Gifts to Bring out the Gardener in All of Us
There are so many great gift options for the gardeners in your life. Here are some of my favorite books, seeds, tools, planters, and more. Giving a friend or family member a gardening gift is all part of the Your Garden Story mission to get us all out into our gardens to help make the world greener. What’s your favorite garden gift idea? Get in touch and let me know at Your Garden Story
Gardening Books
What Makes a Garden by Jinny Blom What Makes a Garden
This inspirational book beautifully describes how a garden’s nature and culture should drive design ideas. I love how it examines how our gardens should appeal to all five senses, bringing together the inanimate with living plants and vegetation. It also speaks to the current debate about how a managed garden differs from a wild landscape. Beautifully illustrated, it is an excellent book for a keen gardener looking for inspiration and thoughtful design principles.
The Gardening Book by Monty Don The Gardening Book
Monty’s latest book is an excellent gift for a gardening beginner, however big or small your space. With practical advice on how to grow over 100 flowers, foods, shrubs, and houseplants. A tremendously helpful, step-by-step guide on how to make the most of your garden
American Roots by Nick McCullough, Allison McCullough, and Teresa Woodward American Roots
A book of design highlights from gardens around the USA, this book explores what influences personal garden designs, sharing advice and experiences. It’s a lovely journey around some beautiful American gardens and is suitable for anyone wanting to make more of their backyard seeking inspiration.
Nature’s Best Hope by Douglas Tallamy Best Hope
This book kick-started my vision for Your Garden Story. Doug Tallamy’s insightful research into how we can ALL take responsibility for making the world greener struck home. Along with the data, Doug describes how we can personally work to turn our yards into wildlife habitats with practical and specific suggestions—an absolute must-have for any would-be gardener who wants to make the world greener.
Seeds
Buying seeds as a gift may seem strange at this time of year, but they make an excellent holiday gift for any gardener. You can sow seeds either late fall or early spring. Hudson Valley Seed sells seedboxes that are beautifully illustrated. Their meadow series by Cynthia Cliff is stunning. Each box contains around 20 flower varieties, covering about 100 square feet, and can be scattered straight from the pack. The flower mixes create beautiful habitats for insects and birds. Meadow Boxes are available for sale on my website Your Garden Story.
Hudson Valley offers this great alternative if your gift is for someone without outdoor space. Windowsill Microgreens is an excellent kit for growing microgreens on your windowsill, this reusable planter has a tray for easy watering.
Best Garden Tools
Sneeboer & Zn are high-quality tools for gardening that I have as a staple in my potting shed. They are beautifully designed, and, as a bonus, you can personalize them by requesting your gift be engraved. Select from their holiday range at Sneeboer Holiday Gifts or, for the more experienced gardener gift, go to their full garden tool selection, Our Collection Garden Tools. Any gardener loves a gift of a new garden tool! It’s like buying a tennis player a new set of tennis balls!
Felco Garden Pruners are sharp, durable, smooth, easy-to-repair pruners and the go-to for experienced gardeners. As thousands of gardeners know, a Felco 2 may be the last pruner anyone ever has to buy.
Garrett Wade is based in Brooklyn and has a fantastic collection of gardening tools and other merchandise. My favorites are their fun, colorful Pruners, high quality, and easy to locate in garden debris because of their bright colors.
If you want a more bountiful gift, the Ultimate Garden Tool Set combines a hardwearing canvas gardening bag and the top 5 tools you need to start gardening.
Lastly, this Fold Up Wheelbarrow by Ames is excellent for small and large gardens and is much more flexible than a traditional wheelbarrow. Gathering leaf debris and moving it to your compost spot or transporting plants/materials around your garden is easy with this lightweight, folding wheelbarrow.
Planters/Pots
Ben Wolff is the place to go if you want unique pottery. Ben handmakes flower pots in various clays, glazes, and finishes. They are all made at his home in Goshen, CT, and personally signed. If you live near his home, it’s well worth visiting his cute showroom to pick your pots out. Sadly, orders are pick-up only, but you will also find his pottery available at some bespoke nurseries/home accessories shops in your area.
Bergs Potter is an excellent alternative if you can’t track down Ben’s pottery. Bergs Potter has been making pottery since 1942. Designed in Denmark and made in Tuscany, Italy, of high-quality terracotta, their pots are beautiful, and plants love them. With several different designs on offer, you will find pots for both indoor and outdoor use. Take a look at their website and find a store near you.
Subscriptions
Botanical Brothers is an exceptional NYC fresh flower delivery service founded by a Brit who grew up in the English countryside and was inspired by his gardening mother. The flowers are unique, sourced where possible from local farmers, and come with a crib card with arrangement tips. They plant a tree with Eden Reforestation Projects for every delivery they make. And the best thing is that seasonal flowers in a box come on a subscription for just $45 a week. We have a weekly delivery and have impressed by the quality and variety of flowers.
I highly recommend a Gardeners World Magazine Gardeners World Subscription for new or keen gardeners. Helmed by my favorite British gardener, Monty Don, the magazine shares advice and inspiration from Britain’s favorite garden experts each month. Ideas about how to garden, topical articles, and specifics about plants/shrubs, etc, that are new and exciting in the gardening world. It’s a great magazine that is applicable wherever you live and available for digital subscription.
For those stateside, the nearest equivalent would be Fine Gardening, which has similar content but is directly relevant to the US.
Themed gifts
Emma Bridgwater
Browse the site Emma Bridgewater to discover beautiful gifts for the gardeners in your life. I love her Vegetable Garden Collection collection—lovely mugs, plates, and storage tins for potting sheds and seed collections. And if you are a dog lover like me, you will love Emma’s dog-themed collection, Dogs with all your favorite hounds and dogs.
Rough Linen
Rough Linen Pinafore is like an apron but has a wrap-around design to protect your clothes when gardening. It has great pockets to carry lightweight tools and store-picked fruit and veg. It looks good and is super practical when you are doing light gardening work and need protection for your clothes.
Finally, the Royal Horticultural Society has a lovely collection of holiday gifts. I love the collection of Victorian Greenhouses for small spaces. Victorian Growhouse is 60×60 cm and can be used for small plants that need humid conditions or to bring on seedlings/propagation. It’s super cute and versatile. There are many other fun options created by the RHS on the Burgon and Ball website like these cute secateurs and this kneeling pad.
Get in touch
Get in touch if you want more information on items included in this blog or need help sourcing plants or containers. Your Garden Story is here to help bring out the gardener in all of us.