Weeding the Web

Christmas presents for gardeners: 20% off Punch cartoons until end of November

OK, last call to remind you of the 20% discount on Punch cartoons, available until the end of this month (that's next Monday). Also, my last excuse to let us all enjoy a bit more cartoon humour. (just in case you think I must be benefiting from an affiliate link, with all these mentions, I'll assure you I'm not. I just can't resist the opportunity to share a private passion.)

What I like about the wartime cartoon below is that you don't actually know who is saying it to whom (though it's easy to jump to conclusions). Douglas Mays' cartoons often featured children or, like below, society women who were modelled on his wife and four daughters. The picture below must have been borne of some sort of experience (we're talking about the veg now). A pacifist, Mays spent the war years farming.

"So you see, dear, one can be decorative and useful." By Douglas Mays. Published May 1940. Reproduced with permission of Punch Ltd., www.punch.co.uk

All the images are available as archival quality prints on good quality, thick textured paper and are giclée printed. You could even go the whole hog and go for ready-to-hang canvases or acrylic prints.

The discount is available on all print products, even if you find a cartoon you'd like with a different subject matter. (Click on the picture above, to go straight to that one.)

Just enter the code NOVEMBER when asked for a coupon code in your shopping cart. The offer continues until November 30th (Monday).

Click here and here to see other Punch cartoons on offer.

Presents for Gardeners: a round-up of ideas for Christmas

Over the past few years (since 2009. Heavens! Really?) I've given suggestions for quite a few unusual presents for gardeners. Some of you will already know that I tend to look for appropriate gifts that aren't equipment, seeds and the like, but that acknowledge the receiver's love of gardening.

A round-up has been long overdue. So I've gone back, checked for broken links (that was a long-overdue task too!), and here's a list of some of the present ideas that I still regard fondly and that, I'm glad to say, are still available. 

Click on the picture to get through to the original post.

 

Great fun. I fell for this when I heard Jo Stephenson's ballad to Alan Titchmarsh. You can hear a number of the tracks on their website.

 

 

 

 

This is a favourite jigsaw of mine from Gibson Games. Plenty of interest to keep you finding the pieces. 

The pictures from high-quality jigsaw producers, Wentworth, are also great fun. Those in my previous post have dropped off their lists, but follow their link to find a January King cabbage, which must surely be a challenge.

 

Chocolate's always welcome. I found plenty, but the main attraction has to be the extraordinarily lifelike tools from Schokolat (you can just see the secateurs leaning against the watering can).

For those in a different mood, they also do chocolate handcuffs...

 

 

 Partners in Pewter do a lovely range of keyrings, pendants etc. This trowel with cheerful worm wrapped round it is very cute. I see these every year at the Christmas Fair at Wisley. Solidly made and a nice small present.

 

 

 

 

B Skincare creams are hand made in Cornwall. They produce moisturisers, cleansers, hand and foot creams, as well as some for aches and pains, which rub in really nicely, and a Gardener's Gift Set.

You'll also find a link to Pure Scents, another cream that I really liked.

 

 

 

Completely different from the usual garden magazine offerings, this A5 quarterly comes with lovely illustrations and heart-warming stories.

 

 

 

 

 

 

That's probably enough for the time being. If you've found anything that you think makes a really thoughtful gardener's present, then let me know and I'll mention it in another post.  To see what else I've found over the years, try Presents for Gardeners.

Autumn planting combinations: fuchsia and Dahlia 'Ambition'

Some gardeners have it, and some don't. I recently showed a lovely sedum and fuchsia planting combination. I found it in a garden run by talented friends who never fail to wow me with their planting, and here's another:

Dahlias are a particular favourite and Jim always buys new corms each year. "When you get to my age," he said, "you realise you don't have that many summers left and you want to make sure everything comes up."

That's a sentiment that I think we can all relate to, however old we are, because counted in flower seasons, life seems exceptionally brief. All the more reason to enjoy every success. Here Dahlia 'Ambition' bolsters the dark pink and purple of the fuchsia, and contrast with the shape of the stone urn.