HOLIDAY GIFT IDEAS FOR INDOOR LIFESTYLE GARDENERS
Plants have become a way of life for indoor gardeners. They don’t just want to grow plants, they want them to enhance their surroundings. Here are some holiday gift ideas for the gardeners in you life that will add a hint of green to any household.
- Gardening Under Lights: The Complete Guide for Indoor Growers, by Leslie F. Halleck, is a much-needed, and very comprehensive look at indoor lighting.
- Bamboo Grow Light Garden is the all-in-one, foolproof system for growing everything from medium-sized succulents and other houseplants. It can be installed anywhere you want to grow plants because it comes with its own lights.
Bamboo Grolight Garden (photo courtesy of Gardener’s Supply Company)
3. The Secrets to Propagating Succulents. (ebook).
4. Fiskars Softouch Micro-Tip Pruning Snips are great for houseplants.
5. Josh’s Frogs and Plants gift cards for all kinds of plants and even invertebrates like frogs, toads, geckos, and more.
6. 50 Simple Indoor Miniature Gardens by Catherine Delvaux isn’t the typical how-to book on growing houseplants. This book is packed with ideas for how to best display them in your home and plenty of photos make it all the more inspiring.
HOLIDAY GIFT IDEAS FOR HABITAT GARDENERS
This gardener understands that it’s about much more than plants, and that each level of the ecosystem is both important and fun to watch.
- Eastern Bluebird nest box. We had a pair of bluebirds after we put up this box.
Bluebird Net Box 6165 (photo by Jean Starr)
2. Songbird Tweets® Cupcakes are attractively packaged and make the perfect gift for anyone who likes to watch the wild birds in their gardens.
3. Arundale 360 Sky Cafe Wild Bird Feeder. I really like this bird feeder for its wide ‘veranda’, because it prevents the seeds from getting wet in a rainstorm. It has plenty of feeding stations and also deters squirrels.
4. Beekeeping kit from Dadant and Sons. A few years ago I met a couple of local people who kept bees and harvested their own honey. Dadant is one of the companies that provide everything you need to begin the hobby. Check out the Old Farmer’s Almanac to find out where you can buy the bees.
5. The Monarch Butterfly Shop. Butterfly kits are great holiday gifts for anyone interested in butterflies. My friend, Dolly Foster, who has been raising Monarchs for decades. She recommends kits and supplies from this source. Dolly never buys eggs or caterpillars online, however, saying it’s much better to collect from your own garden for the healthiest stock.
While making your list of gifts to buy, don’t forget to give yourself a gift as well. Some of these are what I’d consider “starter gifts,” meant to inspire someone who needs a little nudge. Others will become tools that are so indispensable the recipient will always remember you for giving it. Many of these items are available online, while others can be found at your local garden center. Happy holidays!