Christmas Gift Ideas for Gardeners

I found this kit called "Marker Stones" several years ago in a garden catalog and thought I would share the idea with my readers. Maybe someone will get inspired and start making some marker stones for gifts for Christmas (which is right around the corner!). I loved the look of bricks with stamped words in them so I bought the kit. Since then I have made several marker stones for my garden and for many more for friends and neighbors. My friend Tina loved hers so much she went out and bought herself a kit. I also bought an extra kit for my daughter so she could make her own.

These stones are not difficult to make and are very easy to customize. You can color them or add small stones and rocks-let your imagination be your guide. I tell you, these vegetable tags will last forever in my garden. I like to arrange them in my beds the season before planting and I also use them to identify my various gardens. Marker stones are also great pet grave markers. The kit comes with many different shapes and styles of letters.

It is never too early to start on Christmas gifts for your favorite gardener or even for yourself-so get to mixing!

in the garden....

Smoke Trees and Designer Shrubs

It might be kind of hard to see in this picture but I would like to talk about two shrubs. The first is the yellow one in the middle of the picture, and the second is to the right of the yellow one just left of the vine. Gray stems are showing on the second shrub and if you look closely you can see purple leaves on it as well. Both shrubs are Cotinus coggyria, aka Smoke Tree or Bush.

Having lived in Europe for a good many years I was able to enjoy beautiful specimens of smoke trees and have always loved them. Of course, my garden needed a smoke tree. I planted the purple smoke tree three years ago and it has bloomed only once. This spring was a setback to it after the freeze and I really thought it was a goner. I decided to dig it up from out front and plant it here. The roots were very very long and I was astonished. It has recovered nicely and should start doing better.

Now the first shrub, the yellow one, is a new addition and really the subject of this entry. I was browsing in Lowes when I came upon it in a pot marked "Designer Shrubs". The cultivar is 'Golden Spirit' because of the lovely golden color. Designer shrubs, in my opinion, have been developed to cater to very specific gardening desires. In this case a trend for the past four or five years has been to get new colors into gardens, namely purples, yellows, reds, chartreuse and variegated plants that are different from the normal green and which make a statement. I love the different and gravitate toward the yellows. Yellows seem to make my shady garden come to life. I also like contrasts. Thus the yellow 'Golden Spirit' is paired with its cousin, the purple smoke tree. I can't wait until they both fill in and begin blooming. Smoke trees are called smoke trees because the bloom looks like a puff of smoke. It is quite the picture and if you have never seen one in bloom you should!

The next time you are out shopping look for some "Designer Shrubs" of your own to light up your landscape. There are colors to suit just about everyone's taste in plants so give one a try.

in the garden....