Gift Ideas for Gardeners

Holiday gift ideas for those green thumbs!

Searcy, Ark. – The holiday season is here and many of us are caught in the hustle and bustle. There is plenty of decorating to do, and still some gardening chores, but it is also the season for giving. If you have a gardener on your list, you have a lot of great options. Gardeners never have everything they could possibly need. There are always new gardening gadgets, pruners, hoes, and containers. For ten bucks or less you can get your favorite gardeners a personalized “Seed Packet” stamp. Your giftee will be delighted that they can easily share their garden's seeds with others in personalized homemade packets with their name. They just use the stamp, let the ink dry and fill’em up! What a wonderful way for your gardening recipient to share their seeds with others.

Perhaps your gardener friend would enjoy Blooming Lollipops? Unique flavors like strawberry and basil (and lavender and lemongrass) unite for uniquely-flavored pops — and then you can plant the stick (which has seeds in it) to grow thyme, basil, marigold and five other seed types to fill your garden.

You know they are a serious gardener if a load of compost is on their wish list. And they may need a wheelbarrow or cart to haul it with. There are plants to purchase, including trees and shrubs, fruit trees and blueberry bushes, houseplants, bulbs, and seeds. Holiday plants are always welcome, from the popular poinsettia, to amaryllis, red bromeliads, cyclamen, kalanchoe and orchids. Living wreaths or garlands, topiary rosemary plants or other holiday plants are more options. A subscription to a popular gardening magazine or one of a myriad of gardening books will always be in good taste. Whether their interest is fruits and vegetables, ornamentals, houseplants or herbs, there is a book on that topic. Consider the gift of membership in a local plant society such as the Native Plant Society, Herb Society or Orchid Society. If they love vegetables but don’t have room to grow their own, give them a share in a CSA (Community supported agriculture) where they get fresh vegetables each week during the growing season. If they do plant a vegetable garden of their own perhaps, they would enjoy Gardener's Harvest Basket from uncommongoods.com. They can carry what they collected in the garden in this beautifully made wood-and-wire basket. The mesh at the bottom makes it easy to hose down your fruits and veggies.

If they are new to gardening, get them started with a raised bed kit—raised bed frames come in a range of sizes and shapes; add some soil and seeds to get them growing when the season begins. YANKEEGLASSART on etsy.com has a cute bird feeder for your gardener. Your giftee can enjoy their morning coffee in the garden with the company of the local birds thanks to this easy-to-fill bird feeder made from an antique mason jar.

Ergonomic hand tools for our aging gardeners, or power tools from mowers to chainsaws, mulching machines, blowers, and trimmers to make gardening easier for them. One of the best gifts you can give them is your time, help them with gardening chores that may require extra hands or strength! Younger gardeners could also use hand tools, kid-sized tools are available in many different sizes and shapes.

If mobility is an issue, there are now salad tables and herb beds that you can stand next to and garden standing up. There are garden scooters and kneeling benches that can also help. The most important input for a garden is water. To help your gardener, there are hoses, drip irrigation kits, spray wands and nozzles, and sprinklers. A fancy watering can, or hose end sprayer would also be welcome. Amazon has an adorable Brass Plant or Terrarium Mister which will provide the optimal moisture and humidity for plants by misting. It’s great for tropical plants like African violets, aloe, fuchsia, orchids, and philodendron and your favorite terrarium plants.

Every gardener needs to know what the weather is in their yard, a home weather station or simple rain gauge is a sure hit. No gardener will ever have enough garden gloves—or be able to find them when they need them. Gloves aren’t the only wearable gardening item—safety glasses, mosquito repellant clothing, sun protection clothing, hats, aprons, kneelers and of course garden shoes—from clogs to boots, there is a wide range of options with a myriad of colors and patterns.

Sunflowers are a great way to introduce anyone to the joys of gardening, especially kids! Maybe a Sunflower Garden Grow Kit found on uncommongoods.com website could be the perfect gift for your grandchild? The drama queens of the garden, sunflowers visually dominate it. So much impact, for so little work! This kit includes everything you need to start your own sunflower patch, including seeds for six heirloom varieties in an incredible range of colors, shapes, and heights and a recycled egg carton to sprout them in. Among the easiest flowers to cultivate from seed, sunflowers are especially exciting as a child's first gardening project, because they grow so fast and get so tall. (The Classic Mammoth, included, reaches 9-12 feet, with enormous blossoms.)

For the serious gardener you could give them a greenhouse. If they already own one, there are many gadgets that can be added, from automated heaters or watering systems, to shelves, storage components, and pots. Hydroponic and aquaponics systems are available for folks to grow plants indoors and in greenhouses, and now there are living wall kits that allow you to grow a green wall. Plant lights have also come a long way. Instead of “grow light bulbs” there are now specialized LED light kits with many different options, which makes growing your own transplants easy. They can also grow herbs or salad greens year-round on the kitchen counter. High tech has also hit the gardening world. There are plant sensors that go in the ground near the plants that monitor water and fertilizer needs. A rain sensor is a smart gadget to add to a sprinkler system to avoid watering when it is pouring down outside, and there are even containers for houseplants that talk to you about the needs of the plant. Some ideas are obviously better than others!

How about an adult coloring book? Secret Garden: An Inky Treasure Hunt and Coloring Book featured on AMAZON might be a good choice. Coloring isn't just for kids. Dive into a dreamy secret garden where you can spend hours coloring pretty flowers (and finding hidden items throughout the illustrations).

There’s an endless array of art for the garden, from statues and fountains, to wind chimes and mobiles. Glass objects, metal works, stone and bronze pieces abound. From small garden flags and rugs, to large trellises and gazeboes the list of outdoor living choices is almost unlimited. Think about patio furniture or benches, potting sheds, or a garden umbrella. Grills and outdoor kitchens continue to gain in popularity as more people live in their yards as well as their homes. And we haven’t even touched the related areas like bee keeping and backyard chickens. That would be a whole other list! So, for all the gardeners on your list, your biggest challenge may be deciding what to buy. If you don’t have time to go shopping, there are plenty of mail order options, or better yet, give a gift certificate to a local nursery.

This last gift option takes the cake! There is a solar-powered weeding robot on the market. Created by the inventor of Roomba, Tertill lives in the garden, runs on sunshine, and weeds every day – so you don’t have to! The bundle Includes: 30 Plant Guards, 30 Row Guards, 30 Whacker strings, 2 Whacker hubs, and the Tertill App. It’s touted as “A Better Way to Weed”:

Happy Holidays and Happy Gardening! The University of Arkansas System, Division of Agriculture is an equal opportunity/equal access/affirmative action institution. For more information you can contact your local county extension service, you can also follow Sherri Sanders on Facebook @UAEX.WhiteCountyAgriculture .

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By Sherri Sanders
County Extension Agent - Agriculture
The Cooperative Extension Service
U of A System Division of Agriculture

Media Contact: Sherri Sanders
County Extension Agent - Agriculture
U of A Division of Agriculture
Cooperative Extension Service
2400 Old Searcy Landing Road Searcy AR 72143
(501) 268-5394
ssanders@uada.edu

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The Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service is an equal opportunity/equal access/affirmative action institution. If you require a reasonable accommodation to participate or need materials in another format, please contact your County Extension office (or other appropriate office) as soon as possible. Dial 711 for Arkansas Relay.

The Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service offers its programs to all eligible persons regardless of race, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, age, disability, marital or veteran status, genetic information, or any other legally protected status, and is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.