As anyone who follows Your Garden Story will know, Lily is my constant companion in the garden. Mostly she is trying to persuade me to play, but often she is content to sit, watch and smell the air. It seemed only right, then, this year to start with a gift for any of you who have a furry companion in the garden, too. At the top of my wish list would be another golden retriever to keep her company and help in the garden, but in the absence of that, we invested in a new soft bed from Lords and Labradors this year to keep her well-rested and healthy. It’s her favorite place to sleep when she isn’t outside, and it’s also frequented by our cat, Lacey.
Here are lots more ideas for great gifts for the holiday season ahead, big or small. They are my personal recommendations based on my love of gardening to either bring me joy or just make life easier. Big or small, there is plenty here for everyone, starting with my most loved books of 2025. To make it really easy, the images include a direct link to the gift idea in the caption.
Gardening Books
For the Love of Plants, by Adam Frost
I was lucky enough to meet Adam Frost this year and will be working with him in 2026 on our garden in CT. He is a lovely guy —a Chelsea Flower Show Gold Award-winning gardener, a British National Treasure, and a gardener with a real love of plants. This really shows in his latest book. He uses his own garden to talk about how and why he chooses particular plants, depending on the place and mood he wants to create. The design of his most recent garden is described through his personal soundtrack. A really interesting book and very practical. A good purchase for plant lovers who want both a reference book and a personal essay.
The Garden Tourists, New England
A friend of mine recommended this book after a visit to Hollister House in Washington, CT. We have a house in Litchfield, and I wanted to explore more of the gardens and nurseries in New England. It’s a great book because it combines both gardens to visit for inspiration and plant nurseries where you can source the plants you discovered during your visits. If you are a New England resident or know anyone who lives in that area, it’s a great gift.
Wildflowers, by Sarah Raven
I love Sarah Raven, and visiting her garden, nursery, and workshop at Perch Hill, England, is on my bucket list for 2026. This book was a gift from a friend in the UK for my birthday. As you know, I have been experimenting with growing a wildflower meadow in the garden in Suffolk. This is a great reference book profiling the wildflowers that you are most likely to come across in the UK in your daily life. A great gift for hikers/ramblers or anyone interested in adding diversity to their garden. It’s not about knowing every wildflower; it’s a great book to help us connect with nature in all its simplicity and abundance. Beautifully illustrated, it’s a charming reference book that makes you want to learn more.
Planting, A New Perspective by Piet Oudolf & Noel Kingsbury
I have had this book for several years after watching ‘Five Seasons, The Gardens of Piet Oudolf’ at a Metro Hort event in NYC. His perspective was, and still is, revolutionary, creating plant combinations that are full of texture, colour and depth. It is both a very detailed book, full of explanations of how his landscapes are designed and detailed directories of plants, and a thought-provoking account of how we can use plants more effectively if we understand their actual behaviour above and below the soil. An excellent book for an experienced gardener who wants to learn more about naturalistic planting.
Seeds and Plants
This year has been hectic developing a cut flower garden in CT. I took the Floret Farm Flower workshop at the beginning of the year, which really opened my eyes to the importance of using quality cultivated seeds.
Before we get to my favorite seed suppliers, the seed and plant list this year starts as it did last year, with a strong recommendation for self-watering trays for those of us who travel or live in more than one place. It is the only way to successfully start the sowing season early. It’s also a bonus if you are new to seed sowing and unsure how much water to use. Burpee Self Watering Seed Trays are the best I have tried; they are easy to use, clean, and reuse, and they are not too big to move around. I had a 100% success rate with them again this year. Use the Burpee Grow Light if your home or apartment doesn’t provide enough light. The lights accelerate growth and are adjustable, allowing you to raise the light fixture as the seeds get taller. These would be a great gift for a newbie to seed starting indoors.
After several years of seed sowing, I feel confident recommending where to buy high-quality, ethically sourced seeds with a high success rate. They are a great small gift for a gardener in your life or someone who wants to start herbs on their windowsill. Here are my favorites seed suppliers
Johnny Seeds – extensive range of both flower and vegetable seeds, simple packaging with detailed instructions on each seed packet
Hudson Valley Seeds – beautifully illustrated seed packages that are perfect gifts alongside a plant pot or seed trays
Unwins Seeds – UK based seed producer, great selection of seeds and I particularly like their sweet pea selection
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum – this is a niche. I grew amazing nasturtium this year, which I shared with friends using the seeds from this museum located in Boston. They also have a great selection of gifts online!
Floret Farm – sadly, the shop is closed right now, but I highly recommend their seed selection when it becomes available again. I purchased gorgeous zinnia seeds last year with amazing soft pastel colours, and they did very well. Sign up for their newsletter to be the first to know when the seeds go on sale.
Vases, pots and containers
The cut-flower garden produced beautiful flowers from May through November, and so I decided to experiment with creating displays using the gorgeous collections of Bergs Potter vases. The variety of vases, in terms of color, materials, and sizes, means there really is a vase for every flower arrangement, big or small. Bergs Potter has been making pottery since 1942. Designed in Denmark and produced in Tuscany, Italy, their pots are beautiful, and flowers and plants love them. You can gift smaller items as a hostess gift and even add your own indoor forced bulbs or a flower bouquet to make it even more special. We have a lovely range on the website now, and Your Garden Story is running a promotion through the end of the year, whilst stocks last; use Code F&F at checkout and get 33% off all Bergs Potter items at Wendy’s Holiday Supplies. Here are a few of my favorite vases and displays from this year.
Best Garden Tools
My Wood Dibber was gifted to me by my mother in the UK, but can be sourced online from Gardeners Workshop in the US. The Gardeners Workshop is a cute online site developed by Lisa Mason, a cut flower grower from Vermont. Along with a width ruler, a dibber is a handy tool to measure depth when planting seeds or bulbs. Easy to use, light and easy to store, it’s a lovely little gift for a Christmas or holiday stocking.
If you are anything like me in the garden, you are always putting things down and forgetting where you put them. My gardening bag is very handy when I am working at a client’s place, but at home, when I need my basic tool kit, I need an easy, efficient way to store tools on the go. This year, I discovered Floret Farm’s tool belt. One size, leather pouch big enough to fit pruners, a hori hori knife, labels, a pen, snips and your phone. Perfect for being on the go in the garden. Purchased via Etsy, but be careful to buy the original Floret version. It is a little more expensive, but the leather is beautiful, hard-wearing, and comfortable to wear whatever the weather.
Garden Snips are really useful for cutting flowers and for more delicate pruning tasks around the garden. They have been part of my toolkit for years, and so long as you clean them regularly and sharpen them once a year, they will last a lifetime. Light, durable, and easy to care for, they are a must in any gardener’s toolkit. These are from Modern Sprout and make a great small gift for a gardener.
Ending with practical gifts, the Komelon Long Tape Measure is a really useful tool when a regular tape measure won’t do. Helpful for measuring out new beds or creating straight lines for planting seeds or bulbs. The toggle at the end holds the tape taught whilst you measure out the project. Lightweight, easy to store, and versatile for all types of projects.
A durable, all-purpose tray that is helpful in the potting shed or outside on a table to manage potting soil. Easy to fill with smaller quantities of potting soil and scoop soil into seedling trays. This saved me so much time and let me quickly backfill seed trays without raiding the large potting compost bags. The raised back wall neatly contains a saturated soil mix, while the lowered front allows you to work comfortably. This one is from Johnny’s Seed Company, a great source of garden and farming supplies.
An Evening to Remember
If you are based in the UK or have a friend there, why not buy tickets to see Adam Frost on tour? Adam is an award-winning British garden designer and a presenter on the brilliant Gardener’s World. In his show, Adam discusses the plants that have shaped his life, reflects on the music that’s steered his course, and how it influences his garden design process. He recounts many stories about his gardening experiences around the world. A lovely, warm and funny talk about his life, gardening and reconnecting with nature: tickets are on sale now at Adam Frost.
Themed gifts
For the tea-loving gardeners in your life! This Enamel Flower Mug is great for taking your favorite tea into the garden. It helps keep your tea hot longer and won’t break whatever you use it with. Add to its eye-catching design, and it’s a keeper.
For the cooks and chefs in your life, bring a bit of the garden into your kitchen. Laura Stoddard is an illustrator inspired by nature, known for her exquisitely dressed figures carrying giant flowers. She has created instantly recognisable images for clients such as Crabtree & Evelyn, Gardens Illustrated, Vogue Entertaining, Kate Spade, Portmeirion, and the RHS. These whimsical oven gloves and tea towels are part of an extensive new range she showed at the Chelsea Flower Show this year. Take a look at the beautiful range of gifts at Laura Stoddart.
Native Plant vintage-inspired socks available from the NYBG. Love these, a gift from a fellow gardener. These crew socks are super soft and comfy, with a half-terry foot. Warm and cosy worn with slip-ons or boots. A great stocking filler for anyone in your life! And a great reminder to plant native!
Get in touch if you want more information on items included in this blog or need help sourcing any items listed. Your Garden Story is here to help bring out the gardener in all of us.
Wishing you all a very Happy Holiday
Love Wendy xxx
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