Gifts to please any gardener

Just mention Christmas gifts for gardeners and visions of all sorts of things should come to mind. Gardeners are easy people to please when it comes to giving them gifts.

So often, especially with older people, we are inclined to give candy and food. Yes, these gifts are accepted, but be different this year and give them gardening presents that keep on giving.

An especially long-lasting gift might be a live Christmas tree. This is good for someone needing another tree in the yard or planning to redo his or her landscape. As an added bonus gift, include your labor to plant the tree after the holidays. One family plants a tree after every Christmas and the yard is now a forest.

A Norfolk Island pine, which has a Christmas tree shape, makes a nice houseplant that will last for years. Drape this special tree with lights for now and to use for many festive seasons to come.

Any live plants make welcome gifts that keep on giving, and they make wonderful home air purifiers. Don't just stop with the plants. Give a complete package by including such things as a grow light, hanging basket, plant food and a book on the plant's care.

Or, instead of live plants, give a dried arrangement to fit the decor of the recipient's home. A gardener gave us a bottle filled with tinted shades of pampas grass plumes that still adorns our home. A green or purple eucalyptus branch in an unusual container imparts a nice fragrance throughout the holidays.

Is your friend a vegetable grower? New hybrid seeds always are fun to test each spring. For example, All-American Selections released two varieties of tomatoes, Lizzano and Torenzo, and a pumpkin named Hijinks. And there are two new All-American Rose Selections roses this year: they are Dick Clark and Walking on Sunshine. They'll soon be at your nursery.

Make a wreath from plants from the recipient's own yard to grace the door this season. Collect several branches from shrubs, such as junipers, pyracanthas and grapevine canes from their yard. Twist the canes to form a wreath and purchase wire to attach branches to the canes. Imagine their excitement when the recipients realize they grew their own wreath.

For good reading, books and magazines are excellent gifts for any green thumber on your shopping list. The nurseryman's shelves contain all kinds of specialized plant and garden books for roses, annuals, pruning and herbs. Consider my book, "Nevada Gardener's Guide." It has more than 100 plants suggested for Las Vegas growing conditions.

Or get them some new tools: clippers, loppers, hoe, shovel, rake or a pruning saw. The old ones have a way of wearing out, so new tools might be just what the gardener wanted.

Maybe your friend is ready to move up into the age of electric or internal combustion power tools. You'll find power pruners, weed-trimmers, shears and edgers. Think of the time you'll save the gardener.

Does your friend have yellow, sick-looking plants? Give your friend iron chelates for those iron-tired plants. There is no other iron like Iron 138 for Las Vegas soils. In years past this iron was costly, but it's now very reasonable.

Weeds and Bermuda grass can be a problem in some yards. Provide a bottle of Roundup to keep weeds in check. That'll be a gift that will be much appreciated all next season.

But maybe your close associate doesn't like to garden. How about a gift certificate for a year's garden maintenance? That will surprise anyone and he or she will thank you every time the maintenance crew spruces the yard.

Another idea is having a lawn-fertilizer company fertilize your special friend's lawn all year, and that usually includes feeding trees and shrubs.

There also are such things as a small greenhouse or a ladder, a birdbath, trellis, garden bench, weather vane, thermometer, fancy containers, gloves or kneepads.

And if none of these ideas appeal to you, give the person a gift certificate. This enables the person to buy what he or she wants to make gardening easier. How about including a few hours of your labor to help them? If it's an older person, offer a few hours to help with spring cleanup.

Linn Mills writes a garden column each Sunday. You can reach him at linn.mills@springspreserve.org or call him at 822-7754.