Need a few more gifts? How about visiting your local nursery or garden center. Yes, you should Shop Local, and a small family owned store like a garden center or nursery certainly fits the ticket!  Garden centers and nurseries have so many lovely gifts, and it doesn’t have to be a “gardening” gift!

Nurseries Have More than Plants

Plants and plant care items abound at nurseries of course, but so do all manner of other possible gifts.  We will get back to plants.

Feed the Birds

Over 50 percent of Americans polled like to watch birds in their yard.  I have yet to visit a garden center that did not offer bird feeders. Garden centers and nurseries generally have a number of beautiful bird feeders. Seed feeders, nut feeders, suet feeders, and hummingbird feeders.

Problem with seed, nut and suet feeders is that the recipient will have to keep buying stuff to stock them. Maybe you, as the gift giver, can do that the first time – but then what? You don’t want to give a gift that carries a burden. So choose hummingbird feeders! They are easier to maintain – most folks have some sugar at home! Hummingbird feeders are a pleasure, even for apartment dwellers.

Speaking of hummingbirds. Copper Hummingbird is a local Tucson artisan that worked at with hummingbirds at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. She has the best hummingbird feeders ever! I cherish the one I got from her about 20 years ago now.  Yes, they are that durable!  NOTE. If you do want one – please buy from her website or at one of the many markets around Arizona. There are cheap knockoffs from China available on Jeff’s megasite. And I can say this without fear of retribution because it is a truthful statement.

If the recipient is a gardener then bird attracting plants are an option. But unless you know their garden well – a gift card might be better. Also, gifting an outdoor plant assumes that they will have time to plant the plant, which might not be the case during the holidays.

Gardening with Soule on Birds

(Links on this site are in blue.  Links to  other sites are in maroon.)

Bird Gardening class on my Classes site.  This class is available for a limited time.

Bird Gardening article

More Bird Gardening article

Hummingbird Gardening article

Nut feeders – these work to keep woodpeckers off your home – on YouTube

Feed the wild birds with your yard – on YouTube

Sadly, you also need to Protect young plants from Birds – on YouTube

Garden Art

Garden art and artifacts are multitudinous.    To keep on the bird theme, how about a bird bath?    Water in the desert is always a treat.    If the recipient doesn’t want to maintain a bird bath, it can be re-purposed into a planter.

Garden art can be whimsical or representational.    What best suits the giftee?    Personally, I like rabbits, but when it comes to rabbits in the garden I only like them if they are statues. My article about keeping rabbits out of the garden.

Build-able Art

One of my favorite local nurseries is Rillito Nursery. Along with almost everything else plant related, they also have Lego flower sets! How fun is that?! It’s like a 3-D puzzle that is tons of fun to put together. If your recipient likes puzzles.

Wind Chimes

This is one where it is best to know the recipient well and know if they like wind chimes (also – how about their spouse liking wind chimes?). Some folks love wind chimes, some people hate them. I personally like nice deeply resonant chimes. I am not a fan of the little tinkle-tinkle ones.

House Plants

These are easy to “wrap” and give. I has a photo of this in last week’s post about decorating your home for the holidays. Just take the front off last years holiday cards. Tape them together (on the insides). Place the plant pot in this nice circular wrapper. Foil makes a pretty pot wrapper too.

Of course you could gift that pretty plant in a pretty pot.

Succulents

For the person that complains they have a “brown thumb,” succulents can be a durable gift.    Alternatively, select a plant that is known to be short-lived, like pansies, sunflowers, basil, or a pot of ornamental peppers.    Truth is – all gardeners kill plants!    Other than sequoias, oak trees, and saguaros, most plants do not live long lives.

Short Term Plants (Annuals)

Alternatively, select a plant that is known to be short-lived, like pansies, sunflowers, basil, or a pot of ornamental peppers.    Truth is – all gardeners kill plants!    Other than sequoias, oak trees, and saguaros, most plants do not live long lives.

Speaking of color in the garden, and if you know the person has a certain type of pot, like talavera or blue glazed, then certainly add to their collection.    Which one? My spouse and I long ago solved this dilemma by me selecting five or so things I like, and he surprises me with one of them. Make that pretty pot less empty with some packages of seeds of plants you know they love, like sunflowers (that’s my cousin Terry), or wildflowers (friend Helga).

Avoid These Gifts

Avoid size-based gifts, like garden gloves or hats.    If the person so gifted has to return them for the correct size, your gift becomes a burden and a thief of their time.

Still Wondering?

When in doubt, go with the Zen saying, “The question is the answer.”    This just means is that if you have to wonder about it, you have answered your own question about if it is right for them or not.   Remember – gift cards are always an option.

I hope this give you some ideas to help support your local nursery.    I urge you to shop local – so they will be there for you when you want plants, products, PLUS horticultural knowledge simply not found in big box stores.

Or Books

My next favorite place to shop is a book store, but we will have to save that for another day. 

Or you could buy one of my books, but the US Postal service might not be able to get it to you as quickly as you would like.

Legal Notes

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