Gardening 101: What to buy a gardener for Christmas
NORTH TEXAS - If you are looking for some gift ideas for the Gardener in your life, I've got a few of the obvious suggestions.
I went to go see my friend George Pavelek of New Purpose Urban Farms in Colleyville. George is always experimenting with plants and garden techniques; I trust his advice on all things dealing with dirt and growing food.
I'll let you watch the story but do want to emphasize a key point: Spend the extra money on good hand tools, especially on the hand snips and hand spades. Your Gardener will use these tools almost daily for years.
It is wise to do your research if you want to garden in North Texas.
A must-have magazine is The Texas Gardener. George and I are also big fans of Mother Earth News. Perhaps the best book I can recommend is Neil Sperry's Lone Star Gardening. I'm almost sure I'm looking up something in that book weekly.
I'm also a huge fan of Steve Huddleston. I've done dozens of stories with him when he worked at The Fort Worth Botanic Garden. He co-authored a great book, Easy Gardens for North Central Texas.
Part 2
The second story includes a few gift ideas you can find at a local nursery. These include some splurge items like a high-end espalier Magnolia. It might take years, but this will can grow over twenty feet across and fill a wall. If you have the right place and patience, it will be a showstopper.
Make no mistake, this is a high-ticket item. So are some large versions of houseplants. I'd gift something like that to someone who already has some nice houseplants, they'll know how to take care of them.
Of course, these don't have to be just Christmas gifts. Housewarming gifts, birthday gifts, anniversary gifts… there is always a good reason to give a nice gift. I hope you and yours have a merry season.
Jeff Ray is the senior First Alert Meteorologist at CBS News Texas and an avid gardener. When not covering the weather, he is finding stories about Gardening in north Texas. If you would like Jeff to come talk to your group about how changing weather patterns are changing the way we garden in this area, please email him at jaray@viacomcbs.com.