kids

Bring the kids this Saturday, October 12th any time from 10am-2pm to make 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?

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 ‘Native Texas Mix’ 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!

This event is free and great for kids ages 2-12. We’ll be on hand to help out. Going to be lots of fun – see you Saturday!

In honor of National Pumpkin Day, we invite the kids to come paint pumpkins at Gill’s! We’ll have small/medium sized pumpkins plus all the paint and supplies ready to get wild and get creative! Great for ages 2-12. Come paint pumpkins just in time for Halloween!

This event is free and great for kids ages 2-12. We’ll be on hand to help out. Going to be lots of fun – see y’all this Saturday, October 26th!

Need to do some peaceful, non-stressful holiday gift shopping? Come take a stroll at Gill’s and pick out a few gifts for the green thumbs on your list! We’ll help you find the right plants, useful tools, nature-related holiday ornaments, holiday cards, and all kinds of other unique and fun gifts to help connect your loved ones to the outdoors. Here’s our gift guide for gardeners!

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 these gorgeous large citrus trees that already have fruit on them! And if you don’t want to do any hauling or digging, we’ll deliver and 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, or you can make a mess here at our potting shed. 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 – the tools we sell are the tools our pros use. 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 + Birding Supplies

These Gordo birdhouses have been a huge hit this fall. People love them and birds too! Or go with a nice stone bird bath, quality bird seed + feeders, and some bird-attracting plants and you’ll make the birders on your list very happy.

7. Handmade Ceramic Snakes

These snakes are so cool! They come in a variety of colors and shapes, some are made to hang on the wall, and some are great for slithering into potted arrangements indoors or out.

8. Animal Pot Hangers

Cats, bunnies, gators, turtles, snails, birds, and so many more! Gardeners young and old (and medium old) love adding fun critters to pots.

9. Cosmic Herb Seed Kits

These herb seed kits make awesome stocking stuffers. Choose the herbs that align with your loved one’s astrological sign, or seeds that grow inside a beautiful ceramic mug – or both!

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 that we take from rare mother houseplants. You can keep them growing like this long-term, or choose to transfer them to bigger containers whenever you wish. Beautiful, elegant, and alive!

11. Nature-Themed Children’s Books + Vintage Gardening Books

Have you browsed our new bookshelf yet? We’ve been collecting new and vintage gardening books and nature-related children’s books that your gardeners will love.

12. Nature-Themed Holiday Ornaments

We have such a cute collection of nature-themed ornaments this year. Come take a look!

13. Handmade Frog Houses + Bee Watering Cups

Did you know that Gill’s Asst. Manager, Wyatt Page is a ceramic artist?! He sells his cool frog houses and bee/butterfly watering cups here at Gill’s! Invite more of these beneficial creatures into your veggie garden by providing shelter and water.

14. When in Doubt – Gift Cards!

Can’t go wrong with a Gill’s gift card! Purchase in store or online here. Good for plants, supplies, and 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!

We have customers of all ages. Maybe two of our youngest gardeners, very active gardeners, are brother and sister Kai & Isla. Kai is a third grader and Isla a first grader, both attending Windsor Park Elementary.

It’s no surprise, they’ve grown up watching their parents and grandparents garden. And it seems they all love to experiment with what they plant, where they plant it and how they take care of it.

I asked the kids what they are thankful this Thanksgiving. Kai said he is thankful for nature and camping; Isla for being outside, NOT watching TV & NOT eating fast food!

For starters, they prefer raised beds. They use sandy loam topsoil mixed with Nature’s Blend from Gill’s and then they add compost between crops. Kai says their compost is made up of kitchen scraps (veggie peels, egg shells, strawberry tops, etc…) mixed with leaves and grass clippings.

The kids have three different growing areas in their backyard. One garden is behind the garage along the back fence where they grow veggies on a string trellis. They have a crop of green beans ready to harvest right now!

The second garden is along the side of their house where they have huge tomato plants mixed with marigolds and lots and lots of basil.

Their third garden is in the back corner where Jeff, their dad, built a L shaped raised garden. It was a gift to his wife Erika! It’s the largest garden and has the most diversity with different greens, radishes, herbs, carrots, kale, kohlrabi, pumpkin, broccoli & Bok Choy.

And to top it off, they have a big pot of beautiful fresh spearmint on their patio next to a pot of pineapple and a grow bag with potatoes they’re experimenting with!

I asked them if they liked to eat what they grow. Yes, they do! One of Isla’s favorite recipes is fresh kale from the garden mixed with olive oil, parmesan cheese, garlic and lemon. Yum! They also love simply munching on leaves while playing in the backyard!

I thought my visit was going to just be about plants, until they asked me if I wanted to see their chickens. They have four chickens, soon to be producing eggs. One of their fun pastimes is picking worms off their greens to feed their chickens!

Kai & Isla both seem to love digging in the dirt, watching veggies grow, and eating healthy food! So this Thanksgiving week, one of the many things I will give thanks for is parents that share the miracles of nature, gardening and good old healthy living with their children!

-Sally

Our Top Plant Picks For Summer

Of all the plants that we sell throughout the year, there are always those the really rise above the rest for each season. For summer these are the plants we think outshine many for their blooms, toughness, carefree maintenance, and best of all, they will look beautiful in your landscape during our hot summer months! Plant these now, so that they bloom in your garden all summer long!

Crape Myrtles
Poincianas
Bougainvilleas
Lantana
Coral Vine (before it blooms)
Periwinkles
Esperanza
Texas Sage
Red Yucca
Rock Rose
Turks Cap
Firebush

-Marta

JUST LIKE MAGIC!

Few weeks back, Grace, James’ landscape design assistant, got to spend her morning with several hundred 2nd & 3rd graders at the Early Scholars Academy next to London School. Grace taught kinder through 8th grade in Banquette before she joined us at Gill’s, so this was like “old home week” for her. Grace spoke to the kids about her job at Gill’s. They were fascinated that Grace could be given a pencil drawn rough sketch and she could transform it into a colorful scaled landscape using an computer aided drafting program. Just like magic!

-Sally

Here’s a fun project kids can do to attract birds to your landscape. Take natural pinecones, roll in peanut butter, and then roll in bird seed. It’s a little messy….just right for kids! Attach a hanger and place them in your trees. Birds come and feed on them and everyone gets to enjoy watching!

-DeAnna

Gillian is my neighbor and her older brother, Michael, works at Gill’s. The other day her mom, Ann, sent me a photo of a fairy garden in a hanging basket Jillian designed and built with help from Whitney at our Alameda store. Just had to share it with everyone! I asked Jillian if I could interview her for this blog, and she cheerfully agreed, Friday at 5pm. She greeted me at the door; we quickly moved to her back yard where all the action was. Our first stop was a basil plant she was excited about; she loves basil! Her mom makes a soup in a special “bullet”, mixing squash, celery, basil, broth & topped with cheese. Gillian gardens at school too! She and her classmates are growing parsley, yellow squash, tomatoes, cucumbers and dill. We then moved to her special fairy garden, hanging from her playscape. She has a pig and a rabbit and toadstools and a fairy house that lights at night (and yes, you can get one at Gill’s!). She and her best friend, amazingly also Jillian (spelled with a J), started their interest in fairies from a book, and it’s grown from there. Finally, I asked Gillian what she thought she might like to do when she grows up. Her response was quick and sure. She wants to own her own restaurant and plans to make dishes with only garden fresh ingredients! Wow, I was impressed, and am anxious to be her first customer! Go Gillian!

-Sally

Last week I had the pleasure and absolute delight of giving a tour of our Nursery to Girl Scout Troop 9638. As I lead the girls and one boy (younger brother) around, it gave me a chance to see what our Nursery looks like from someone else’s eyes. We talked about how fruit develops from a flower, what’s so important about soil, and how we can use plants in our daily lives as medicine, aromatherapy, and surprising edibles. Watching them get excited about breaking open an Aloe plant or pick their own Purslane “weeds” and munch on them woke me up to how important it is for our kids to garden, and to get their hands in the dirt! I am happy to announce that all the girls from Girl Scout Troop 9638 who came to Gills are on their way to getting their ‘Flower Badges’ and hopefully we piqued their interest in exploring gardening on their own and with their families.

-Marta

kids

1. Gifts that Grow

2. Poinsettias and Other Holiday Classics

3. Custom-Planted Pottery

4. Quality Garden Tools

5. Soothing Wind Chimes

6. “Gordo” Birdhouses + Birding Supplies

7. Handmade Ceramic Snakes

8. Animal Pot Hangers

9. Cosmic Herb Seed Kits

10. Houseplant Cutting Jars

11. Nature-Themed Children’s Books + Vintage Gardening Books

12. Nature-Themed Holiday Ornaments

13. Handmade Frog Houses + Bee Watering Cups

14. When in Doubt – Gift Cards!

Our Top Plant Picks For Summer

JUST LIKE MAGIC!

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