You have free will, of course, but if you are buying for a gardener this year, there is no need to buy them a personalised trowel. Most people who like gardening enough for you to consider buying them a gardening-themed gift… they’re going to have a trowel already. Probably a few. So unless you’ve expressly been asked for a new trowel, may we instead present you the Grazia list of the best gardening gifts around (especially if your gardener is a bit boujee).
This isn’t my first time writing a gardening gift guide – I wrote one last year for my gardening substack, Growing Things, which, I’ll be honest, is rarely updated because in between working and looking after two kids, my free time is spent actually gardening. My main aim in compiling this list of the best gardening gifts around is to help people find gifts that will genuinely please a gardener. My secondary aim, of course, is that my friends and family will buy me things from this list. Which is what they did last year. Which is all to say, you can trust that these are gifts that the green-fingered person in your life will genuinely love.
From plants that will bring them joy for decades to the tools that will help them tend them – and the vases to display them in when they finally come to life – these are the best gardening gifts around. Searching for more gift inspiration? Head to our Christmas gifts for her guide for the gifts we all want to see under the tree this year.
SHOP: The Best Gardening Gifts This Christmas
I’m a Farmer Gracy devotee – especially around this time of year. The company is the front-runner these days for those in the know shopping for bulbs and bare-root perennials. If it’s your kind of thing – and if you’re a gardener, it probably is! The company walks the walk, don’t just talk the talk. Its packaging and delivery plans are as eco-friendly as possible – it even offers its employees free bikes to go to and from work. And when it comes to their bulbs, they’re truly beautiful. My favourite are the New Santa tulips – they look fantastic from the moment they begin to flower and last a long time. In today’s climate, your giftee can probably plant some tulips still around Christmas time, which means it’s a nice gift to give the impatient gardener and that they’ll see results in just a few short months.
Again, if you’re looking for a gift you can give and can be used by your gardening friend around Christmas-time, then bare root roses (which can be planted from October to April) are a great choice. David Austin is the place to go, and you can choose names or colours that will be meaningful to your gardener. For me, I love a yellow, orange or purple rose, so I’m opting for this Dannahue that will give them early summer joy for years to come.
Gifting a peony is gifting for decades to come. The beautiful (and pretty hardy and unflappable) flower beloved of the fashion set is known for surviving (and growing and multiplying) for decades. This ‘Coral Sunset’ variety would make a gorgeous early summer and cut flower in anyone’s garden.
File this under ‘One for the gardener who has everything already’. Did you know many believe the moon’s cycle can affect your garden, and specifically what and when you should plant? Well, they do! And if you’re keen to follow this practice, this clock will help. I can imagine keen gardeners popping this up in their greenhouse and perhaps doing some seed experiments this spring.
For the gardener who loves all things Instagrammable, this is a must – a flower and vegetable trug to gather and display their daily harvest in. This simple basket is a promise for all the crops they have to come.
I don’t want to burst anyone’s present-buying bubble, but if someone loves gardening, they’ve probably already got a trowel. A hori hori knife though, they may not yet have. The knife is the perfect gardening tool for digging, weeding, cutting, planting, and measuring.
This Sony SRS-XB100 Extra Bass Waterproof Bluetooth Portable Speaker is perfect for the garden. After years of damaging my phone keeping it close by to listen to audiobooks, podcasts and music while in the garden, I’m telling you: a cute little portable speaker is a great gift. It can get as grubby as you need – and can hang from the nearest fence or greenhouse shelf, too. Personally, I love it in orange (and it means it won’t get lost amongst the chaos as easily).
My gardening outfit of choice is a fleece. It’s warm enough, but not too sweaty. It’s moveable. And if you have to run straight out to the shops, you look semi-normal. And actually, with this fleece, genuinely cool.
A not-so-subtle hint to a loved one to clear their stuff the heck up? It’s practical, yes, but this is something they’ll use day in, day out – and think of you.
The gift of any kind of planter is a gift that says: go ahead, buy some MORE PLANTS. Which is all any gardener wants to hear. Oliver Bonas does a great range of planters and vases – this triple plant stand, though, is chic and involves not one, but three extra plant babies and plant pots.
You’ve spent months of your time growing Zinnias and Dahlias – and when you’re sure there’s enough for the bees, most gardeners love to bring some of their hard-won floral displays into the house. Which is when a gorgeous vase comes into play. I’ve been coveting a tortoiseshell vase for a long time, and given the price point of this one, I might just buy it for myself.
See reasoning above, but SEE THIS VASE, TOO. It’s a statement, sure. But if you’ve got a leopard lover, I’ve got a feeling they’re going to love this vase. I know exactly where I’d put it in my house…
Back to actually growing those flowers… don’t presume you’ll know what seeds your gardening giftee will like (unless you’re very close, of course) – but do presume they need somewhere to store them all. Gardeners can go a bit seed crazy in certain seasons, and (some of us have learned the hard way) they don’t need 50 courgette seedlings. Which means trustworthy storage is needed. Mine are currently stored in an old Celebrations tin, so I’m covering this olive green beauty this Christmas.
At a gorgeous garden centre last year, I saw a metal bench, painted in dark aubergine. Buying a cheap metal bench off Facebook marketplace and painting it deep purple has been on my ‘If I ever had a spare week alone’ list ever since. Until I saw this gorgeous burgundy bench, which I think looks designer and super expensive… even though it isn’t. I’d buy burgundy and white cushions to pop across it, then match them with a big glass of red of an early evening, surveying my hard gardening work… It’s available in green and a cute cornflower blue, too.
We love a kneeler, and this gorgeous natural-coloured one is a far cry from the gauchely printed ones gardeners are often gifted.
Rhiannon Evans is a freelance writer and editor, and was previously Senior Editor, Acting Digital Director and Features Director at Grazia. She launched Grazia’s parenting platform The Juggle. The unique community is a place for parenting advice, laughs and discussion – and constantly campaigns for working parents.
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