If your nearest and dearest has green fingers, chances are they love anything to do with gardening. What better time to spoil them and show your appreciation.
A room full of poinsettia may be over the top, but a beautiful plant, or two or three, gladdens any gardener’s heart. The perfect gift plants are indoor beauties that can later be transplanted into the garden or in patio pots.
Consider long-lasting plants like fiery red poinsettia, an elegant phalaenopsis (moth orchid), multi-bloom pot roses, peace lily (Spathiphyllum) and vividly coloured anthurium, which are indestructible indoor plants. Browse selection at www.builders.co.za
Some tips:
- Phalaenopsis flower for three months or more. After flowering, they are happiest in a humid bathroom where they get bright indirect light.
- To keep pot roses going, cut off the stems to 5cm above the ground after flowering. When new shoots are visible, feed with a liquid fertiliser. They will come into flower quicker if kept outside in the sun and watered daily.
- Peace lilies and anthurium grow outdoors in dappled shade, adding lush greenery and colour to tropical gardens.
Classy ceramics
Take your indoor plant décor up a notch with elegant ceramic containers in Amber dark grey matt or white matt that fit into any contemporary colour scheme. There’s also the muted old gold chic of Tusca ceramic pots.
Woven baskets using recycled plastic and grass evoke a rustic, farmhouse look. These baskets from Rachal and Malika’s are made by a women’s cooperative in Senegal using local Njodax grass. The women use their own designs so that every basket is unique.
All form part of the Builder’s Christmas collection: www.builders.co.za
Quick tips
- When watering your indoor plant remove from ceramic pot and allow excess water to drain before returning the plant to its pot home
- Feed your indoor plants regularly with the appropriate indoor plant feed.
You light up my life!
Solar Flair Fairy Lights are easy to install. Just scatter them over bushes, in the trees or along a terrace, anywhere you want them. There are 50 fairy lights, white or multicoloured, per 5m. The weatherproof lights are wireless and solar powered.
Design House Solar Icicle LED lights are perfect for lighting a deck, balcony, terrace and balcony. The strings of lights look like a myriad of icicles. The lights are warm white or cool white. They charge during the day and automatically illuminate at night. No need to worry about load shedding. Availabel from Builders.
Best for bird-lovers
Bird feeders appeal to adults and kids alike and it is a great way to introduce children to the delights of bird watching. Seed or suet hearts are particularly festive and can be tied onto a branch. The nectar bottle (also used for water) offers a safe source of water for birds in households with predatory pets. Concrete bird baths double up as a garden feature and also a source of water for butterflies and bees.
Why not make up a bird-lover’s hamper with bird seed and suet, a hanging bird feeder and nectar bottle and a birding book.
Available from Builder’s.
A hamper of garden goodies
The most fun, for the giver as well as the recipient, is a personalised hamper of garden goodies. Here are some suggestions:
- A summer salad pack of Garden Master vegetable seeds, a starter herb garden collection of easy to grow herbs or fragrant garden flowers.
- Garden Master accessories such as a kneeler pad, a stylish set of wooden handled garden hand tools, and brightly coloured pots.
- Garden Master bypass pruners and loppers for the very active gardener.
Text: Alice Coetzee
