Barbara M. Martin's Blog
Posted by Barbara M. Martin
It's prime shopping season right NOW when it comes to holiday gifts for gardeners. Plants may be a bit problematic if it is freezing cold outside, but you can find all kinds of perfect gifts nonetheless.
I've listed a ton of gardening themed gifts to help inspire you.
Next, if you are thinking along the lines of gardening tools as gifts, keep in mind that some tools need to be tried out or the right size for best results.
If you are not sure where to shop locally, or can't find what you have in mind, you can always try mail order catalogs. Gardening is prime catalog shopping territory. Here are a few tips on how to shop the garden catalogs. If you need to locate the right catalog, try these references and resource listings.
You could always skip the shopping mall routine and do the gift certificate route or cash in an envelope deal. You could dress it up by making your own little flower pop up card and crafting your own cute little envelope.
If you are stuck on the idea of picking out that perfect poinsettia, take heart. Here are my tips on selecting a good poinsettia out of all the ones at the store.
Last but not least, you still have time to pot up some paperwhites to bloom around Christmas. (Well, starting now it might be closer to New Year's.) Remember to give them a little tipple to keep them from toppling over. Cheers!
PS Got gardening related gift ideas to share? We'd love to hear them -- hop on over and tell us all about your best gifts -- given or received!
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Copyright Barbara Martin December 7, 2007 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Posted by Barbara M. Martin
This little what-rose-is-right-for-me quiz is so silly and so fun. Last time I checked, the language of flowers was kinda complicated. So I'm all for getting a little quick and dirty help; this is just the ticket. If you enjoy nonsense and want a laugh and a little self reflection added to the mix, check out the What Rose Represents Your Love quiz. I have no idea as to the scientific value of this rose quiz, but it is fun to see the options you could select, and then see what result you do get back. The consistently positive tone of the results might surprise you and might even inspire you to give some roses to your nearest and dearest.
When's the last time you thought about love and romance, the movies, a fluttering heart and giving a bouquet of roses? What color rose would YOU give? Maybe that's something you should do more often, who's to say. Roses are always appreciated. Roses and romance naturally go together, after all!
The quiz takes oh maybe all of 60 seconds to answer -- and you get the diagnostic and prescriptive quiz results back instantly. Find out what rose you would be giving, if you gave a bouquet of roses, today! And be sure to let me know how it turns out for you....
Read more FLOWER GARDENS ARTICLES and FLOWER GARDENS BLOGS Copyright Barbara Martin November 26, 2007 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Posted by Barbara M. Martin
This is such a simple and yet charming way to display your street number or house number. If you have flower pots on your front porch or steps, why not use them to display your house number? Start with inexpensive terra cotta flower pots. Leave the pots as-is for an architectural look, or fill with seasonal flowers (or little snowpeople as appropriate) to dress up the look! Or paint them to match your house trim.... so many options!
Why you really need to display big clear house numbers: In many areas, the fire department requires everyone to display a house number that is easy to read from the street. Use these eye catching BIG numbers along with your traditional house number to help them locate you quickly in case of emergency. You might also want to use glow in the dark paint on the numbers to make them ultra easy to see at night.
If you don't ordinarily have flower pots by your front door, this might just push you over the edge! This is a thoughtful, personalized, easy to make, garden-related gift item, too. Step by step directions for how to make home address flower pots from Ruby Glen.
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Copyright November 12, 2007 Barbara Martin All Rights Reserved
Posted by Barbara M. Martin
As I read through these directions on how to carve and decorate a gourd to make a lovely home made hand crafted candle holder -- perfect for a gift, certainly pretty enough to keep for yourself -- I wasn't prepared for the colorful result! Lovely blue iris flowers and soft green foliage make this candleholder look wonderful on the shelf by day, as well as by night with a glowing candle inside. I think of gourds as being a fall or winter project and then this creation made me think of decorated Easter eggs! You can make any kind of decoration in any motif or style YOU like and use your own set of favorite colors on your own version of the cut out decorated gourd. (The second example here has a southwestern style cactus design on it, to give you an idea of the wide variety you could do. And yes, look closely and you will see the cactus in bloom with cactus flowers!) Just follow the instructions and techniques for carving or cutting out the decoration on your gourd and then paint it, or maybe leave it au naturel with the natural gourd coloring for a more rustic or earthy look. Or, make more than one and use lots of different choices. These are lovely any way you decorate them and the choice is entirely up to you! ps I think "pyroengraving" is woodburning? Maybe it's not quite so simple after all, and maybe you don't happen to have any spare gourds lying around waiting to be used up, but these decorated gourds are very cool. Here's the gourd craft project from Arizona Gourds by Bonnie Gibson. Enjoy!
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Copyright November 11, 2007 Barbara Martin All Rights Reserved
Posted by Barbara M. Martin
In an art museum giftshop of all places I recently stumbled across the little match stick gardens, a cute gift item: herb and wildflower seeds in a packet or starter set designed like a fold-over style book of matches. The head of each match has seeds on it, and the idea is to tear out the individual seed bearing matches and plant the matches headfirst in potting mix.
I couldn't immediately tell what kinds of seeds were in the packets, but according to the company web site, the herb packet includes seeds for basil, chives, parsley and thyme and the wildflower packet contains seeds for"cornflower, shasta daisy, corn marigold and field poppy.
The shelf display was eye catching and clever, very cheerful and upbeat. But I have to wonder how well this will work -- under actual home conditions. The matchstick garden web site does include a FAQ section with some trouble shooting hints, so I guess basic seed starting guidelines would still apply.
You can see the packaging and get more details at the Matchstick Garden web site.
Although not listed on the "find a retailer" page, the matchstick garden seeds were on sale in the gift shop at the Orange County Museum of Art in Newport Beach, CA . If you go, check out the very kewl multi disciplinary exhibit "Birth of the Cool: California Art Design and Style at Midcentury" with everything from paintings to ceramic planters to jazz recordings to a fun little film by the Eames duo of furniture fame.
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Copyright November 3, 2007 Barbara Martin All Rights Reserved
