(FORTUNE Small Business) – Global Neighbor WhisperCut Mower, $495 Jon Jackson's first experience with a motorless lawn mower was terrible. He bought one so that his 8-year-old son could help with lawn work, but it was too heavy for the boy to push, and it didn't effectively cut the grass. So he decided to design and market his own. Launched in April from his headquarters in Dayton, Jackson's lightweight WhisperCut uses a scissorlike motion to cut instead of a flat blade, resulting in a less boxlike cut. Jackson, 43, says that the WhisperCut is also pollution-free: It's powered by rechargeable batteries rather than gas and emits only 70 decibels of sound--about a third less than typical gas-powered mowers. g-neighbor.com

La Crosse Weather Station, $80 Endorsed by the Weather Channel, La Crosse Technologies' newest wireless weather station, the WS-9075, tells gardeners what's going on outside--temperature, humidity, conditions--from anywhere in the house. The station includes a radio-controlled clock automatically synched to the government's atomic clock in Fort Collins, Colo. Based in La Crescent, Minn., La Crosse was started in the mid-1980s by Allan McCormick, 45, who learned the clockmaking trade in Germany. lacrossetechnologies.com

Cricket Forge Magnolia Bench, $2,600 Durham, N.C., blacksmith Francis Vega, 46, has been creating hand-forged, custom metalwork such as decorative gates and rails for more than 20 years. But when he bought his first computerized steel-cutting machine seven years ago, his company, Cricket Forge, was able to use the machine's accuracy to make functional products such as mailboxes and butterfly-shaped benches. As with all of Vega's work, once the pieces of his new Magnolia Bench are cut, formed, and assembled, they are sprayed with hot liquid zinc to form a galvanized surface, which prevents rusting. cricketforge.com

Ron Gladkowski Glass Terrariums, $200-$2,000 After teaching himself to work with stained and leaded glass, Ron Gladkowski of Mount Upton, N.Y., gave up a career as an auto mechanic in 1970 to pursue his art. Inspired by architecture and gardens, Gladkowski, 63, settled on making decorative glass terrariums. Sold at art fairs and a handful of galleries on the East Coast, each custom-made terrarium--this 28-inch-high model is from Gladkowski's Victorian-styled line--is built without blueprints: The artist works from what he sees in his head. terrariums.net

The Rumford Gardener Indoor Gardening Kit, $40 After leaving a career in corporate finance, Jim Roberts, 52, saw a potential market in gardening tools and accessories designed for baby-boomers. Focusing on products unlikely to be made by the large tool companies, the Rumford, R.I., firm offers items such as ergonomic tools, kneeling pads, and an indoor gardening kit--its most popular. Stocked with pruning tools small enough to accommodate plants grown in window boxes and ceramic pots, the kit also comes with a glass mister to water fragile plants. rumfordgardener.com

Gardendance Stoneware Fish Torch, $94 For people who want backyard torchlights without going tiki, Mark Donley, 51, and his artist-sculptor wife, Tinka Jordy, 50, create five-foot-tall solid-copper torches, along with other garden décor such as silver and glass birdfeeders. Their fish torches--which come in blue, black and tan, or turquoise--are created from clay fired at high temperatures, which makes them durable for yearlong outdoor use. (The torches come with a lifetime guarantee.) The Hillsborough, N.C., couple started Gardendance in 1999, and last year their line won the Best Garden Accessories award from design industry trade group ART. gardendance.net