Holiday Gift Guide for Nature Lovers

If someone in your life loves gardening and nature, look no further than your locally owned garden center for useful and unique gifts to give this holiday season. Here at Native Nurseries, we’ve gathered a few sure-to-be-treasured items to get your inspiration flowing for that special nature lover on your shopping list.

Gardener’s Delight

A fruit tree, “the gift that keeps on giving,” is a special delight for any gardener. A blueberry bush, fig tree, satsuma or Meyer lemon tree are just a few examples that are sure to not disappoint. Likewise, a gift basket of Johnny Jump-ups or woodland wildflowers would be a pleasure to anyone's yard. Maybe a container garden of winter herbs, lettuces and salad greens for the friend that enjoys cooking with fresh ingredients out their back kitchen door.

Other gardening gifts include seed starting kits, garden statuary, houseplants, heirloom seed packages, gardening gloves, outdoor solar lanterns, wind chimes, colorful pots, books, and festive amaryllis bulbs.

Birds and the Bees

Give the gift of native plants that keep the songbirds singing, garden bees pollinating and other wildlife thriving in yards and gardens. I know my native plant friends would be very happy with a budding native azalea, providing spring color and nectar for pollinators. Or consider a yaupon holly tree, loaded with bright red berries for cedar waxwings, catbirds, robins and other birds.

Bird feeding supplies, a bird field guide, bird baths and houses are excellent gift ideas for those backyard bird watchers on your list. You can put together a fun gift basket by choosing an assortment of seed, a basic feeder and our unique to Tallahassee bird checklist. These gifts will delight the bird lover in your life every day of the year.

For the person who already has a basic feeder, try a special feeder that will draw different types of birds. For instance, a thistle sock for goldfinch or a suet feeder along with our homemade suet for warblers and other non-seed eating birds. Other bird friendly gifts include adorable bird seed ornaments, wreath shaped nesting material, hummingbird feeders, purple martin gourds or nest boxes for bluebirds, flycatchers and wood ducks.

Bee houses for native pollinators, such as mason and leaf cutter bees, have become quite popular and make very unique gifts. Children and adults can gain knowledge and enjoyment watching the interactions of these native bees. Bat houses and butterfly rearing houses are also fun, engaging ways to inspire a love of the natural world at home.

Children and Nature

Nature inspired gifts are a great way to encourage kids who haven’t quite fallen for nature to get outside and explore more. Bug viewers can be lots of fun for those into creepy-crawlies, or perhaps fairy gardening accessories for a magical introduction to gardening. DIY kits make wonderful gifts because they often give kids a hands-on opportunity that they may not have otherwise. From bluebird nest box kits to our ‘Happy Home’ butterfly rearing houses, these are the kinds of gifts that continue giving long after the boxes are opened. Other gifts available in the children’s nature nook include garden tools and gloves, wildlife puppets, critter counting books, bird-themed puzzles, and games.

Garden to Table: Garlic Chive Pesto!!

My current favorite pesto recipe! We have some pretty garlic chives and Italian parsley in stock. The weather is changing and gives inspiration to try new things.

-Norma

Ingredients

1 hearty bunch of garlic chives
1  good handful of parsley
¼ cup cashews
¼ to ½ cup olive oil, depending on the consistency you like
Juice of ½ lemon
¼ cup parmesan or romano cheese or nutritional yeast to keep it vegan
Pinch or two of salt

Method

Throw it all in the food processor and enjoy. If you want it really garlicky, add a clove
of garlic.

Common Plant Mistakes

Pinterest frustrates me. Garden magazines often do too. As an experienced gardener, it’s frustrating to see “projects” that will certainly lead to failure. I often have the same reaction when I walk through the garden center of a large box store. I see cacti that require full sun and arid climates being sold in humid Florida, or even worse as indoor plants for your desk or table. I also see planters with inadequate or non-existent drainage. It’s disappointing because I know young or inexperienced gardeners will end up with dead plants and believe it’s their fault. I see it often with customers and friends who easily get discouraged and give up on gardening completely. I am writing this article because I want you to know that a dead plant is often not your fault. You may have fallen victim to misleading marketing. If that’s the case, I hope this will give them the courage to try again with realistic expectations. So here are the most common misconceptions and mistakes I see:

1. Most plants don’t belong indoors. This is by far the most common misunderstanding I see on the internet and in magazines. Unless you have the appropriate grow lights, most plants slowly decline and die when you attempt to grow them inside. This includes herbs, vegetables, and most succulents and cacti. If you have a very sunny, south-facing window, you may be able to grow some of these with marginal success, but most indoor situations do not have enough light to meet their needs. The only plants suited to grow indoors are ones we already consider houseplants, and many of them also require a sunnier location near a window. If you want a healthy plant for your desk or countertop, you can choose from a variety of houseplants that have low light requirements. These are mostly plants that evolved in tropical understories and have attractive foliage year-round, but few have showy flowers.

2. Using the wrong sized container. A common mistake is choosing a pot that is too small. When you pick out a plant, find out what its mature size and growth rate are. Fast growing annuals will need more space right away. Slow growing evergreens might not. Water requirements also come into play; thirsty tomato plants require more soil to hold the ample water and nutrients they need, while cacti and succulents can be grown in smaller pots because they have such low water and nutrient requirements.

3. Most plants require adequate drainage. Some plants are able to grow (for a while) with bare roots in water alone, but if you are growing them in soil without any or adequate drainage, bacterial and fungal growth will eventually kill the plant even if you are watering lightly. Smaller pots should have a drain hole at least the size of a nickel, and larger pots will need several larger holes. If you don’t want your plant damaging the table or porch beneath it, use a saucer or set the well-drained planted pot inside a larger pot without drainage. You will need to take the planted pot out when watering, so water doesn’t pool at the bottom. I keep a lot of my houseplants in ugly, but well drained plastic pots and set them into attractive baskets or cache pots (pots without holes). I gather them in the sink or bathtub to water them thoroughly every few weeks. I also like to set them out in the rain, which has naturally occurring nitrogen to fuel new growth. I make sure to set them in a shady spot outside though, or bring them in before the sun returns to avoid burning their leaves.

4. Over fertilizing. It’s easy to kill a plant with too much fertilizer, especially when using chemical or liquid fertilizers. Established trees and shrubs usually don’t require any fertilizer unless they’re growing in very poor soil. We are blessed with nutrient rich Tallahassee clay and plentiful nitrogen-rich rain showers to provide for them. Likewise, healthy lawns rarely benefit from fertilization. An unhealthy or patchy lawn has underlying problems like too much shade, compacted soil, disease or pest issues that won’t be fixed by fertilization. Over fertilizing is a waste of money and contributes to unhealthy algae growth in our beautiful rivers and springs and can actually stress, and even kill your plants. I fertilize my vegetable garden with organic, slow-release fertilizer, like Espoma Garden-tone, that feeds the soil and my plants. I also fertilize my houseplants lightly during the summer months with liquid fish and seaweed emulsion. Otherwise I just put them out for an occasional rainstorm which provides nitrogen.

Don’t give up on your plant projects – they can be a lot of fun! Just be sure you understand the requirements of the plants involved before you get started, and know that what you see online and in magazines might not be successful in real life. Stop into a local nursery and talk with their knowledgeable staff to answer your questions and plan your project. Reviving your green thumb is worth the extra effort, growing plants can improve your quality of life. They clean toxins from our air and improve the aesthetics of our rooms and yards, but the best benefit is the fulfillment and excitement of watching a living thing thrive and flourish under your care.