Since its inception in 2012, one of our favorite aspects of our Holiday Gift Markets has been the opportunity to highlight the creativity of our own staff. This factor adds immeasurably to the diversity and uniqueness of our market offerings. We hope you’ll be sure to check out each of these “exclusive to Harlequin’s” products!
We welcomed Kate Fain to our staff this season, and she has proved a superb asset to Harlequin’s Gardens. Kate is
young, smart, hard-working, and thoroughly besotted with plants and gardening. She has recently entered the degree program in landscape design at Front Range College. On the side, Kate has been dipping her toes in the world of ceramics, experimenting with the lines between function and beauty to create her own unique high-fired stoneware pieces. Her mugs are decorated with bird images, and with wide handles, they invite several fingers to support the cup.
Joleen Smith joined Harlequin’s Gardens staff this spring, bringing with her a continual flow of creativity and artistry, along with her many skill-sets. Have you noticed a lot more helpful and appealing signage at the nursery this year? We have Joleen and Kate to thank! Joleen is a Boulder-
based artist known for vibrant, nature-led visuals and community-centered work. We feature the cotton tea towels that Joleen designs, cuts and hand-prints with linoleum blocks, as well as her garden flags that carry images of Sacred Datura flower, Fireweed and Flatirons, and other iconic local natural wonders. These are also carved by hand into linoleum blocks and printed on reused fabric from Boulder’s ArtParts. Hang them in your garden and speak your wishes into the flags. When the wind blows, the fabric threads that eventually wear down and blow away, and the wind will release your wishes into the wild. Joleen has just added some of her other unique and fun designs: hand-painted scenes on vintage vinyl LPs! Come on in and check them out!
Eric Binkley’s succulent gardens. Driven by his passionate love of outdoor spaces, Eric re-creates natural scenery in living miniature. He has a gift for using low-light tolerant, low-maintenance plants in second-hand ceramics in delightful combinations, making the serenity of the remote outdoors accessible indoors!
Kim Obert is a horticultural therapist. She has been with Harlequin’s Gardens on a part-time basis for some years now,
while raising her children. We have a deep appreciation of her gardening experience, plant knowledge, and her skill in helping our customers find just the right plants for their needs. Kim manages our supply of seeds and cheerfully helps wherever help is needed. A key factor in her professional horticultural therapy practice is sensory experience, so it’s only natural that she makes herb salts – a taste treat that will enliven your culinary efforts with the refreshing flavors and aromas of her home-grown organic herbs. Perfect affordable gifts for party hosts, colleagues, and friends.
Eve has been co-owner of Harlequin’s since 2007, and our Holiday Market instigator. Before her work schedule became too demanding, Eve painted botanical illustrations for Botanical Interests seed packets, for private clients, and for the sheer pleasure of examining and revealing the wondrous details of the floral world. Eve’s botanical paintings have been exhibited in Denver, Chicago, and internationally. Recently, in the process of de-cluttering, Eve unearthed her remaining botanical prints, long thought to be sold out. We’re happy to add these prints to our holiday market again!
Also this year, Eve’s gluten-free, grain-free, sugar-free and delicious pecan Shortbread cookies are back! If you haven’t tried them yet, ask for a small sample. You’ll find these rich and satisfying treats melt in your mouth, based on almond flour, sprouted pecans, and butter, subtly sweetened with a little maple syrup. Gluten-free, grain-free, mostly organic, no refined sugars. You don’t have to be gluten-sensitive to love these rich and satisfying cookies! Shortbread cookies will keep for a long time in your freezer or fridge (as long as nobody discovers them!)
Mikl Brawner is the creator of Harlequin’s Gardens Nursery. He shares two unique products with us again this year. The first is Dr. Brawner’s Healing ……
‘On the Way Home’ is a memoir. Mikl has had a fascinating and adventurous life, and his thoughtful reactions to many formative events have
shaped his unique perspectives. In this memoir, with wit, grit and cultural appreciation, he recounts in a series of stories his overland journey from India to England after his two-year Peace Corps service was finished.