Great gifts for gardening moms
Mother's Day is our opportunity to show our moms how much we love them and appreciate everything they have done for us. If your mom is as special as mine, you want to choose a gift she will love.
If your mom is a gardener, gift-giving is easy. Just consider her gardening interests or needs. Whether you are on a tight budget or money is no object, there are several options that make gardening moms happy.
For mothers who love to decorate their landscapes, garden art is a perfect choice. Consider her style. If she adores whimsy in the garden, gnomes, dragons and even flying pigs are available as garden stakes or statues. If her style is rustic, visit a resale shop or farm sale to find wheelbarrows, garden tools and milk cans, all covered with the rust she fancies. An abstract metal piece of art will make moms with a modern vibe happy.
Bird-watching moms will love a new birdhouse designed to accommodate her favorite birds, a birdbath or a bird identification guide. Give moms with high-stress jobs the sound of water — as subtle as a small tabletop fountain or as grand as a three-tiered work of art — to help them relax at the end of the day.
Mothers who start and save seeds will be thrilled with packets of heirloom flower and vegetable seeds, seed-heating mats and grow lights. Give moms who love to cook as much as they love to garden an assortment of herbs, a mezzaluna and a new cookbook specializing in her favorite cuisine.
Garden tools, pruners, kneelers, gloves, watering cans and garden carts (or maybe a garden cart filled with all of these and more) will please moms who prefer practical gifts. Give moms who enjoy pampering themselves from time to time gift certificates for manicures, pedicures and spa treatments to ease the muscle soreness caused by all that spring cleanup in the garden.
Environmentally conscience moms will appreciate a compost bin. If your mom already has one of those, how about a kitchen compost pail to save her daily trips to the compost bin? Or a rain barrel and help attaching it to her downspout? Surprise moms who grow vegetables for their nutritional benefits with a juicer or a dehydrator.
Moms who grow roses will love a pair of leather rose gloves. Add a thorn remover if she cuts flowers for bouquets. Encourage moms to spend more time enjoying their gardens (instead of always working in them) with a garden bench or a porch swing. Every time they sit on it, they'll be reminded of the giver's thoughtfulness.
I can't imagine a gardening mom who wouldn't love the gift of time, a certificate for several hours of pulling weeds in an existing garden, removing sod to make room for another, or building a garden structure. Besides the help, time spent together in the garden is priceless.
Of course, a gift card to her favorite garden center is a great present. Better yet, go to the garden center together and surprise her when you pay for her purchase. Make a day of it and make it a family tradition.
If you are wondering about the best gardening gifts I have received, here are the top three: a very large and heavy stump I saw in a field that ended up in my garden; an unusual and very heavy rock that still graces a corner of my shade garden; and a huge load of mulch dumped on the driveway and help moving it. Apparently, if it requires a strong back to move it, I will love it!
• Diana Stoll is a horticulturist, garden writer and speaker. She blogs at gardenwithdiana.com.