Gifts For Gardeners -- The Holiday Season Can Plant The Seeds Of Future Pleasures

IT IS TRUE THAT GARDENERS take immense pleasure in both the practical and the luxurious, but please refrain from giving us gardening gloves embellished with sequined flowers, or little signs for the garden gate decorated with cute sayings.

Any time but the winter holidays, we're most pleased with a gift certificate to a favorite nursery. During these shortest, darkest days of the year, presents not needing to be planted will be most appreciated. From worm bins and bat houses to alpaca-lined boots and botanical soaps, shops abound with gift possibilities to please beginning or seasoned gardeners on your list. ----------------------------------------------------------------- UNIQUE BIRDHOUSES, MADE by artisans from Maine to Washington, are just one of the specialties at Go Outside in La Conner. Owner Mark Epstein describes the yellow, pink and orange bird cottages created by Jesse Hickman of Michigan as "goofy, colorful, kind of like a cartoon" and explains that the artist, provided with a photo of your own house, will build you a birdhouse-sized likeness for feathered visitors. The birdhouses, whether log cabins, Shaker or Colonial-style with tiny river-rock chimneys, are all meant to be used, with holes correctly sized for birds, and hinged clean-outs.

Prices range from $12 for a plain pine hut made from Vermont hardwood, ("a good gift for kids, as they can paint and decorate it themselves," says Epstein) to Hickman's creations, complete with

landscaping, for $198.

This little white house along the main route into La Conner started strictly as a garden store and has branched out to stock indoor pieces with an outdoor theme, such as linens, tableware and natural bath soaps. English and Dutch garden tools, colorful Moroccan pottery, antique urns and Adirondack-style benches help people bring that sought-after garden look indoors.

During the holidays, look for special German Christmas decorations, wire pieces imported from France for the dining-room table or the garden ($25-$180, and its bestselling machine-washable mud gloves, $8.95.)

Go Outside, 111 Morris, La Conner (62 miles north of Seattle). (360) 466-4836. Daily 10 a.m.-6 p.m.

"MY HEART IS IN THE STONE," says Karen Hackett, proprietor of Inside Out, a historic house in La Conner filled to the brim with garden statuary. Hackett, who lives above the shop, opened her doors to business on April Fools' Day, 1994. Gargoyles, sconces, pots, columns, birdbaths and sundials fill the walls and cabinets, overflow the mantel, line the street in front of the house and peek from under leaves in the garden.

She has a series of pieces sculpted by Northwest artists, many exclusive to Inside Out. Hackett designed 14 of the gargoyles, including a seated creature with dangling legs and the curious, haughty face of Precious, Hackett's Himalayan Persian cat.

Most of the pieces are made of durable dry-cast sandstone. Some remain the pale, natural color of the stone, while Hackett has distressed the surface of others to create an aged-bronze patina, using coffee, grass clippings, mustard and vinegar to add depth and color. All the statuary has been treated with sealant so it can go outside.

Any dentists on your Christmas list? They might enjoy receiving a 19-inch-tall gargoyle dentist, busily working on a patient, molded from the original, which graces a parapet at the University of Pennsylvania ($150). If your taste runs to the more classic, Hackett has a 7-inch Notre Dame gargoyle ($22.50), a 13-inch long sleeping griffin ($95) or a winged lion ($59). There are ducks, doves, cherubs and satyrs, plus more utilitarian pots and vases, benches and pedestals. Prices $10-$2,000.

Inside Out, 711 E. Morris St., La Conner. (360) 466-3144. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Thursday-Monday.

EVEN THE MOST HARD-WORKING gardeners need to come indoors sometimes, and when they do, they appreciate warm, soft, comfortable clothing. Smith & Hawken, in its first retail store north of Portland, has a section devoted to "Garden Dressing." Plush velour tunics ($59) and matching pants ($49) come in bright holiday colors as well as black, perfect for relaxing in front of the fire.

Fleece dresses with snap fronts are as comfortable as a bathrobe. They come in a dusty purple, rich plum, navy or black ($69). Pinwale cotton-corduroy jumpers, with a delicate flower print on a bed of black or forest green ($79), cozy chenille polo sweaters in jewel tones ($89) and luminous cut velvet scarves ($54) would be a welcome addition to any gardener's wardrobe.

For the relentlessly practical types, Smith & Hawken stocks durable and practical work clothes, including Japanese farmers' pants in canvas ($49) or heavy corduroy ($64), lined rubber boots ($50) and multi-pocketed vests ($69).

Smith & Hawken, 12200 Northup Way, Bellevue, 881-6775. 9 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday-Saturday, 11-7 Sundays.

QUALITY GARDEN TOOLS abound at City People's Garden Store in Seattle's Madison Valley. A great assortment of Felco pruners, tops on any gardener's wish list, range from $27.49 to $66.99. Billed as the "World's Finest Pruning Shear," they are Swiss-made with revolving handles for easier pruning. Here you can also find a full array of Felco accessories - replacement blades and springs, leather holsters that clip onto belt or pocket ($7.99), and even pruners made especially for left-handers.

One wall is lined with top-of-the-line Spear and Jackson steel tools with ash handles. A pitchfork ($39.95) and shovel ($34.95) have 10-year guarantees, pliable curved plastic handles and come in assorted sizes. If the gardeners on your list come in assorted sizes, too, City People's carries an entire line of small-scale tools for children.

Do tools sound like a fine idea, but a bit awkward for mailing? A boxed set of Sierra Club hand tools - garden fork, cultivator and trowel made of forest-green metal, with rubber grip handles - costs $24.95. Add incentive with butter-soft deerskin leather gardening gloves by Wells LaMont ($19.99) and the new book, "Everyday Things: Garden Tools," by Suzanne Slesin (Abbeville Press, 1996, $29.95), and you will have fully outfitted your gardener.

City People's Garden Store, 2939 E. Madison St., Seattle. 324-0737. 9 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday.

FOR A FINE ARRAY OF nontraditional vessels to hold cut flowers or foliage, to force bulbs or to use as planters, visit Fremont Gardens, a tiny shop and nursery on Leary Way in Seattle. Asian wash pots, lipped bowls with soft glazes in metal or coppery tones, can be used for water gardens in summer or brought hearth-side to hold dried foliage arrangements in winter.

Distinctive vases, selected especially for the urban gardener, come in glass, silver plate and even cast iron. Handmade frost-resistant clay urns in an array of sizes and prices ($8.95-$250), blend with interior or exterior decor, in moss green, deep burgundy, midnight blue or steel gray.

Some have drainage holes to be used as planters. Others without holes are perfect to slip another pot into for seasonal displays, or fill with water to hold fish and waterlilies.

Also here: a good selection of the best British gardening magazines, including England's bestselling BBC Gardeners' World ($1.95) and the international award-winning Gardens Illustrated ($7.50), as well as an excellent selection of books for those gardening in small spaces.

Fremont Gardens, 4001 Leary Way N.W., Seattle, 781-8283. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Saturday, 12-5 Sundays.

AS YOU WALK BENEATH A LONG trellis, with theatrical lighting casting seasonally changing leaf patterns at your feet, you may be sorely tempted to shop for yourself first at the new A Garden of Distinction in Georgetown. Owner Gail Hongladarom, who formerly had a trade showroom, opened her retail space this fall. "I don't buy anything from traditional sources," she said. "Mostly what you see in the shop I've found overseas in Asia, France and England."

From a wall collage of old greenhouse windows, a working wooden wheelbarrow ($295), colorful antique tools and furniture crafted from mossy Canadian barn wood ($75-$175), she has collected a unique and intriguing assortment of antiques, reproductions and new ideas arranged loosely around the idea of the garden.

Practical plastic English garden trugs ($32) mingle with stainless steel pails ideal for icing champagne at a garden party ($35-$60). Free-standing bamboo holders ($39) support lacquered-cotton umbrellas in green, pink or lavender ($69), to tote around the garden to give shade where needed, or to dress up a little girl's bedroom.

A Garden of Distinction, 5819 Sixth Ave. S., Seattle. 763-0517. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday, 11-4 Saturday.

NO TIME TO SHOP? SHORT ON cash? Stay out of the stores and order a membership to a local arboretum or botanical garden, or a magazine subscription. Give a gift certificate to a class, a field trip or, if you've just won the lottery, two tickets for a September 1997 tour of the gardens and parks of South Africa.

Sound a bit pricey? Give an economical and special gift - your own expertise and time. Tie a bow around an offer to drive to a flower show or specialty nursery, combined with a picnic lunch. Children can give their favorite gardener an IOU booklet with vouchers for help in the garden, such as raking leaves, digging a border or weeding.

Make a present of your specialty - garden photography, artistic pruning, or flower arranging. And remember that every gardener loves books. Visit Flora and Fauna Books in Pioneer Square or any of the larger bookstores for instructive, inspirational selections. (Look for the new "Northwest Garden Style" by Jan Kowalczewski Whitner, $19.95; "The Collector's Garden" by Ken Druse, $45, or the useful "The Northwest Gardeners' Resource Directory" by Stephanie Feeney, $13.95.)

Memberships: - Arboretum Foundation, $25 annual membership. 2300 Arboretum Drive E., Seattle 98112, 325-4510. - Northwest Horticultural Society, $35 annual dues. 3501 N.E. 41st St., Seattle 98195, 527-1794. - Bellevue Botanical Garden Society, $20 annual dues. P.O. Box 40536, Bellevue 98015-4536, 451-3755.

Classes: - Center for Urban Horticulture, University of Washington. For a free quarterly mailing of classes, call 685-8033. - Seattle Tilth, 4649 Sunnyside Ave. N., Seattle 98103, 633-0451. - North Cascades Institute, 2105 Highway 20, Sedro-Woolley 98284, (360) 856-5700

Tour: Gardens and Parks of South Africa, Sept. 19-Oct. 3, 1997. For a brochure and itinerary, call the Center for Urban Horticulture at 685-8033.

Valerie Easton is a horticultural librarian and free-lance writer. Gary Settle is staff photographer for Pacific Magazine.