Christmas Gifts from Small Beginnings

December 2022

One

Twenty-five years ago, the courier delivered a small wooden box. Inside was a tiny pohutukawa, a Christmas present from my husband’s employers for our garden landscape. Now 10 metres tall this iconic tree of our South Pacific Island is a beautiful herald of Christmas. Each December our family rejoices in the arrival of that distinctive festive red canopy. Christmas is coming!

Two

Last week I passed an elderly gardener cutting stunning white blooms growing on her bank bordering her street. She was filling her young neighbour’s arms with a bouquet of fragrant Christmas lilies. Their faces told plenty about the joy of giving and receiving.  For me that soft sweet scent filling the house is true Christmas. Isn’t it wonderful how small bulbs annually produce much beauty and happiness for many? When I’ve exhausted our garden, our favourite supplier is Lilies by Blewden.

Three

One of our daughters is apartment living and, in the winter, secured a 1 metre square of community garden. This welcome space is now bursting with tomatoes, basil, parsley, a courgette, and climbing beans. Even though the plot was small the gift was big for someone with no garden at all. Children can feel the same when given their very own garden to plant in whatever they like. The delight of watching a shoot emerge, a flower bloom or a strawberry colour up is not dependent on the size of the space. What a gift to encourage children into gardening and learn the satisfaction of growing their own food.

Four

In early spring in the search for Christmas gifts from the garden I filled some pots each with cuttings of rosemary, thyme and tucked in a seedling of parsley. Dressed up with a ribbon these little gifts are smart in their various textures of green and promise big taste for many a summer menu. 

Five

On our Christmas table it is tradition to burn candles amongst bunches of freshly picked sweet peas. These plants can be untidy in your garden design but my answer to that landscaping limitation is a bamboo trellis in the vegetable garden.  Of course, you must keep picking sweet peas to ensure continued flowering. In the lead up to Christmas such small little seeds (soaked overnight before planting in spring or autumn) create posies of vivid colour and a scent to devour. It’s a popular thank you gift for neighbours and friends.

Six

For the person who has everything or if you are stuck for a ‘Secret Santa’ gift, there is always Trees that Count.  If you haven’t heard of them their website is worth a visit. A small native that becomes a reducer of carbon, soil erosion and farm effluent runoff, will surely spin most people’s ethical wheels.

Seven

Finally, beyond the person with everything, I recently heard of a prized Christmas gift for the gardener who has everything. This special lady tended a beautiful garden, and her grown family had the more novel idea of giving plants for a butterfly garden.  With that garden now well established, these fluttering dainty gifts of nature dance abundant near her gazebo. It is serene entertainment, up there with bird watching. 

Happy Christmas everyone.

– Bernice Wright