Green Acre: 11 Gifts for the Gardener

By Stephanie Cavanaugh

WOW. LAST WEEK was Thanksgiving (I hope yours was lovely and not contentious) and here we are hell bent for the holidays, a mere three weeks away. Gift shopping done? No? Best get to it. Here’s a sampling of garden-adjacent gifts from places familiar and new, each one deserving a poke-about for lots of rare and delightful treasures.

But first. Shop locally! Support your local florist or garden center. Museum shops too. Check out what they offer for the holidays—isn’t it fun to touch the things you buy before you buy them?

Plant identifiers. There are numerous apps for your phone for identifying strange things growing in the garden, along the roadside, in flower arrangements, etc. The New York Times suggests downloading a winner that is not only free but French, making it pretty haute. Can a gift be free? Pourquoi pas? Plantnet can be downloaded from the AppStore and on Google Play. If you like it, feel free to donate to support their horticultural projects around the world.

Leafriends, plant propagation buddies, above, prop up the stems of plant cuttings you’re starting in water. I’m not sure how hugging the stems of plants makes them grow better, but that’s what they say and if they say it, must be true. Right? Anyway, these little green men are kind of cute and cheap and so a clever stocking stuffer. $4 for three at Walmart.

‘Tis the season for wreaths and garlands and Terrain offers fresh, preserved, and faux beauties (and plenty of ideas for the creative). Wrap a garland with golden laurel leaves, above. The 72-inch-long iron strand can drape the mantel, twirl through the tree or around a wreath, climb the staircase, decorate a table, or wrap a gift. $58.

Have a bird-watching buddy? Or someone who should be? How about a bird feeder with  a solar-powered camera that can not only feed and photograph feathered visitors, but employs an app to identify 6,000 bird species as well. Plus! Said one purchaser: “Picture clarity is better than most of my ring cameras! . . . Tempted to buy multiples to replace some of the ring cameras around my house, they work so well, and get the plus side of seeing birds.” On sale at Walmart for $199.99.

Or let them watch the birds make a stylish splash in a colorfully torched or hammered copper bird bath, above, from Pottery Barn. Choose either the simple disk on a pole  or one with two copper birds perched on the rim, perhaps for encouraging scaredy-birds to bathe. $159.

Have someone you love to hate but have to gift anyway? How about a sack of bronze or gold metallic-finished natural pine needles, above. Suggested for adding a “shimmering flourish” to the mantel, tabletop, or under the tree. Guaranteed to get embedded in carpet, stuck in bare feet, and cling to clothes worse than dog hair. A gift that truly says: Here’s poking at you. At Terrain, again, $68.

Years ago, a frequently traveling friend (hey, Jill!) swore off indoor plants and gave me hers along with a most wonderful watering can with an extra-long neck that was miraculous for watering plants in our upper window boxes, which must be watered from inside the house. For the snooty on your list, Haws watering cans, made in England since 1886, are beautifully balanced, and very long in the nose, for reaching hard-to-get-to plants. The Rowley Ripple, above, from Celtic Farm, comes in an array of colors of coated metal with brass accents. It’s popular, but still in stock are the White Granite, Pink Clay, and a swell Lichen Green. They’re on sale for $89.99 with new stock coming . . . sometime.

For the mushroom lover. Even (sophisticated) kids might find the Shiitake Mushroom Log from Williams Sonoma interesting. Hand-seeded and said to sprout in as little as a week, putting out a fresh crop every two months for a couple of years, and only $29.95.

I’m looking at my arms, so scratched and scarred: Gardening injuries R us. Gauntlet gardening gloves to the rescue (though one has to remember where they are and to put them on. There’s no app for that). These gorgeous leather  elbow-length gauntlets, above, from Amazing Garden are handsome enough to . . . just wear. They are $29.99 or $32.99, depending on color.

Or, and I’ve mentioned these before, make like a butterfly with Monarch-adorned above-the-elbow sleeves, matching gloves, and a sun hat. (Available in other patterns and colors.) From Farmers Defense, on sale for $67.50.

It’s a Wrap!  Enough with Terrain already, right? BUT I’ve been a little mean to them (see above!), and this flowery velvet ribbon with the artfully frayed edges is just so lovely in red, moss, or purple. 11 yards for $54 or $62, depending on width. On second thought, I might buy it for myself.