Many garden gifts have lasting benefits, as Gillian Vine finds.
Forget firs... go native with your Christmas tree
• Nichol's Garden Centre has a range of rata (pictured is Fire Cracker), pohutukawa and Metrosideros Maungapito, a cross developed by Les Cleveland, of Dunedin.
Prices range from $22.99 for small rata to $79.99 for a Maungapito smothered with buds.
Plan ahead...
• A cold frame gets seedlings off to an early start.
Polycarbonate gives more even temperatures than glass and the frame is timber. Assembly is required.
The timber-framed model is $152.30, an aluminium-framed version costs $102.19.
Both from Mitre 10 Mega, Dunedin.
Grow native...
• Hybrid manuka come in an ever-increasing range of colours - pink, red, mauve and white - and bigger flowers.
This is Phoenix, from an extensive range, priced from $23.90, at Blueskin Nurseries, Waitati.
Rhodo relly...
• A small (1m) shrub that is covered with flowers from late November, hardy Kalmia latifolia Freckles likes a semi-shaded spot and soil.
Kalmias are poisonous to stock and should be grown away from fencelines where sheep or cattle can reach them.
From a range at Breens Nursery, Oamaru.
Edible present...
• Ideal for a small garden is a standard gooseberry.
Grown and marketed by Blueskin Nurseries, Waitati, the bushes - Pax or Invicta varieties are available - are laden with fruit.
They sell for $39.90 each.
Foward-looking...
•Look forward to the attractive autumn foliage of Acer Autumn Moon ($41.95), a Japanese maple that grows about 3m high and does best in a wind-free situation.
The bonus of Autumn Moon is orange new growth in spring.
From a range of maples at Breens Nursery, Oamaru.
Turn, turn, turn...
• Estelle Maxwell, of Dunedin, test-drives a revolving composter.
"It definitely beats turning a heap by hand," she said.
Assembly is required for this model, which costs $305, from Mitre 10 Mega, Dunedin.
Easiest option...
• Stuck for ideas? Gift vouchers are always appreciated.
Garden Post has $20, $50 or $100 cards, available online at www.gardenpost.co.nz, which makes shopping really easy.
Sweet-smelling...
• Fragrant Garden Sprinkles gift pack from Garden Post consist of a gift bag containing 5g of seed, mixed with an inert carrier agent, all ready to sprinkle on to a garden.
The packs contain enough to cover an area of about 5sq m; $8 from Garden Post, available online at www.gardenpost.co.nz.
For the kids...
• Children will have fun with Munakuppi, a little pottery figure whose hair grows when the seed mix is put into the head and watered.
Comes in short or long-haired versions, $9.99, from Nichol's.
Fruity stuff...
• More gardeners are growing fruit trees.
Covering the basics is Palmers Fruit Growers Handbook, (pbk, published by David Bateman, $24.99).
Book these in...
• Gardening books range from the "how to", like Organic (hbk, $39.99) by Burke's Backyard presenter Don Burke, to the reflective pieces for each day of the year in Holly Kerr Forsyth's The Gardener's Book of Days (pbk, $49.99).
The serious gardener will be rapt in the prestigious Royal Horticultural Society's Encyclopedia of Plants & Flowers (hbk, $95), while for gardeners who cook, Hort New Zealand's beautifully illustrated New Zealand Vegetable Book (pbk, $24.99) has good recipes and tips for growing vegetables.
These books are available from PaperPlus, Dunedin.
