Does it seem like your free time is spent doing maintenance
yard work around the house? You work
long hours all week, and then on the weekend instead of spending time with your
family, shopping, on the boat, on the golf course, hunting, etc., you are
spending it pushing a lawn mower inhaling that blue smoke? Give yourself a lawn care company for a year
and enjoy your time off doing what you like to do. You can still spend time in the yard doing
specialty things; just get rid of the mowing, edging, control product applying
and blowing. Also consider hiring
professionals to do other house maintenance (power washing, painting….).
Plan a trip to a local public garden (for example Magnolia
Plantation, Middleton, Boone Hall, Drayton Hall, Charles Towne Landing, the
many county parks or Hampton Park) and get ideas for your own landscape. This also makes for a wonderful day with the
family. You can take a picnic lunch and
make it a full day enjoying the beauty of the Lowcountry. Many of these parks
you can buy a yearly pass for just a little more than a onetime visit and enjoy
the park throughout the year.
If you would like to take a road trip, travel to Brookgreen
Gardens by Myrtle Beach, or Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia. You can also give a
gardener a trip out of the area for a long distance gardening adventure. Calloway Gardens in Atlanta, Longwood Gardens
in Pennsylvania, The National Arboretum outside of Washington, D.C., The
Redwoods in California or any other garden throughout the United States…..or
anywhere in the world!
Give a gardener a gift certificate for a future House and
Garden Tour event. There are great tour
events throughout the year in areas all over the Lowcountry. Kiawah, Seabrook, Daniel Island,
City of Charleston,
Summerville, Mount Pleasant
all have different garden tours. If you
want to go on a road trip, Savannah and Beaufort also have garden tours.
Give your gardener a membership to one of the many clubs or
societies in the Charleston
area. The Rose Society, The Charleston
Horticultural Society, The Native Plant Society, The Camellia Society, The Koi
Fish Club and Daylily Society just to name a few. I have attended many of these club
lectures. They are all very informative
and are passionate about their interests, willing to help newcomers, and
provide different community projects to improve the Lowcountry. I have run into many old friends and have
made many new friends at these meetings.
Books (different Universities sell very informative books at
very good prices), quality hand tools (especially pruners and pruning saws),
cuttings from your garden, a plant, tree, or bulbs, or something you have
canned from your garden.
A gift certificate to any of the local garden centers or
nurseries makes an excellent choice for the garden enthusiast. They are bound to find something they like!
