Homegrown: Gifts of the season

Becki Lynch, Linn County Master Gardener, offers some hints for those of you with gardeners on your gift list:

Giving From the Garden

Those of us who garden are always looking for ways to bring that garden to others, and one of the simple ways to do that is to use plants as the basis for gifts. Nancy Jerome, with the National Gardening Association, has shared some easily crafted ideas for garden gifts from the heart for this holiday season. I don't consider myself very creative, and yet even I will be putting together the “Scents of the Holidays” for a few special friends. Enjoy the Holidays!

Seed Head Wreath

This time of year there are ample dried seed heads in the garden and fields. These can range from purple coneflowers and black-eyed Susans to leeks and onions. Milkweed pods, hydrangea trusses, and the seed heads of grasses, sunflowers, and sedum all create beautiful wreaths. Simply purchase an inexpensive grapevine wreath (or make your own) and glue the pods and seed heads and maybe a few pine cones in place. Add a few silvery Christmas balls and you have a work of art you will be proud to give.

Scents of the Holidays

Visit your local hobby store for a clear glass globe or rectangular vase. Fill it with snipped lavender, sage, thyme (which should all still be available in the garden). Add some sprigs of arborvitae, rosemary, or balsam fir to make a deliciously scented potpourri. Sprinkle in a few tiny red and silver beads for a festive look.

Basket of Squash

All gardeners can use more baskets, so pick a sturdy one and fill it with acorn, butternut and delicata squash from your garden or the farmers' market. Tuck in a few recipes for preparing the squash, and adorn the handle with a Christmas bow.

Blooming Windowsills

Fill an attractive casserole dish with miniature pots of blooming plants for the windowsill. A trip to the garden center greenhouse will provide inexpensive miniature African violets, miniature cyclamen, small Christmas cactuses, blooming cactuses, streptocarpus, begonias, and kalanchoe. Tie it up with a festive ribbon and present to your favorite gardener.

Gift Wrapping

Wrap gifts in plain brown paper and tie with colored raffia. Add clusters of small pine cones, acorns, or hickory nuts with a glue gun for a natural look. Or use simple white paper, tie with your choice of ribbon, and tuck lavender or rosemary sprigs into the bow for a fragrant, elegant gift.