{"id":623,"date":"2012-12-01T07:00:52","date_gmt":"2012-12-01T07:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ongardening.com\/?p=623"},"modified":"2012-12-08T08:05:17","modified_gmt":"2012-12-08T08:05:17","slug":"gifts-for-gardeners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ongardening.com\/?p=623","title":{"rendered":"Gifts for Gardeners"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/strong>This is the season to make your favorite gardener happy.<\/p>\n

We will explore gifts for a gardener in these four categories: Upscale, Kitsch, Junktique, and Living.<\/p>\n

Upscale depends on what the recipient would find enduring in appeal and impressiveness. This is not the same as \u201cexpensive,\u201d but alas upscale items tend to be costly.<\/p>\n

The Kitsch category is often defined with negative terms, e.g., tasteless, aesthetically deficient, and excessively sentimental. Never mind! One person\u2019s \u201ckitsch\u201d is another\u2019s \u201ccute.\u201d This is hazardous territory for the gift-giver, unless his or her taste reflects that of the recipient.<\/p>\n

Items that may be considered Junktique are often old, but the essential concept is that they are recycled: their use is the garden is not the same as their original purpose. (A friend collects antique gardening and farming tools, but those belong in a category of their own.) This is where you find a discarded bed frame with a new life as a \u201cgarden bed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finally, we have the Living category, the principal members of which are plants and personal services. This category might also include certain fauna (a nice koi for a friend\u2019s pond, for example) but does not include feral mammals or herbivorous insects. That would be whimsy gone overboard.<\/p>\n

Watch for next week\u2019s column for an exploration of the Kitsch, Junktique and Living categories. For today, here are examples of the Upscale category. (I have no financial interest in any of these items, but am available for field-testing!)<\/p>\n