No sooner have the leaves fallen off the trees than our thoughts turn to Christmas. Festive adverts fill the commercial breaks, and emails full of gift ideas fill your inbox. But if you are not a gardener yourself, how do you choose a suitable gift for your green-fingered bestie?
Tools of the Trade
Traditionally, winter is the time to prune roses while they are dormant. Most gardeners already have their secateurs of choice, so I’m going to suggest the next, most important piece of kit, gardening gloves, as battling with a thorny rose is no mean feat! Rose specialist David Austin’s Ladies’ Rose Gauntlets, at a stylish £29.00, are specifically designed with comfort and protection in mind. https://www.davidaustinroses.co.uk/products/rose-gauntlets-ladies . The combination of strong, supple leather and the extended cuff protects wrists and forearms from treacherous thorns. For a more extrovert option, floral Kew Rose Gardening Gauntlets offer functionality and flair; dare I say, A Snip at £26.00! https://shop.kew.org/kew-rose-gardening-gauntletsÂ
Contrary to popular belief, winter can be a very busy time in the garden. In a mild year, it’s the ideal time to lift and divide perennials. A rabbiting spade will make light work of this labour-intensive task. Also known as a poacher’s spade, its name originates from 19th century England. Back in the day, when meat was scarce and all game was the property of the large landowners, farmers would often resort to a spot of poaching in order to bag a meaty meal for their hungry families. They are said to have filed down an old spade into a narrower, rounded point, which was easier to carry around and ideal for digging out rabbits. I love Burgon and Ball’s RHS Transplanting Spade because of its small, lightweight construction and ability to cut through heavy soil with less effort, my choice at £42.99. https://www.burgonandball.com/collections/spades-forks/products/transplanting-spade-rhs-endorsed And if you really want to get down and dirty, then a Cordless 21v Reciprocating Saw will slice through the toughest of congested clumps. I bought mine on Amazon.
Environmentally Friendly Gardening Gifts
With the emphasis on creating a more eco-friendly outdoor space, why not give a gift that will benefit wildlife as well as the recipient? And you don’t have to be a gardener to enjoy them. From bug hotels and butterfly boxes, hedgehog houses and toad halls, to nesting boxes and bird feeders, who wouldn’t be delighted to receive such a sustainable gift? Some companies offer personalising services too.Â
I love Leo & Blake’s Living DIY Corten Steel Honeycomb Hexagon Bug Insect Hotel, from £37.95, a British-designed, stylish creation, made using sustainable, recyclable materials. https://www.leoandblakeliving.co.uk/collections/bug-hotelsÂ
If you’re looking for something different, take a browse around Holly & Co’s website https://holly.co. Holly & Co is a cooperative of talented UK makers and artists, 95% of whom are women, who handcraft every one of their unique items. My top picks are Minnie-Mae Studio’s Two Gold Peas in a Pod Christmas decoration, containing two 24ct gold peas in a green glazed ceramic pod, £39.00; Audrey’s Mad As A Box Of Frogs chocolates, (Box of 2) £14.90, and, my personal favourite, but not for the fainthearted, The Edible Museum’s Chocolate Slugs (Box of 14) £32.00.
Celebrity brand of choice, Niwaki takes its name from the Japanese art of garden tree pruning and shaping, to create a balanced and harmonious appearance, often resembling clouds or other stylised forms. This beautifully designed, On Trend rangeof Japanese products offers everything a stylish gardener could want, demonstrating ‘a commitment to environmentally friendly practices, primarily through its focus on product longevity, repairability, and using sustainable materials.’ From robust outerwear – check out Niwaki x Eley Kishimoto Flash accessories – to the cutest Sakagen Flower Scissors, ideal for cut flowers and deadheading, why not treat yourself too? https://www.niwaki.com
The Gardening Gift that Keeps on Giving
Most gardeners are self-confessed plantaholics, so why not buy them a plant? The gift of a rose will keep on giving for years to come and always bring you to mind when it blooms. Now is the ideal time to buy a bare-root rose. Bare-root roses are sold during the winter months, with no soil on their roots. They are more cost-effective and sustainable than potted roses as they don’t require a pot or soil, which reduces plastic waste, and makes them cheaper to buy and ship. Because they are planted in the dormant season, plants concentrate their energy into producing a strong root system that will establish more quickly than potted roses, flowering in their first year. They also offer a greater variety of rose types, especially if you buy mail order from specialist rose growers like Peter Beales Roses https://www.peterbealesroses.com or David Austin Roses. In fact, there are so many roses to choose from, you could be spoilt for choice. So, take my advice, and you won’t go wrong. Always ensure that the rose is noted for its disease resistance, preferably repeat flowering and highly fragranced. And if you simply can’t decide, then both companies offer gift vouchers.
A Christmas Gift of … Donation
For those of us who prefer visiting gardens to working in them, Royal Horticultural Society membership offers unlimited free entry to RHS Gardens and Partner Gardens throughout England and reduced-rate tickets to RHS Flower Shows. Membership supports the RHS charity work to train the next generation of gardeners and to find solutions to environmental issues. https://www.rhs.org.uk Most public gardens run membership schemes, offering unlimited free admission and discounts. Becoming a member of a public garden near you is a way of supporting your local environment.Â
Sponsorship schemes have become an increasingly popular way of spreading support to specific wildlife and environmental projects. The Wildlife Trusts https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/adopt-animal represents several wildlife charities throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland, so it’s easy to support a charity in your local area. For £15 you can adopt a hedgehog with Hertfordshire and Middlesex Wildlife Trust, for £25 a water vole with Cheshire Wildlife Trust, or for £30.00 you could adopt a wildflower meadow with Somerset Wildlife Trust https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/adopt-species/adopt-tree-or-habitat. For £20, you could dedicate a tree through the Woodland Trust https://shop.woodlandtrust.org.uk/dedications. Money raised from these schemes goes to helping precious local wildlife conservation work, such as managing nature reserves or creating new habitats.
Best of The Gardening Books
If all else fails, and we have a filthy winter, you could always curl up with a good gardening book. Here are my hot favourites to whet your appetite:
- Literary Gardens by Sandra Lawrence and Lucille Clerk combines consummate storytelling and exquisite illustrations in a collection of 30 writers’ and poets’ imaginary gardens
- The Kindest Garden, by Marian Boswall, is a beautifully illustrated, hands-on guide to regenerative gardening that encourages us to adopt the mindsets and practices that nurture biodiversity from soil to gut.
- Garden People by Ursula Buchan, Anna Pavord and Brent Elliott is a horticultural who’s who of post-war Britain, captured through the lens of photographer Valerie Finnis. Highlights include Roald Dahl, Vita Sackville-West at Sissinghurst, and candid portraits of hundreds of other luminaries.
- A Garden A Day by Ruth Chivers. An exploration of gardens through the ages and across the globe in 366 daily entries, from the ancient hanging gardens of Babylon to a vegetable plot on the International Space Station.
