Horticulture Hotline 12/05/22
By Bill Lamson-Scribner
Ok, I get it. The mid seventies in December. It is Charleston and why we love it. Apparently, the mole crickets, moles, fire ants, and Large Patch fungus love it as well. I have seen more fire ant mounds this fall than I can ever remember seeing. I was in an area where children (less than 4 years old) were playing the other day, and they were right by a huge fire ant mound. It was terrifying! I walked by and said something about it, but who knows if they were listening, or what about the next kids playing in that area?
Sweating while you bring in the Christmas Tree – ah the Lowcountry! Here are a few holiday gift ideas for the gardener.
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….). The gift of free time is awesome! If you enjoy working in the yard, a custom program based on your soil test can give you a plan for success.
Plan a trip to a local public garden (for example Magnolia Plantation, Middleton, Boone Hall, Drayton Hall, Charles Towne Landing, the many county parks – be sure to take in the Holiday Festival of Lights at James Island County Park, 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. The gift of visiting an ever changing and special place to the Lowcountry is awesome! Since you live in the Charleston area, you probably have out of town visitors, so you will have a great place to take them for the day.
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!
There are some awesome gardens out there!
Give a gardener a gift certificate for a future Home 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. There is a great Plantation Tour in the Georgetown area that I have been on several times. Seeing what other landscape ideas do well in the Lowcountry is awesome!
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’s 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. Gaining knowledge about a topic you are interested in is awesome!
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, all make awesome gifts!
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 want and you don’t have to worry about whether they will like the gift. For the most part free and easy parking. Now that’s awesome!
