irish apple cultivars? Choose from among 90 varieties of one-year-old maiden whips in pots (€22 each from the Irish Seed Savers Association). Two teeny cranberry plants with a jar of cranberry sauce or cordial can be found for €9.95 in Avoca (must be grown in acid soil).
A ticket to Chelsea Flower Show next May (23rd-27th; the first two days are for RHS members only) costs £29-£42 (€42.40-€61.40) for a day's ticket for members, and £39 (€57) for non-members (May 25th-27th only). Buy online at: www.rhs.org.uk/chelsea/tickets.asp. Or book an overnight trip (May 24th-25th) with TravelQuest Garden Tours: return airfare; private coach transfer; dinner, bed and breakfast in a five-star hotel in Richmond; guided tour of Kew Gardens; and entry to Chelsea Flower Show (€495 per person sharing from 054-83349, www.thebaygarden.com).
And finally, a gift of trees for a needy village, to provide a windbreak, prevent soil erosion and supply fodder and fencing (€50 from Bóthar, 1850-829999. www.bothar.org).
DIARY DATE 8pm, Tuesday, at Killiney Castle Hotel. Bray Flower Club hosts a demonstration by renowned German master florist, Gregor Lersch. €20 at the door.