by Kelly D Norris

My Top Product Picks for 2008

New products have and always will be the lifeblood of the industry.  And any seasoned garden magazine reader knows that about this time of year most contributing editors are piping up with their latest rounds of must-haves.  Complete with a new category, here are my top product picks for 2008.

Garden Additive

The garden additive category is for chemicals, fertilizers, aids, or supplements to the growing process.  This year’s pick is an innovative idea that improves drainage in containers without all the weight or mess of stones and gravel.  Better than Rocks® is made from 100% recycled plastic and can be placed in the bottoms of containers to keep soil in and let excess water out.  The best part: it’s reusable and is available in pads that can be customized to any size of container with a pair of scissors.  Find them on the web at http://www.betterthanrocks.com/.

Garden Book

Thankfully the selection of new garden books on the market only continues to grow through the work of talented authors and publishers.  Stephanie Cohen and Nancy Ondra are out with their second collaboration entitled Fallscaping and this design treatise explores all there is to know about seedheads, fall color, and all the joys of autumnal gardening.  Well written and brilliantly illustrated with photography by Rob Cardillo, this would make an excellent gift for the fall-loving gardener in the family, or yourself.  Pick it up at your local bookstore.

Garden Tool

Tools are a mixed lot.  From trowels to loping shears to rakes, a gardener’s arsenal is an eclectic force for tackling the bucolic chores of the garden.  My 2008 pick is Fiskars® Power-Pivot™ Bypass Pruner.  Available in two sizes (large or small) and in grass shears, this technological innovation spares tired gardener hands from fatigue and discomfort with its rear pivot mechanism.  The weakest fingers are the pinky and ring finger.  So why have all previous pruners and shears been designed to put the most strain on those fingers?  Clearly Fiskars® thought differently.  Their new design lets your strongest fingers, the index and thumb, maneuver the tool for shear success.  The Power-Pivot™ Bypass Pruner can be purchased at your local garden center or home improvement store.

Garden Plant

This is always the hardest pick.  The bill reads for one plant that outscores the rest, impresses me the most, and is worthy of as much praise as it can get.  Just one?  I’ve decided to go with a grass this year because it’s hard not to go crazy over ornamental grasses.  Marketed through the Chicagoland Grows program, Schizachyrium scoparium ‘Carousel’ PPAF is the latest compact selection of this rewarding native grass.  Carousel Little Bluestem is truly a plant to thrive, performing admirably in the worst of conditions including compacted soils.  But its durability is second to the carousel of color that spins from blue-green with pink accents in spring to glowing bronze and warm amber in autumn.  If such a thing as a four-season plant exists, ‘Carousel’ is surely in the running for the honor.  You’ll find ‘Carousel’ at select nurseries and through mail-order sources in 2008.

Gardener’s Best Friend

This is going to sound like a commercial.  Tired of dry, cracked skin, but don’t like wearing gloves because you like the feeling of dirt on your hands?  There is no better solution for tired skin than Gardeners Liquid Hand Soap from Crabtree & Evelyn®.  A Christmas gift from a thoughtful garden pal, this smooth soap lightens the air with an ambrosial blend of alfalfa, carrot root, rosemary, sage, and chicory.  Easy on the skin, you’ll start looking for excuses to wash your hands, unless of course you’re OCD and doing it anyway.  Order online at http://www.crabtree-evelyn.com/.

Kelly D. Norris is Farm Manager at Rainbow Iris Farm and, when not in the garden, can be found roaming the greenhouses of Horticulture Hall at Iowa State University.  Check out his blog, the E-Garden Almanac, at his website http://www.kellydnorris.com/.