2018 Holiday Gift Guide

Matching gifts with people can be lots of fun. This year, we have your back and a dependable shopping list to match. 

This shopping list takes care of everyone’s needs. Each product is high quality, easy-to-use, or easy-to-grow. They will fit the needs of a beginner- gardener friend or master-gardener mother. No one will be left out.

So, cross a few people off your list with gifts that encourage outdoor activity and inspire time spent in nature.

Here is our curated a list of sustainable, useful, and thoughtful gifts:

Environmentally Friendly Tumbler

Why send kitchen leftovers to the landfill when they can be recycled directly in the garden? Accomplish two goals with one effort: get a gift and help the environment. Mantis’ Back Porch ComposTumbler is compact and mighty, turning kitchen and yard waste into high quality compost. Fruit and veggies will grow like never before.

Garden Strong and Confident

Centurion knows tools. Whether gifting these tools to a new gardener or giving them to a master gardener, Centurion tools are up for any task. 

The Centurion Garden and Outdoor Living Cutting Set ($30), a handy cutting tools set, includes a lopper, pruner, and hedge shears. Your loved one will be able to tackle any garden cutting project.

Berry Delightful

Delicious, nutritious, and stunning to look at, Bushel and Berry’s raspberries, blackberries, or blueberries provide fresh berries at your fingertips. 

They are a source of education for kids and a nutritious snack all in one. These berry bushes are suited for everyone, kids and adults, starter or expert. With nine varieties available, you will be spoiled for choice.

Cultivate Quality

Weed the garden at 6:00 AM with the quiet Mantis 58V Cordless Tiller/Cultivator. This battery-powered tiller does an excellent job weeding, reviving existing beds, and making new ones. It is a convenient 26 pounds, making it easy to move around and transport. Small, efficient, and easy to use, this tiller/cultivator makes an excellent gift for anyone who loves to garden.

Happy shopping!

Merry Chrsitmas Eve...

May your Christmas be filled with joy, love and... LED lights!?

For the sixth year, the Rockefeller Tree, an 80 ft Norway spruce from Mount Olive, N.J, will sparkle with 30,000 energy efficient LED bulbs ... that's more than five miles of lights -- along with the Swarovski crystal star.

Even better yet, some of the electricity used to power those lights will come from solar panels installed atop the Rock in 2007.

Read more here! And have a very Merry Christmas!

~Katie

What a cool job!

Meet the man who takes care of the Rockefeller Center tree, Erik Pauze.   

“There’s a lot to do,” he said. “You’ve got the tree. You’ve got the angels. You’ve got to make sure about the poinsettias. You got to make Christmas look good.” 

Read more from The New York Times here.  

What a cool job! 

Holiday traditions: Old and new!

Ah,  the holidays are here. Many are scrambling for parking spots at shopping malls looking for last minute gifts they were sure they had already purchased. Others are attending holiday and office parties and spectacular seasonal plays, dance and music performances.

And of course, television commercials are pitching cookies and cars, jewelry and clothes.

From 'White Christmas" to "Scrooge" and "Polar Express" there's comfort in seeing classics that tug at heartstrings and remind us on the importance of giving and sharing love, kindness and good-will toward one another. And isn't that what this season is all about?

I relish timeless traditions handed down from my family and those I started with my own. From making homemade ornaments,and stringing cranberries and popcorn on the tree, to caroling and baking cookies, holiday traditions are touchstones that last, spanning generations.

I remember Dad reading "The Night Before Christmas" to us kids snuggled up around a cozy fireplace, eyes opened in wide-eyed wonder. He passed around homemade eggnog, seasoned just right with nutmeg, that made us feel so "grown up." And of course, we left Santa his cookies and milk.

This year my family is starting a new tradition, a video memoir that will be added to every year.

Around the world, there are traditions for decorating trees and baskets, festivities and food that differ a bit from nation to nation, but the warmth and cheer that seems to surround the world like a cozy blanket brings smiles to children and contentment to even the stodgiest of curmudgeons.

If you're curious about timeless traditions here's a neat site with songs, recipes and wonderful insights to holiday traditions here and around the world.

Let us know your favorite holiday traditions. Send us images- or a video- we'd love to see and share.

From all of us, to all of you, have a wonderful holiday and healthy, prosperous and happy new year!

~Lynne, GMG
photos credits to Wiki images

There is still time to give back

Have you seen the powerful Subaru 'Share the Love' commercials?

Subaru will donate $250 to the customer's choice of one of the 5 participating charities for every new Subaru vehicle purchased or leased during the “Share the Love” event- but it ends January 3rd! 

But, I'm already a Subaru owner, you say?  Me too!  Now you can vote for your favorite participating charity on Facebook and Subaru will donate $1 on your behalf.  This special $1 to Charity program will run until January 3, 2012 or until the $250,000 donation amount has been achieved, so cast your vote for either American Forests, Make-A-Wish-Foundation, ASPCA, Meals On Wheels, or Special Olympics now.

During the last three years, Subaru has donated nearly $15 million. With your help, they hope to donate another $5 million this year.  So, go vote!

Via GOOD

Ho, ho, ho!

Frugal or Sustainable... Or Both?

Can you imagine if instead of chopping down a tree from (fill in the blank small town), New York City took a stand on sustainability? 

Now, don't get me wrong, The Rockefeller Christmas Tree is as sustainable as they can make it, with LED lighting and solar power, but we could do better.  We could be more like... Lithuania?!

For a third year, the city of Kaunas, Lithuania approached artist Jolanta Šmidtienė to assist with their annual holiday decorating. 

Recognizing the city’s somewhat dire financial state, the artist challenged herself to build something beautiful and different, yet affordable. 

The result: an enormous 13-meter tall Christmas tree made from nearly 40,000 recycled Sprite bottles. 

At night the tree is lit from the inside resulting in a glowing, translucent, emerald green spruce that’s making headlines across the country.

Now that's what I call putting the green in green.  Merry Christmas! (For more photos visit Design You Trust)

Oh Christmas Tree...are you for real?

So I am enjoying the typical signs of Christmas everywhere...stores are decorated to the extremes, the 24/7 Christmas music on the radio and the many Christmas tree lots popping up on the side of almost every road. I drive past many of them in my travels and every time I see one I think about my tree...the tree I grew up with. Now don't judge me...yes, my artificial tree.

My parents bought it when I was about 5. After they discovered that my brother and I had allergies...severe ones to anything that grew in nature...which meant we would never have a real tree in our home to celebrate the holidays. So they went shopping for the next best thing...a tree that would bring us an allergy-attack free holiday.

This is that tree. Yes, I still have it 35 years later.

I know you think this story can't get any better but the tree actually REVOLVES and PLAYS MUSIC...to the tune of Silent Night. (Nope, it's not for sale!)

When I was younger I thought all Christmas trees turned. I couldn't understand why my friends didn't decorate the whole tree...the back part facing the wall was always bare. Now I love the fact that I have more room for more ornaments! Lots more keepsakes to accumulate!

It is unique to say the least. All my holiday guests are shocked when they see that it turns! It always becomes the most videotaped item at the party...always with the comment "My friends are not going to believe your tree turns!" And then I get the inevitable question "how do the wires from the lights not get tangled?" It's a secret...only Santa knows.

Well, the tree has 'lived' to participate in yet another Christmas and I feel many memories of love and family when it turns on for the first time every season.

Are you going for a real tree this year or do you belong to the artificial tree family?

-Karen
GMG

Gift idea #2 for your favorite Gardener

Last Friday we released the Top 10 gifts for Gardeners Under $25.

Gift idea #2 is for the gardener who takes serious pride in their backyard.  Certify their Wildlife Garden for them. 

 

To certify a yard, you need to provide the following:

 

Examples of food sources: native plants like American beauties, seeds, fruits, nuts, berries and/or nectar

 

Examples of water sources: birdbath, pond, water garden and/or a stream

 

Examples of cover: thicket, rockpile and/or a birdhouse

 

Examples of places to raise young: dense shrubs, vegetation, nesting box and/or a pond

Top 10 Gifts for Gardeners under $25

Stumped on what to get your favorite gardener for the holidays? 

We've got ideas that are ALL under $25! Check them out here.