Want to make watering the plants more enjoyable? Try one of the following superior tools.
Sprinkler on a stick. This convenient turbine-driven sprinkler head offers some of the convenience of underground sprinkler systems. The head is made by Lego Irrigation, which is no relation to the toy company but has been making sprinklers to irrigate Israel’s naturally parched landscape since 1920. It’s an ordinary pop-up head attached to a metal spike instead of a PVC tube, making it a hose-end sprinkler with all the reliability of pop-ups.
Controls on the unit make it possible to water in a full circle or anything down to a 45-degree wedge, and to adjust the throw distance anywhere up to 40 feet. Thanks to a removable cap opposite the opening for the hose, users also can string together several hoses and sprinkler heads, up to whatever capacity the water system can power.
Home Depot stores stock the head, which sells for $9.94, or can order it (Lego Irrigation USA Stock No. 7556C).
Up on the roof. Gardeners whose entire landscape is confined to a balcony or rooftop deck have a good friend in the Garden Coil. No more lugging water from the kitchen in watering cans. The Garden Coil is a small, lightweight hose that attaches to a sink faucet and delivers water a full 30 feet from the faucet. At the watering end is a 15-inch wand with a trigger for controlling the spray and eliminating drips on the deck surface or indoor carpet. When it’s not in use, it coils up on its own. And the whole thing weighs about 1 pound.
The 30-foot Garden Coil is sold for $49.99 at Butterfield Gardens, 29W036 Butterfield Rd., Warrenville, 630-393-1062; The Chalet Nursery & Garden Shops, 3132 Lake Ave., Wilmette, 847-256-0561; and Pasquesi Home and Farm Suppliers, 1045 S. Waukegan Rd., Lake Forest, 847-234-6776, and 990 W. Northwest Highway, Barrington, 847-381-5511. The Smith & Hawken store, 1780 N. Marcey St., sells a 50-foot version for $69; call 312-266-1988.
Up and at ’em. Watering plants of different heights a hassle? Lift the sprinkler above the plants with a tripod.
This one can be adjusted for heights of 41 to 72 inches–raise it as the plant line climbs through summer. It also can be set to water in a full circle or segments of a circle, and to rain over a nearby area or a radius of up to 80 feet. That’s with the standard plastic sprinkler head; pay another $19.95 for a brass head and it’ll shoot to a radius of 96 feet.
The RainTower weighs 10 pounds and folds down for moving and storing. It’s made of long-lasting galvanized steel. A standard garden hose connects at the bottom of the tower.
It costs $54.95, plus $9.90 for shipping, from the Gardener’s Supply Co. catalog, 800-955-3370.
Water dance. Why should watering the garden be something that only the recipients enjoy? Cyr Smith, an artist in Green Lake, Wis., designs a line of sprinklers that make bringing water to the garden an artful chore.
Smith’s sprinklers don’t just sprinkle–they flutter and wave and pirouette, scattering water over the garden in patterns that are delightful to watch.
Simultaneously graceful and utilitarian, these copper-tubing creations are in their own way metaphors for gardening itself. In fact, Smith says he started making them because he needed to water a big garden at his home but couldn’t stand to do something so soulful with an ugly tool.
Eight designs are available (not all stores listed below will carry all of them). Most of Smith’s designs are fanciful, free-form shapes that take on an entirely different feeling when doing their job than when standing still. Prices vary by store and by piece, but generally they start at about $225–The Chalet Nursery & Garden Shops, 3132 Lake Ave., Wilmette, 847-256-0561; Gethsemane Garden Center, 5801 N. Clark St., 773-334-7393; Prestige Nursery Garden Center, 28W761 Army Trail Rd., Bartlett, 630-289-4868; Sid’s Greenhouse, 10926 Southwest Highway, Palos Hills, 708-974-4500; The Trumpet Vine, 12228 S. Harlem Ave., Palos Heights, 708-448-0889; and Wild Birds Unlimited, 13012 S. La Grange Rd., Palos Park, 708-361-8726.
