Vita Sackville-West is the creator of the iconic British garden Sissinghurst, in conjunction with her husband Harold Nicholson.
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One of Vita's famous quotes is: "The most noteworthy thing about gardeners is that they are always optimistic, always enterprising, and never satisfied.
"They always look forward to doing something better than they have ever done before."
Gardeners are known to be eternal optimists and most will have heard the saying the gardening is a way of showing that you believe in tomorrow.
While we would all love a crystal ball to tell us just when the significant rains that will break this drought to end all droughts, will arrive, we all need to retain that belief in tomorrow.
Certainly, the knowledge that it will rain again sometime in the future is what keeps many of us carting buckets to keep selected treasures in the garden alive.
With Christmas and the holiday season are just around the corner, did you promise yourself on Christmas Eve last year that you would finish the Christmas shopping early? Time to get on to that now.
Keeping that optimistic outlook, ideas for Christmas gifts for gardening friends and relatives might include a moisture meter, rain gauge, weather station or a decorative fountain. Other ideas for Christmas presents include a bird bath, a feature statue or pot, a bee house or insect hotel, seeds or a seed organizing and storage system or solar garden lights.
The more pragmatic among us might choose good quality gardening gloves or secateurs, gardener's hand soap and/or moisturiser or wearable items such as a hat that won't blow off in the wind or knee pads that allow walking, standing and kneeling in comfort.
There are lots of specialist gardening books at Armidale's book stores. Choose from books with practical advice to picture books to carry you away to dreamland.
Do try to commit to shopping locally - our local stores stock some fabulous items for gifts that don't ever need watering and which can enhance your garden even though they are not green and plant-based!
The Armidale Garden Club's final meeting for 2019 is on November 28 in the Uniting Church Youth Club Hall.