YORKTON - “On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me…” I read an article that said the cost of all those gifts would be $46,729.86, up 2.7 per cent this year. I chuckled when I read that the first gift, a partridge in a pear tree, would cost approximately $319.18. The cost was broken down to $20.18 cents for the partridge, and $299 for the pear tree.
We’ve received some seed catalogues already, and there are some pear trees that are hardy for our area. T&T has one called Golden Pear, and the catalogue describes it like this: “A seedling of Ure with improved vigor and cold hardiness. Fruit is similar in taste to the ure pear, but matures 10-14 days earlier. Fruit size 5 cm (2 in). A hardy pear tree with clouds of showy white flowers in spring, good fall color and consistent oval shape; small high quality golden fruit is excellent for fresh eating. Very resistant to fireblight. Mature size 5 m (15 ft). Pears require 2 varieties for pollination.” Best of all, it’s not $299! But we can save talk of pear trees when spring gets closer.
The 12 Days of Christmas song was in my head because I once read a very creative list of garden gifts that a thoughtful husband created for his gardening wife. It included things like nine bags for mulching, eight rakes for raking, seven plants for potting…you get the idea! It was very cute!
Let’s chat about nice holiday gifts for gardeners. Get out your list and check it twice, and here we go! The first obvious gift idea is a plant or flower arrangement. This requires some advance preparation so that the item can be transported home safely without freezing. But it’s always a nice choice.
I remember one long-ago Christmas Eve afternoon, as Mom and my sister and I were preparing the Christmas Eve meal, my darling husband Keith said he had to go downtown for a few minutes. When he returned, he had three beautiful flower arrangements, one for each of us. Each one was made up of roses, each was a different color. Mom’s was red, Margie’s was pink, and mine was a beautiful deep cream color. I recall that the day was very cold and windy, and the sight of those beautiful flowers absolutely lifted our spirits!
Holiday plants like poinsettias, Norfolk pines, rosemary, ivy, miniature spruce, and orchids are all popular plant choices at this time of year to give or receive. But one point to quietly consider is if the receiver has room for your choice. A very valid concern! But luckily there are plants in all sizes!
What else would make Santa’s gardening list? A handy pair of secateurs; good gardening gloves; a unique birdbath; a special statue; or maybe solar lights. Interesting planters; watering cans; a garden bench…the list goes on and on! Some of these items aren’t available right now, but you can make up a special little certificate with a “gardening IOU” for now, and then present the actual item to your gardener later in the spring!
Any gardener would love a subscription to The Gardener, a beautiful magazine published right here in Saskatchewan, and Canada’s longest running, highest circulation quarterly magazine for gardeners. And a very much-appreciated gift would be a gift certificate from your local garden center. Visit the hort society at our website, www.yorktonhort.ca Thank you to our friends at YTW for their excellent work every week to bring us local news.
Only 12 more sleeps till Christmas Eve! Have a great week!
