Sources: Where to get those items.

(thanks to Kylee at Our Little Acre for cleaning up this image for me!)


For those of you who read my column in the Halifax Herald, The Real Dirt, you may well wonder where to get the items I mentioned in my most recent column. A few of these items aren't available locally yet, to the best of my knowledge. I do find that some garden centre stores and related businesses get into a rut of carrying the same items year after year without too much foray into new territory, but maybe with the improvement in the dollar they'll be more inclined to order from companies in the States and elsewhere.

Gloves: I recommend West County Gardeners Gloves, both the regular landscape ones and the waterproof ones; I see now they have a new, classic style, which is very funky, and I’m sure they’re as durable as the others. I haven’t lost my landscape gloves in three years, and I haven’t worn them out either.

Watering Cans: You can get Haws brand watering cans from various outlets, but I’ve bought several different styles at Lee Valley (one of my favourite places to dispose of the grocery money disposable income). The new slim design is on my Want list!



Tools: I’m a fan of local company TrailBlazer Products’ line of garden tools, which range from a set of hand tools that are threaded for use with a universal pole, to the pruning saws, secateurs, loppers and clippers. A company that has a lifetime, no-hassle guarantee is my kind of company.

Firefly Florals solar garden lights: I usually don’t like most solar garden lights, but I’m smitten with Allsop Home and Garden’s designs, featuring blown glass globes or unique flowers for shades.


Stoneleaf Lamps: Anna Spooner is one talented artisan from Grand Pré, Nova Scotia (where the site of the Acadien Expulsion of 1755 took place). Anna unites Bay of Fundy rocks with handmade lampshades featuring a variety of botanicals, from leaves and flowers to twigs, lichens and seaweeds. I adore her lamps; we have two, and I'd dearly love to have more...

Copper Meadow fountains and jewelry. Marie Jardine lives in the nearby community of Canning, and she is one talented metalworker. I’m besotted with her fountains, her home décor items, and of course, her jewelry, featuring earings and pendants cast in copper from real leaves. I have the oak and the ginkgo leaves—so far. (Hint to spouse…I’d like the beech leaves, next!) Marie’s site is under construction, but her email works just fine!

Cosman and Whidden Honey Botanical Beeswax candles: Beeswax candles are awesome! They smell wonderful whether lit or not, they burn slowly and cleanly, and they’re all natural. Mary Ann Whidden recently purchased three unique botanical moulds to add to her collection of other interesting candle moulds; she and her family also sell their products at the Halifax Farmers Market as well as from their home and other selected markets.

Allan Banks of Harbour Breeze Daylilies doesn’t have a website, which is a pity because I think his porcelain tiles, done with photos of his daylilies on them, are wonderfully unique. His contact information is Allan Banks & Shane Doucette
10099 #7 Highway, Salmon River Bridge (902) 889 3179

I didn’t mention this shop by name in my column, but one of the great places to buy bird feeders and other birding supplies is For The Birds Nature Shop in Mahone Bay. Last year I bought binoculars for my dearly beloved from there; the shipping was free and darn near instantaneous, and the service excellent. Another great location is Topiary, the unique store for gardeners in Halifax.

The brightly coloured garden tools that caught my eye were at Lee Valley, ideal for small hands; but I’ve seen other equally interesting sets of colourful tools at the Blomidon Inn House of Gifts in Wolfville.

My family should have stock in Naturally Nancy’s Protective Cream, because we use it daily—and recommend it to everyone we know. Made with pure beeswax and no preservatives, it’s excellent for those coping with eczema, psoriasis, burns, and other skin conditions as well as the basic ‘dry skin’ that we gardeners and other outdoorsy types live with. Nancy is a landscaper as well as a dairy farmer's wife,(and the daughter and sister of beekeepers) so she is very well acquainted with dry skin and the merits of beeswax.

And of course, many nurseries offer gift certificates or gift cards, which I think is one of the best inventions ever; instead of having to go return that rooster-shaped syrup pourer that your aunt gave you, you can purchase something you really want. Like Echinacea ‘Green Envy’. Or a Haws watering can. Or more amaryllis.

But definitely not goutweed/bishop's weed!