Where does a gardener go when she has a question about gardening?
”To another gardener,” says Barbara Carr, avid gardener and president of the Lincoln Park Zoological Society. ”That`s what gardening is all about- sharing secrets. It`s folk wisdom.”
So when we wanted to know what to give a gardener this holiday season, we asked some of the wisest Chicago area gardeners.
Carr`s favorite gift is a live, flowering plant.Paperwhite or amaryllis bulbs are available at most garden stores (starting at 89 cents at Pasquesi`s in Lake Forest) or through mail-order catalogs such as Gardeners Eden ($28 for potted bulbs; 1-800-822-9600).
She also recommends a gift certificate to a local shop or a catalog.
”My favorite gift certificate came from Mary Black`s Tulip Farm on Illinois Highway 22 in Deerfield. She has exhibition gardens so you can see everything.”
The right tools
Gardening tools-from shears to hoes-also make welcome gifts, our advisers say.
”A good pair of pruning shears is something you must have,” says Meegan McCarthy Bilow, supervisor of the plant information office at of the Chicago Botanic Garden. ”The good ones, such as Felco, will cost $30 to $50, but they will last a lifetime.” They`re carried at gardening shops such as The Chalet in Wilmette and Pasquesi`s.
”I would like any of the hand-wrought tools made by Bulldog,” says Richard Bumstead, who designs gardens at the University of Chicago campus.
”And some of the tools that combine uses are interesting. A trake, for instance, has a cast steel rake on one end and a trowel on the other. I like it because it`s big and impossible to lose ($21 at the Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe).”
”I think all you need for gardening is a hoe,” says Virginia Krueger, who along with her husband, William, has run Krueger`s Farm in Prairie View for 35 years. ”Get one at any hardware store (they start at $9.99 at The Great Ace stores, Clark Street and Broadway, and 1455 W. Webster Ave.), have it shaped to fit your purpose and you can do anything with it.”
Seeds, recommends Peter McBride, co-owner of Fertile Delta, 2769 N. Lincoln Ave. ”White Swan`s (89 cents to $2.59 at most garden stores) are nicely packaged, and you can give them in a tin or put a bunch in a basket.
”One package gives you all the seeds of the flowers in Monet`s garden at Giverney,” he says. Fourteen seed packs come in an artist`s palette (about $30 at Fertile Delta and at Chiasso stores).
Read all about it
Don`t forget to consider specialty books and magazines, says Bilow.
”For gardeners who like to eat, I recommend Roslyn Creasy`s `Cooking from the Garden,` (Sierra, $34.50, hardcover; $20, paperback),” she says.
”It tells you how to produce an edible garden, and it`s almost beautiful enough to be a coffee-table book.”
She also recommends subscriptions to National Gardening magazine ($19.95 for 12 issues), Flower and Garden ($11.95 for 12 issues) and Horticulture Magazine ($18 for 12 issues).
Accessories
For gift givers working with a smaller budget, Bilow recommends a nice bar of gardener`s soap ($8.95 at Fertile Delta) and a nail brush ($1 to $4 at The Body Shop, 700 N. Michigan Ave.).
And Michael Marks, the senior landscape designer with the Chicago Park District, suggests giving a garden diary ($15.95-$17.50 at Stuart Brent bookstores; $30 for a coffee-table book called ”Renoir`s Garden Diary” at Rizzoli).
