GMG's Friday Find: Garden Goodies for Mother's Day!

We know mom can be tough to shop for, so here are some ideas to make Mother's Day gift giving a breeze.

Easy Edible Pickins

Since moms everywhere love to feed their families healthy food, a gift of these brand new, low maintenance, small fruit shrubs will be most loved.  These compact berry shrubs provide ornamental beauty and delicious berries! RaspberryShortcake™ is a thornless dwarf raspberry shrub that reaches 2-3 feet and fruits the first season.  This compact, rounding plant requires no staking or trellising, no companion pollinators and very little space, and has sturdy upright canes. Raspberry Shortcake loads up with full-sized, super sweet raspberries and is ideally suited for large patio containers, balconies or any size yard.

Take Mom to the Tropics
Busy moms will love the Tropic Escape Patio Collection from Costa Farms®.  This collection pairs bold flowering hibiscus with trailing/climbing mandevilla - an unbeatable combo for mom's patio or garden!  And the best part is these plants bloom non-stop from spring until fall and are easy to care for. Look for the Tropic Escape collection at your local home improvement store or mass merchandiser and turn mom's outdoor space into a tropical paradise!

The Birds #1 Best Friend
Does your mom love to feed the birds? These new bird feeders from Perky-Pet® look like old-fashioned mason jars.  The Mason Jar Collection is reminiscent of the vintage blue glass canning jars used in the 1800s. They bring rustic, shabby chic elegance to any yard while attracting various types of birds. Perky-Pet® offers three types of Mason Jar feeders including Wild Bird Feeder, Hummingbird Feeder and Wild Bird Waterer.  Mom can have beautiful outdoor décor while enjoying watching the birds.

Eco-Friendly Containers 
Moms love to get handmade gifts from their kids, but if that's not happening this year give her the next best thing - handmade pottery containers from Native Cast. These eco-friendly concrete planters are individually hand-cast, lightweight and durable.  Easy to move and stunning in design, your mom will love this planter for indoor or outdoor, all year long. The heart-shaped cast- your-own kit is a fun project you and your mom can spend time doing together; after all, that's all she really wants!

 Twists on Tradition Cookbook
The next best thing from taking a break from cooking is cooking a meal together with family. James Farmer's newest book, A Time To Cook is a celebration of garden to table lifestyle recipes updated for today's conscientious cooks. Steeped in Southern tradition, A Time To Cook offers scrumptious recipes that are fresh from the land and garden and will be one of your mom's go-to cookbooks for years to come.

Celebrate this Mother's Day with a gift that says "I love you", a gift she'll use and enjoy for years, and a gift that will remind her of just how special she is.

Happy Mother's Day!

~Peggy
Garden Media Group

GMG's Friday Find: Water While You're Gone

The anticipated vacation is just around the corner, and you're ready to head to your destination without a care in the world.  The kids, the dog, the cat are all taken care of.   What are you forgetting?  Your plants!  Don't want your neighbor coming in and snooping around?  No worries.  Here are some self-watering pots that will keep your oxygen-replenishing friends happy until your return.

 The Ikea Jubel Self-Watering Plant Pot is functional and pretty. The inner pot turns to reveal three different colors, depending on your preference.  Add water through the colorful hole and a 100% cotton thread wicks it to the plant. A small container weighing only one pound will hold your herbs and smaller plants, keeping them happy and healthy for your return.

Heading away for a couple of weeks?  This Brookstone Self-Watering Planter holds good sized plants and is slim enough for windowsills and small spaces.  A water gauge indicates when the reservoir is empty and needs to be filled.  A specially formulated granular material, called Lechuza® PON separates your potting soil from its water reservoir, aerates the roots, provides your plant with nutrition and helps regulate adequate water supply. A variety of colors makes this planter versatile, as well as functional.

 Stack your plants in this tiered Self Watering Planter, water and walk away.  You simply cannot overwater as each tier features a combination self watering/drainage system.  This is a great planter for small space decks and patios and creates a tower of fresh flowers, herbs and veggies.

Don't let wilted, dried out and sometimes dead plants greet you when you return home from your wonderful vacation.  Come home to thriving plants that you love, and love you back with flowers, food and fresh, clean air.  What do you think of self-watering planters?  We'd love to hear your thoughts.

~Peggy

Garden Media

GMG's Friday Find: Plant some soul music!

Music is an integral part of our lives, and has been since the dawn of man. Research suggests that music can be healing, soothing, uplifting and energizing.  Music taps into our inner consciousness. But what about plants and music? Most studies agree that plants also thrive on music. Here are two cool planters that we found that incorporate music into the growing process.

The Muse musical vase is a music box for plants. There are several colors with different tunes so you can choose one that sings to the song in your heart and one your plant will love to hear too. Easy to assemble, you just turn and enjoy the music, the movement and the emotions of caring for your sweet plants.

The Koishi Planter Pot is actually an instrument controlled by your plant. You place your plant on the Planter Pot and the activity within the plant is transformed into an audio-visual performance.  The music is unique and instantaneous, like a private concert your plant gives to you. Great for meditation, or simply enjoying as background music. Check out the video and listen to what this plant is playing.

KOISHI - interactive audio-visual planter pot concept from Koishi on Vimeo.

Our houseplants can provide us with not only the benefits of clean air, but also music and sounds for healthy living.  An interesting interaction we can all enjoy, plants included. 

~Peggy
Garden Media Group

GMG's Friday Find: What's your Personality Plant?

The benefits of houseplants is undeniable.  They are natural air filters that can remove up to 87% of indoor air pollutants, and most people spend 90% of their time indoors! Plants produce oxygen and remove carbon dioxide. Plants reduce stress, fatigue and headaches as well as lower blood pressure. Plants are as vital to our well being inside as they are to our survival outside. So why not have a little fun with indoor plants. Here is a DIY idea from the Kazahstan agency Good  that does just that.

All you need is a basic pot, a houseplant, a faceprint and a clear protective pot.

The fun is combining plants with personalities for an eye-popping visual association. These planters are sure to get the attention of everyone, while at the same time cleaning your indoor air. Pot up a head, have some laughs and breath easy.

~Peggy

Garden Media Group

Accessorize Inside this Winter

Those beautiful planters on your deck or patio were a sight to behold this summer. Overflowing with brightly colored flowers, they brought you pleasure all summer long.

But now that the colder weather is starting to set in do you need to unplant them and store them out of sight where no one can enjoy them?

Of course not! Just bring them in to use as accent pieces during the holidays and winter months.

Here are some fun ways to use planters indoors from the folks at fine garden accessories manufacturer Campania International:

• Fill a cast stone urn (or small birdbath) with fruit such as apples or pears and set it on your table as a centerpiece when you are entertaining guests. Remember to use felt coasters on the bottom of your containers to easily move them from table to table.

• Keep an interesting large cast stone planter by your door to catch umbrellas or gloves, mittens, hats or other winter paraphernalia tossed by your kids as they race into the house.

• Create your own indoor water garden by adding plants such as spider lilies, taro or water lettuce to a glazed or lightweight container.

• For parties, fill an empty lightweight container with ice to keep beverages cold.

• And of course planters can hold plenty of magazines and newspapers.

With a little creativity your planters and garden accent pieces can be versatile and elegant enough to bring indoors for four seasons of enjoyment -- and an extended life.

-Stacey

GMG