New England skies in winter are often cloudy and dark, accompanied by sleet, slush, rain or snow. The sun sleeps late and goes to bed early. Gardeners sometimes give up and go to Florida. Not me, but there is much I do to make the holidays cheerful.
I put up blue holiday lights outdoors on trees and shrubs. And I think about gifts for my loved ones – most of whom are gardeners. Let’s see what I am helping Santa with this year.
First, there are books. Always good for long nights or cold days. A book I have enjoyed this year was written by a friend of mine, Jill Nooney. She wrote of a wonderful book called “Bedrock: The Making of a Public Garden” (Peter E. Randall Publisher, 2025, $50). Jill is a plant collector, a garden designer and sculptor. Her book is not only the story of making a public garden, it is also and full of design insights and an introduction to many unusual plants suitable for our zone. She writes well, and tells good stories, too.
Then there is entomologist Doug Tallamy’s 2025 book, “How Can I Help? Saving Nature with Your Yard.” The book is in the form of questions – 499 of them – and answers in a simple, readable form. It’s like sitting down with your favorite and wise uncle. But one who knows the science behind complex questions about what we can do help save our environment. Hardback, $30.
I believe in supporting local garden centers and avoiding internet purchases. We need our local purveyors of plants, seeds and fertilizers. But an unusual tool might not be found locally: the Nut Wizard. This is a long-handled tool with a rolling wire device the size and shape of a football that picks up apples or nuts. When the device is full, spread the wires over a bucket or wheelbarrow and it empties. This is fun to use – kids love it, so Tom Sawyer will be proud of you for “letting” them use it. I got one long ago, and see that now there are several brands, not just the Nut Wizard, and several sizes.
For those of you on a shoestring budget, let me suggest a few no-cost/low suggestions, too. If you’ve saved seeds from your heirloom tomatoes or flowers, these are good gifts. If you have none, the seed companies have their 2026 seeds available well before Christmas. I called Johnny’s Selected Seeds and High Mowing Organic Seeds, two of my favorites, and they both confirmed next year’s seeds are ready to ship. So if you had good luck with a tomato or zinnia variety, give some seeds.
Maybe I am from a different era than you (or a different planet), but I like keeping a journal. I started at age 8, but confess that these past 20 years my computer has become my record keeper. Perhaps you use your cell phone (I don’t have one). This year I am going back to keeping a handwritten gardening journal.
There are many available for sale, some just blank books, others designed for use by gardeners. Lee Valley Tools has a 10-year gardening journal, one big page for each day of the year, and ten sections per page. I’ve had one, and if I were diligent in its upkeep I’d have some great data. But it’s a bit big and clunky, and I didn’t keep it in a handy place.
This year I found The Old Farmers’s Almanac Garden Journal for sale at my local bookstore. I bought one – I like that its pages are NOT dated. It has some nice art prints of plants and some nice quotes about gardening here and there. It only cost me $15.95, and it will last me more than a year.
Every year I recommend the CobraHead Weeder because it is the best darn weeding tool ever made. It’s a rugged single-tine hand tool shaped like a cobra up and ready to strike. It is neither right- nor left-handed. I use mine to loosen the soil to plant, to tease out long roots of grasses and weeds, or to get in tight places. At $39 from the website (www.CobraHead.com) it is a bargain. It’s a family run business, the tools made in America. It has a hole for a bright colored string to help you find it if buried in the compost pile. Also available from good garden centers and seed companies.
Lastly, a friend recently sent us an amaryllis bulb that had been dipped in shiny red wax. It’s gorgeous, and for non-gardening friends it is excellent, too: no soil needed, no watering needed. Just put it on the table and watch it grow, blooming in 4 to 6 weeks. It sits nicely on its flat base of wax. I can’t wait to see it bloom!
So start your holiday shopping now. Give gardening gifts, and hope someone gives you something off this list, too.
Henry Homeyer lives and gardens in Cornish, N.H. This column appears just once a month now, in his semi-retirement. Reach him at henry.homeyer@comcast.net or PO Box 364, Cornish Flat, NH 03746.
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