kids

Gill’s is here to be your holiday stress antidote! Come take a stroll and pick out a few gifts for the green thumbs on your list. We’ll help you find the right plants, useful tools, nature gifts for kids, holiday cards, and all kinds of other unique and fun gifts to help connect your loved ones to the outdoors. Here’s 12 of our favs.

1. Gifts that Grow

Now is a great time to plant winter flowers like petunias, geraniums, and snapdragons, and they’re quick and easy to plant! Easy for Santa to sneak in and secretly plant a few flowers.

Roses, herbs, and onions are all great to plant right now too. Or if you want to make it a truly memorable holiday, plant a tree! Remember that trees benefit greatly from being planted in fall and winter, including citrus trees! And if you don’t want to do any digging, we’ll plant it for you.

2. Poinsettias and Other Holiday Classics

Poinsettias are THE classic holiday décor and centerpiece for holiday meals. They make great gifts for teachers, bosses, coworkers, and friendly acquaintances – they just make people happy!

A blooming Christmas Cactus or Kalanchoe is great too, or a small living holiday tree like a juniper, Norfolk pine, or rosemary. We can gift wrap these for you. Easy wow!

3. Custom-Planted Pottery

Let us help you put together something totally unique! Choose the pots and plants and we can pot it all up for you. Houseplants, flowers, herbs, native plants for pollinators, and lots more can stand alone or be combined in the right pot.

4. Quality Garden Tools

We don’t carry a huge selection of tools, just nice tools that are made to last. Pruners, loppers, kitchen/herb shears, or even a quality sharp-shooter shovel make great gifts. Working with quality tools makes gardening a lot more fun.

5. Soothing Wind Chimes

Lots of different tones and styles for relaxing in the garden, including our favorite chimes of all time, Music of the Spheres. Hand-made and hand-tuned here in TX.

6. “Gordo” Birdhouses + Bird Baths

These Gordo birdhouses have been a huge hit this fall. People seem to love them and birds too! Pair these with a nice stone bird bath and some bird-attracting plants and you’ll make the birders on your list very happy.

7. Cyanotype Print Kits

Cyanotype photography or printing is a technique that involves laying an object, like a leaf, on paper coated with a solution of iron salts before exposing it to light to create stunning white and blue images. The kit comes with everything you need to make your own prints! Just find the leaves and flowers you want to capture – no darkroom or other tools required!

8. Silverware Herb Markers

These might be our fav garden markers we’ve ever seen. Herb markers etched into old silverware!

9. Rain Chains

Rain chains are THE gift for nature lovers who enjoy the soothing sound of rain. They’re a beautiful alternative to gutter downspouts, guiding rainwater gently into planting beds.

10. Houseplant Cutting Jars

Our cutting jars make great gifts for houseplant lovers. We collect interesting glass jars and use LECA (lightweight expanded clay aggregate) + water as the growing medium for cuttings. We have some ready to go, or all the supplies for you to make your own.

11. Nature-Themed Children’s Books and Holiday Cards

This year, we’re featuring new children’s books and holiday cards by author and illustrator Phoebe Wahl. Her first book, Sonya’s Chickens, was the recipient of the Ezra Jack Keats Book Award, and her most recent book, Little Witch Hazel is an Indie Bestseller. Perfect gifts for a young gardener!

12. When in Doubt – Gift Cards!

Can’t go wrong with a Gill’s gift card! Good for plants or services too. You could give the gift of landscape design, a food garden next Spring, a planted tree, or anything else we provide. We can help you with ideas too!

This Saturday, May 21, from 10am to 2pm, we are inviting kids to come celebrate Mr. Rogers’ Day of Kindness, aka 1-4-3 day. We’ll give away a 4” blooming plant to each kid that they can give to someone who they feel could use a little kindness. Mr. Rogers’ Day of Kindness was started by the State of Pennsylvania to honor Fred Rogers and his positive message about community. It’s celebrated on the 143^rd day of the year since Mr. Rogers regularly used 143 as his special code for “I Love You” – based on the number of letters in each word.

On Saturday, we’ll have tables set up for kids to choose a plant and write a short message about who they plan to give the plant to and why. If it rains, we’ll set up inside the greenhouse.

In a few weeks, we’ll share photos and messages from the kids. Hope to see you Saturday!

“Imagine what our real neighborhoods would be like if each of us offered, as a matter of course, just one kind word to another person.”
– Fred Rogers

If you’re looking for a fun Summer garden project, planting sunflowers is the ticket. They’re easy to grow, they grow super fast, you can try lots of different colors/sizes, and you get to enjoy and share gorgeous sunflowers all Summer. Such a fun project for kids (and adults too!). Here’s how.

First, plan your spot. Find a spot out in the open that gets full sun all day. Turn the soil and work in some Nature’s Blend compost and you’re ready to plant.

Start your seeds in peat pots or directly in the soil. Peat pots are nice because you can protect the seedlings in the house or on a covered patio, then transplant them (peat pot and all) into the ground once they get a little bigger. But if you want to skip this step, sunflower seedlings are hardy enough to get a good start outside directly in the soil.

Plant sunflowers about 12-18” apart to give them room to grow. You can expect seeds to sprout in just a few days and grow really fast! Once they start growing, fertilize with liquid organic Hasta Gro for lots of blooms. These pictures are Debbie’s sunflowers in early July of last year and she planted them in late May! They only take about 4-6 weeks to start blooming, and the blooms typically last about 2 months. One of the fun facts about sunflowers is that their blooms follow the sun. The blooms face East in the morning, then turn and follow the sun throughout the day. Overnight, they slowly turn back toward the East and start again! The blooms will also attract helpful bees to your yard, and once the blooms fade, birds will come feast on the seed heads. You can harvest and eat the seeds from some varieties too ????

Attention parents and kids: join us here at Gill’s this Saturday for a talk and tree planting demo.

All kids will receive a free native Live Oak tree seedling and soil blend for planting! We thought it would be fun to teach kids how to plant trees and give them their own tiny tree to care for and watch it grow. Here’s a preview of what we’ll discuss – see you Saturday!

Fall is the Best Time to Plant Trees

Planting trees in the fall, as temps start to cool down, helps their root systems get a head start. They spend all fall and winter focusing energy on growing deeper and stronger roots so that next Spring they can explode with growth of new leaves and branches. Also, those strong and deep roots help prepare them to withstand hot summer temps next year.

Planting Small Trees is Easy!

Digging a big hole and planting a big tree gives you a big impact, but planting a small tree is a lot easier. It takes a lot less water too. Yes, it takes a long time to get a huge mature oak tree, but that’s a great reason to plant one as a kid! You get to nurture the tree and watch it grow, which is so rewarding.

Planting Trees Makes a Big Environmental Impact

Native trees, like Live Oaks, provide the biggest benefit to our local ecosystem. They host a large number of caterpillars that turn into pollinators (butterflies and moths). And, they help provide a food source and habitat for native and migrating birds. Not to mention, they trap carbon and create clean oxygen!

Bring the kids this Saturday, October 8th at 10am to make some wildflower seed balls! It’s time to plant wildflowers and seed balls are such a fun and easy way to do it. We’ll have stations set up with all the supplies, including native wildflower seeds, for kids to make their own seed balls. Here’s a preview – see you Saturday!

What are Seed Balls?

We recently saw the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center’s recipe for wildflower seed balls and thought this would be a wonderful project for kids here at Gill’s! Seed balls are simply balls formed with our native clay soil + compost, some sand, a little water, and Texas native wildflower seeds. We’ll be using the recommended ‘Lady Bird’s Legacy Wildflower Mix’ and ‘Texas Bluebonnets’ from Native American Seed.

Rather than just scattering the wildflower seeds, the seed balls help to protect them from the elements. All you do is place them on the ground in a spot where they have contact with dirt. No digging required. They’ll break down and ‘plant’ themselves this Fall, then you’ll get to see them bloom next Spring!

We’ll have stations set up with all the supplies for kids to get their hands dirty and make their own batch of seed balls to take home and plant. We’ll be on hand to help out too. Going to be lots of fun – see you Saturday!

Back in late December, Gill’s had the pleasure of donating the planting of a new pollinator garden at Windsor Park Elementary School for kids, parents, and teachers to enjoy this Spring and for years to come. James Gill designed the garden in an empty parking median using mostly Texas native plants like Kidneywood, Texas Lantana, Frogfruit, Skeleton-leaf Goldeneye, and more to attract different birds and butterflies. This is a very special project for us, and we chose to dedicate it to Gabe Velasquez, long time Gill landscaper and friend who passed away.

A few words about Gabe from James Gill:

“Very early in the growth and evolution of Gill’s, we were so fortunate to connect with a wonderful young man, Gabe Velasquez. He quickly learned the basics of landscape installation and became quite a craftsman, with high personal standards of quality work and materials. His good nature and work ethic made him a favorite of our Gill team and our customers.

We lost contact with him for several years, but managed to lure him back, and he not only retained his high personal standards, but was so willing to mentor younger crew members.

Tragically, we lost Gabe during the Covid pandemic, and the folks at Gill’s have been looking for some kind of worthy tribute. We think Gabe’s Garden at Windsor Park Elementary School, which will bring butterflies, humming birds, and thousands of smiles to children and their parents, would suit him just fine.”

The volunteer team for Gabe’s Garden included current Gill landscape crew leaders Arnold Charles and Jimmy Chavira, who both worked with Gabe for many years, Aracely Negrete (Master Naturalist from Kingsville), Sara Jose (Oso Bay Wetlands Preserve Manager), Jesse Jenkins (Gill’s new owner), and the whole Gill family; James and Sally, son Stuart, wife Anne, and granddaughter Bea, + son Trevor and girlfriend Catherine in town for the holidays!

Gill’s has had a connection to Windsor Park Elementary for many years. Stuart and Trevor Gill both attended! Here they are helping plant Gabe’s Garden all these years later!

Windsor Park Owls, Trevor and Stuart Gill

May means Mom’s Day, graduations, and more BBQs and family holidays outside! May is also Mental Health Awareness Month. As gardeners, we know growing plants and being outdoors are necessary for our wellbeing…and so much fun! As one of our customers put it recently, “I believe that people who garden are the most hopeful and positive individuals.” Here are our Top 6 Must Do’s this May to keep you and your garden feelin’ good.

1. Join Us for Garden Talks and Events!

We’ve got a fun May planned here at Gill’s, and we’re kicking it off this Saturday, April 29th, 2023 at Be My Neighbor Day! This is a community event at KEDT Studios at 3205 S. Staples from 9am-1pm. Gill’s will have a booth with seeds, plants, and goodies for kids who attend. Then every Saturday in May, we’re hosting garden talks and events here at Gill’s. Sure to be lots of fun and lots to learn and discuss! Stay tuned for more info!

2. Plant Blooming Perennials and Trees

It’s still time to plant lots of different blooming perennials and blooming trees. Get them established now so they are better adapted to withstand warmer temps this Summer. Staples like Esperanza, many varieties of Salvia, Jatropha, Lantana, and more are all blooming beautifully right now. And blooming trees like Crape Myrtles, Vitex, Retama, and Wild Olive are looking great right now too. Added bonus: these blooming perennials and trees attract lots of butterflies and hummingbirds!

3. Plant and Harvest Veggies

Warm weather veggie time! Plant peppers, zucchini, squash, and okra this month for continued harvesting into the Summer months. If you planted tomatoes, cucumbers, and other early Spring veggies, you’ll be harvesting now or soon. Be sure to harvest often! It keeps birds & insects from finding them first. If you do have insect issues in your veggie garden, our go-to organic control is Spinosad – safe for food but takes care of bugs. Recent rains have been great for veggie gardens. Remember to keep watering as the weather warms up and dries out to maintain depth moisture. Soaker hoses are great to snake around your plants keeping water close to the ground and root systems.

4. Tend Your Lawn

In Spring and Summer, water your lawn once a week unless we have rain. Invest in a sprinkler that’ll do the work – we have them. Hand watering the lawn may feel therapeutic, but you won’t get good coverage and depth. Once a week, nice and deep for a healthy lawn.

When mowing, the proper height for St. Augustine lawns is around 3 inches. For Bermuda lawns, keep mowed to around 2-2.5 inches.

Feed with Natural Fertilizers: Medina Growin Green or Milorganite. These feed the lawn and the soil with great results. Water in to get them started.

Watch for lawn insects & treat when needed. Grub worms & chinch bugs are easy to control when caught early but there’s no need to treat unless you have them. Bayer Season-long Grub Control will do the trick for grubs. Cyonara takes care of chinch bugs. Reminder, you can bring us a grass sample any time you suspect a lawn disease or pest. We’ll diagnose (using our microscope if needed) and get you what you need to knock it out.

5. Set Your Mosquito Traps!

We are big fans of the simple bucket mosquito trap. Just fill a bucket 3/4 with water, add a good handful of lawn or plant clippings, and toss in a Mosquito Dunk or Mosquito Bits. These dissolve in the water and release bacteria that target mosquito larvae and kill them before they hatch. And they’re organic and not harmful to birds, bees, pets or humans! Set a few of these traps, sprinkle some organic Mosquito Beater granules around walkways and patios, spray organic Cedar Repel on your lawn, and use Skeeter Screen incense sticks near where you’re working or hanging out outside. Remember that using chemical mosquito foggers kills all the good bugs too, some of which also help control mosquitos and other bad bugs.

6. Gifts for Moms and Grads

Let us help you find something pretty, useful, or both for the gardening moms and grads in your life. Pottery, birdbaths, wind chimes, garden tools, hats, gloves, garden decor, gift cards – lots of options. Check out this new cyanotype print kit – take cuttings and make cyanotype prints using sunlight! Or find the gift that gardeners love most – plants 🙂

Visit our May Garden Guide for more tips! Happy gardening!

After some much-needed rain this week, we are beyond excited for fall! We’ve got some awesome talks and events planned for September to kick off the best gardening season. Here’s a preview – mark your calendar!

Kids’ Fall Seed Starting Workshop – September 9th

We’re kicking off the fall season with a hands-on seed starting workshop for kids – all ages welcome! Join us Saturday, September 9^th at 10am here at Gill’s to learn how to start seeds! Each participant can choose seeds and fill up to 12 cells in their compostable egg crate to take home and plant in their garden. We’ll be here to help start the seeds and provide instructions for how to care for the seedlings once they sprout. Growing veggies from seed is SO rewarding and an awesome life skill. And early-mid September is the time to start all kinds of fall veggie seeds like corn, broccoli, kale, carrots, beets, and more!

Tree Planting 101 with John Wood of Tree Amigos – September 16th

Tree Amigos is our go-to source for tree trimming, removal, and consultation in our area. Fall is our best time to plant trees, and we’re excited to welcome John Wood, Tree Amigos owner and certified arborist for a tree talk here at Gill’s on September 16th at 10am that’s guaranteed to be fun and informative. Here’s what John has to say about his talk:

“If you read 10 different books on how to plant a tree, not a single one of them will be able to agree with the others on how it should be done. However, they can all agree that however you are doing it is the wrong way! Come meet us at Gill’s and let’s get this sorted out. Join us for 1 entertaining hour to cover the condensed version of how to plant trees the right way.”

Fall Veggie Gardening with Andy Chidester of Medina Ag Products – September 23rd

We are thrilled to have our garden pal and organic gardening expert, Andy Chidester as a guest speaker here at Gill’s on September 23rd! Andy is our main contact at Medina Ag Products, makers of our favorite fertilizers, Medina Growin Green and Hasta Gro! She’ll discuss bed prep, what vegetables and herbs you should be growing, how to attracting beneficials to the garden, how to get more bang with your fertilizer, and more! Bring your veggie questions!

A few words from Andy: “I began making mud pies in my grandmother’s vegetable garden at an early age. This led to a lifelong addiction to gardening from vegetables, herbs, butterflies and bees, and now houseplants! I have worked in the horticultural industry since 1998, I am a State of Texas Master Gardener and Composter. And I am a soil geek that is still learning! I don’t know it all and always learn something when teaching a class! My next adventure – I am hoping to become a beekeeper! So, let’s have some FUN!”

After Hours Terrarium Building Workshop with Ori and Rose – September 28th

Join us Thursday evening, September 28^th, from 6-7:30pm for our hands-on beginner terrarium building workshop! We’ll have stations set up indoors with terrarium containers, starter plants, moss, and supplies + drinks and bites! Come build something totally unique. Pricing and more info TBD!