There are many holiday gift ideas waiting for you right outside your door in the garden!

 

Use Plants and Recycled Materials!

It's another "recession Christmas" for most people but I'm not going to let this financial challenge get in the way of my gift giving this holiday season!

So, get ready my friends for your "living gifts" from the garden.

 

Here are seven of my favorite projects and crafts that I've culled from past Eden Maker blog posts to inspire you!

 

 

1. Mixed Lettuce Bouquet (or other seasonal vegetable)

 

 

I put together this mixed lettuce bouquet from my garden as an unconventional hostess gift.

I picked the lettuce thirty minutes before leaving the house to preserve as much freshness as possible.

The  lettuce leaves were washed and rolled in a moistened paper towel and aluminum foil.

Read the rest of the post: "Unconventional Hostess Gift: Mixed Lettuce Bouquet

 

 

2. Palm Frond Recycled as a Succulent Planter!

 

 

 

Is the wind blowing palm fronds onto your street?

Don't be so fast to throw away this debris.

I was impressed with some clever succulent planters that were created by a group of  Los Angeles Arboretum volunteers using re purposed natural materials like palm fronds and hollowed tree stumps..

Read the rest of the post  "Succulent Planters: Would You Believe Palm Fronds?

 

3. "Living Tapestry Pillow"

This succulent pillow is a  Shirley original, as far as I know, (a vision came to me for it while watching Citizen Kane ).

Inspiration comes from the most unlikely places!

 

I created the "Living Succulent Tapestry Pillow"  for my  presentation at the "Epcot International Flower and Garden Show" in Disney World last year.

Read the rest of the post  "Living Tapestry Pillow"

 

 

4. Miniature Rose Garden in a Container!

 

What do you do with those cute miniature roses that you can buy at the supermarket, big box store or discount outlet?

Take them out of their pots and make them the star of a container miniature rose garden!

Read the rest of the post "Create a Miniature Rose Garden in a Container!"

 

 

5. Hanging Edible Container Garden

This hanging, edible container garden makes a great gift.

Re-purpose kitchen items that can handle water as containers for planting herbs, like this onion hanger  from the "Dollar Store."

Read the rest of the post "Edible Gardening Containers from the Dollar Store" for more ideas like this.

 

 

 

6. "Antique Dresser Re-purposed as a Potting Table!"

 

 

Are you handy with a paint brush?

Here's an idea from one of my garden makeover segments on HGTV.

An antique dresser can make a great potting table.

Read the rest of the post "Garden Furniture as Art!" for a few other clever  gift ideas for the DIY'er to make.

 

 

7. "Artistic" Container Garden

Plants are inexpensive and mixed with "garden sculptures" or re-purposed decor, they can be transformed into an artistic, one-of-a-kind gift!

Read the rest of the post "Container Gardens That Catch the Eye!" for more ideas like this.

 

I hope some of these ideas provide a stimulus for your own creative gifts from the garden!

Thanks for reading and I invite you to watch my weekly, online Garden TV talk show, "Garden World Report."

The latest Garden World Report Show is called, "Garden Center Holiday Tour" and features tours of garden centers all over the country decked out for the holidays and more!

I'm busy preparing for my presentation on "Art in the Garden" for  Epcot's International Flower and Garden Festival   next week, April 4-7.

It's a big subject, but I'm narrowing it down to "functional garden art"  because I like beautiful things that serve a purpose.

 

Artistic garden furniture is a great way to infuse creativity and place your personal stamp in the garden.

 

 Here's a little preview.

I designed a custom flower arranging table with holes for flower buckets and painted it to match the "antique" potting table.

All the furniture was sealed with 3 coats of marine varnish.

 

My inspiration for the "French flower market" garden came from these French linen striped towels.

All the colors are represented in the yard.

 

An old park bench becomes garden art when it has a favorite poem verse handwritten across the back.

 

This one is in French!

I painted the bench in yellow to tie in with the other garden furniture.

If you like the look of this garden, please visit my website  at ShirleyBovshow.com  for more photos and a complete before and after chronicle of this yard makeover.

I even include  a plant list!

Get over there now!

 

Or, you can come and listen to me at the Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival in Orlando Florida!

Here are some photos from the opening day at the festival.