I DON'T know of a single gardener who doesn't love the scrunch-and-slap of a special magazine ruffling through the letter box and onto the mat. With that happy sound comes the promise of hours of tea-with-magazine, coffee-with-magazine, magazine-in-bed and magazine-here-there-and-everywhere. Gardeners are continually in search of information and fantasy: both ably supplied by a good mag.
Meanwhile, becoming a member of a good, solid gardening association will further the quest for information (if not fantasy), with talks and workshops to attend, exclusive gardens to visit and the possibility of fraternising with like-minded folks. Some organisations have lists of free seeds: often seeds that are rare, and not for sale through the usual sources. So here, without further preamble, are a few ideas for subscriptions to both magazines and gardening associations. I hope at least one of them will make a welcome gift for a gardener dear to you.
The Irish Garden goes from strength to strength, and is now ranked among the country's best-selling monthly magazines. Written by Irish gardeners and writers, it's more topical than publications from across the sea, and is strong on the practicalities of gardening in our climate. Subscribers become members of the Irish Garden Club, and can avail of discounts on selected garden products, join tours of Irish gardens and partake in seed and plant swaps.
Year's subscription (10 issues): £20 (£20 sterling for Northern Ireland). The Irish Garden, PO Box 69, Bray, Co Wicklow. Telephone: 01-2862649; e-mail: subs@tig.iol.ie
Gardens Illustrated is a gourmet gardening magazine: luscious photography and oodles of style. It carries accounts of gardens from all over the world, as well as plant profiles, interviews and practical advice. The only problem is that - like other British publications - it may appear at the newsagent's a full week or more before it flops into Irish houses.
Year's subscription (10 issues): £45 sterling (£29.50 for Northern Ireland). Gardens Illustrated Subscriptions, Customer Interface, Bradley Pavilions, Bradley Stoke North, Bristol BS32 0PP, England. Telephone: 0044-1454-618905; fax: 0044-1454620080.
Kitchen Garden is an excellent, solid tool for the home fruit and vegetable gardener. There is in-depth information on many aspects of raising produce, with a refreshing emphasis on organic methods.
Year's subscription (12 issues): £34 sterling (£27.50 for Northern Ireland). The Kitchen Garden Subscription Department, Warners, West Street, Bourne, Lincolnshire PE10 9PH, England. Telephone: 0044-1778391180; fax: 0044-1778-393668.
New Eden, "the contemporary gardens magazine", was launched earlier this year with much brouhaha. To be honest, the first issue was a bit of a disappointment, but it has found its feet now as a smart, design-conscious periodical. The "how-to" end of things is aimed at the near-beginner.
Year's subscription (six issues): £30 sterling (£18.90 for Northern Ireland). IPC Magazines, PO Box 272, Haywards Heath, West Sussex RH16 3FS, England. Telephone: 0044-1444-445555; credit card hotline: 0044-1622-778778; e-mail: ipc.subscriptions@rbp.co.uk
My favourite gardening magazine is The Garden, published by The Royal Horticultural Society in Britain. It arrives automatically each month as part of my annual subscription to the society. It manages to be glossy and beautifully photographed while being full of expert, believable information. Other membership fillips are free entry to 35 British gardens, members-only days at Chelsea Flower Show and a wonderful seed list.
Gift membership package (includes bonus of the RHS Good Plant Guide, a sample copy of The Garden, and a blank gift card): £39 sterling; normal membership: £5 sterling; special rate membership, purchased over the Internet: £30. Membership Department, RHS, PO Box 313, London SW1P 2PE. Telephone: 0044-171-2338300.
The Henry Doubleday Research Association is the organic organisation. Boundless advice on environmentally-friendly growing is available through its journal, fact sheets and advisory service. A Heritage Seed Library keeps old vegetable varieties alive, including those that have been elbowed out of seed catalogues by newer, more profitable hybrids.
Annual membership, including four issues of Organic Way magazine: £18.50 sterling. Membership of Heritage Seed Library (includes six packets of seed and four issues of Seed News) £9 sterling if included with HDRA membership; £18 sterling for membership of HSL alone. HDRA, Ryton Organic Gardens, Coventry CV8 3LG. Telephone: 0044-24-7630-3517.
The Royal Horticultural Society of Ireland is nearly 170 years old and has more than 1,200 gardeners on board. Members may attend lectures, shows and plant sales free of charge. Garden tours (home and abroad) are organised. Annual membership (includes three newsletters): £20 RHSI, Swanbrook House, Bloomfield Avenue, Donnybrook, Dublin 4. Telephone: 01-6684358.
The Irish Garden Plant Society is concerned with the conservation of garden plants and gardens and has undertaken various restoration projects in the past. There is a special interest in propagating Irish cultivars - and passing them on through an annual plant sale. Members attend lectures and workshops, and partake in garden visits, often to private gardens that don't normally open. Last year's seed swap list had hundreds of varieties on it.
Annual membership (includes quarterly newsletter and the approximately-yearly journal Moorea): £15 (£15 sterling in Northern Ireland). Subscriptions taken out now run until April 2001. The Irish Garden Plant Society c/o The National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, Dublin 9 (letters only please).
The Alpine Garden Society, Dublin Group, is devoted to growing, studying, collecting (and no doubt, coveting) those little horticultural gems: alpine and rock garden plants. Members attend lectures, workshops, shows and partake in field trips and a highly successful (and fun) annual weekend at Termonfeckin.
Annual membership (includes two newsletters): £7. W. Moore, 32 Braemor Park, Dublin 14.
Jane Powers can be contacted at jpowers@irish-times.ie