13 Gardener-Approved Gift Ideas, From the Perfect Gloves to Next Season’s Blooms

Plant nerds will appreciate these finds.
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It’s taken me almost 36 years to figure out the simplest of truths: Gardening is a gift, and so is knowing the people who partake in it. But what do you get for those gardeners in your life when it’s outside of the growing season? Winter should be a much-deserved respite after months of achy knees, calloused hands, soggy socks, and skin gone leathery under a blazing sun.

Derek Jarman somewhat famously wrote that a gardener digs in “another time, without past or future.” That’s because to know a gardener is to know someone in a constant state of time travel, straddling the worlds of present and future while simultaneously flicking through a mental rolodex of the past. So as someone who has spent many hours designing, developing, and writing about gardens through my firm Arthur’s, I’ve compiled a few items I’ve found useful along the way that you can also get for the time travelers in your life this holiday season. It may as well already be spring.

The Wind Chime

Bronze Windbell

Cosanti
$95

Paolo Soleri began building the experimental village Arcosanti in Arizona in the late 1950s, creating everyday objects to complement his structures along the way. This was one of those items, and each one sold helps support the Cosanti Foundation’s mission of green architecture and regenerative agriculture.   

The Books

“A Lifetime of Seasons: The Best of Christopher Lloyd”

Shakespeare and Company
$27

Christopher Lloyd was a revolutionary 20th-century gardener and writer whose home base was Great Dixter in the U.K. This is a compilation of essays written over the course of his life (he was writing about rewilding lawns as early as the 1950s!). You’ll get brownie points from the plant nerds in your life, because this issue has a foreword by head gardener/lauded plantsman Fergus Garrett. 

“The Garden Against Time: In Search of a Common Paradise” by Olivia Laing

Bookshop.org
$28 $27

What exactly is paradise, how do we create it, and who gets to experience it? These are the central questions explored in Olivia Laing’s latest book, set against the backdrop of the restoration of their own historic walled garden during the 2020 pandemic. I couldn’t put it down. 

The Gloves

Mechanix Wear Large Brown Leather Driving Gloves

Lowe's
$24

These leather gloves from Lowe’s might be made for barbed wire, but they’ll do just as well keeping thorny roses at bay.  

The Chair

The Wave Hill Chair (Painted)

Wave Hill
$350

If you’re looking for something that has the feel of an Adirondack chair but with a much stronger POV, this will do the trick. The design is based off of one by Gerrit Rietveld and is offered both fully assembled or as a DIY plan, which could be the perfect winter project. 

The Blooms

Junkyard Dog

Swan Island Dahlias
$13

This dahlia has become a fast favorite in my August garden, not least because the silly name belies a striking form and feminine demeanor. I’m always rooting for an underdog, even more so if it’s from a junkyard. 

The Pot

Anduze Terracotta Pot (8")

Snug Harbor Farm
$45

A client (who is also a farmer!) turned me onto these small-batch terracotta pots made in Maine. For me, they have just the right amount of ornamentation before tipping over into preciousness, and if you’ve ever dreamed of owning a planter shaped like a pig’s head, well, the company has that, too. It’s mail order only, so plan accordingly. 

The Hat

A Hat Named Wanda

Emily Dawn Long
$198

I live in New England, where there’s a long lineage of straw hats sitting atop the heads of gardeners (no judgment—I, too, own several). Lately I’ve been seeking out different forms of headgear to switch things up. Emily Dawn Long’s knit cap feels like a fresh alternative to add to the mix.

The Sunscreen

SPF 36+ Sunscreen Stick by Zoca

Tangerine
$18

While a golden glow feels great at 25, I’m not so sure it translates in the same way at 50. This stick is zinc based, which I’ve been told by a local aesthetician is the only kind of sunscreen we should be using, and it’s small enough to fit in your pocket or throw into a trug. 

The Veggie Catchall

Maine Garden Hod

Lee Valley
$68

Did someone say trug? Well, this isn’t one. This wood and metal vessel from Lee Valley is fashioned after a New England hod, which was traditionally used to gather clams. It will work just as fine for fruit and vegetables. 

The Footwear

The Super-Birki

Birkenstock
$80

Blundstones be damned! These Birki-clogs might not be as robust as the gardening world’s perennially favorite boot, but they will certainly suffice for a day of puttering around your plot of land. And they’re available in a myriad of colors. 

The Cleanup

Black Soap With Charcoal and Patchouli

Saipua
$22

The reality of gardening is that you’re going to be dirty for much of it, so in the rare moments that you do have time to wash up, I always like to indulge in a nice soap. This one from Saipua with activated charcoal for extra exfoliation is a favorite. 

Membership at Your Local Botanic Garden 

You know how gardeners get some of their best ideas? By seeing other gardens and meeting other gardeners. Giving the gift of membership to a local botanic garden means they’ll have four seasons’ worth of ideas to explore and a host of talks and programming to choose from, all while supporting a great cause.