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Plant Life By Valerie Easton
Goodies For GardenersWhether it's glass floats or Irish magazines, we have choices
IN A YEAR when Al Gore's eco-power-point became a hit movie and Vanity Fair published an all-green issue, surely the gardener on your gift list will appreciate an environmentally conscious gift. • One of the savviest new save-the-Earth products out there has arrived in Seattle, and can be purchased — where else? — at Whole Foods. You know how most plant containers are expensive and ruin-your-back heavy, or made of plastic? EcoForms pots are lightweight, inexpensive and made of grain husks. The pots range in price from $2.99 to $9.49, come in bowl, vase and urn shapes, last five years outdoors and then biodegrade. Any gardener would love a collection of these pots in tempting colors like harvest, sand, mocha and ebony. They're frost- and mildew-resistant, too. Also available at www.ecoforms.com. • Give the gift that turns gutters into water features. Traditionally Japanese, yet newly stylish, rain chains channel water from roof to ground to seep slowly into a bed of stones or drip into a pot to be used another time. Because they magnify the sound and texture of falling rain, rain chains are considered to be good feng shui. RainChains.com makes 30 kinds in cup, link or more ornate styles of copper, brass or aluminum. The chains come in 8-foot or custom lengths. Find them at West Seattle Nursery (5275 California Ave. S.W., Seattle, 206-935-9276) and at Pottery Time (2700 Fourth Ave. S., Seattle, 206-224-9815), or order from rainchains.com. • The glass floats at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma are the most beautiful I've seen, though perhaps only eco-sensitive in that they're long-lasting if you don't drop them. The large, luminous, buoyant spheres cost $24 to $27. I've seen many smaller, less dazzling glass floats for double the price. A warning: I found it impossible to dig through the bin in the museum gift shop without taking home a variety of colors. Which is fine, because anyone on your gift list would love to have at least several floats to pile in a bowl or basket in the winter, then move outside to bob around in a fountain, pond or water-filled pot when the weather warms up. The Museum of Glass (www.museumofglass.org) is at 1801 Dock St. in Tacoma; gift-shop phone is 253-284-3009. • The gift of the year for gardeners has to be the gorgeous Irish magazine Garden Heaven, recently revamped and newly distributed in the U.S. Despite its corny name, Garden Heaven is a sophisticated blend of plant worship and evocative photos, all in a satisfying large format. Editor Dermot O'Neill writes from Dublin, "I'm anxious to bring together the leading experts and authorities from around the world to share their particular plant interests with our readers," a philosophy that makes this the perfect gift to share with fellow gardeners. Garden Heaven is published six times yearly, costs 59.95 in Euros and arrives securely packaged. The best way to order is to send a credit-card number and expiration date (so you don't need to calculate the exchange rate yourself) to: Byers Media, 14-16 Main St., Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Or you can e-mail to info@gardenheaven.ie. Closer to home are 2007 calendars celebrating the talent and plant life right here in Seattle. You can count on PlantAmnesty to do something provocative, and its calendar doesn't disappoint with 12 months of arborists hanging out of trees. Published to celebrate PlantAmnesty's 20th anniversary, the calendar costs $15, including postage and handling, from www.plantamnesty.org. The Washington Park Arboretum's first-ever calendar is pure plant porn with 12 months of luscious flora photographed in our own arboretum. The calendar costs $15.95 and can be found near the checkout stands at PCC Natural Markets and at the Arboretum shop in the Graham Visitor's Center, 2300 Arboretum Drive E., 206-543-8800. Valerie Easton is a Seattle freelance writer. Her e-mail address is valeaston@comcast.net.
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