There are many lists of gifts FOR gardeners, but where’s the list to guide gardeners on GIVING gifts to others?

Right here!

Here’s the guide for gardeners who are giving gifts to others, especially people who aren’t gardeners.

Every non-gardener would be grateful for a gift from your garden. They would love items you made from the flowers and vegetables in your garden, like jams and jellies from your own homegrown, handpicked fruit, or art made with pressed flowers you grew yourself.

But does that get them out into their own garden, does that get them interested in gardening? Not always. So consider giving them seeds you collected from your garden or a houseplant you made by dividing up one of your houseplants. Then later check that they are taking care of the plant or planning to sow the seeds. If they aren’t, you don’t judge them, you offer to take those gifts back for your own house and garden.

Amaryllis bulbs, poinsettias, blooming Christmas cactuses are also wonderful gifts for non-gardeners! And when that non-gardener makes a comment about how they couldn’t possibly keep that lovely plant alive, you reassure them with a “tut-tut” and mumble about how they probably could, but then immediately offer to take the plant home with you for safe-keeping.

Yes, you will make the sacrifice to have a few more plants to take care of while still getting credit for giving them a gift.

Experiences make great gifts too. Everyone knows this. How about the experience for that non-gardener to go to a garden center with you, the gardener? Make up a little coupon good for one afternoon at a garden center. Make it for a garden center you don’t often visit because maybe it is a bit of a drive. Then one spring day, you can remind that non-gardener of your wonderful gift, push them toward your car, and head out for hours of experience, gardening style.

Or make that experience even better by planning a trip to a botanical garden or conservatory, or some other gardening destination that you are itching to visit. Make that trip the gift for the non-gardener. They will love it.

Other good gifts for non-gardeners include any number of gardening-themed movies. You can offer to watch those movies with your non-gardener!

Or how about a rare, hard-to-find houseplant? You can talk about how much time you spent searching for that perfect plant and then claim it wasn’t as healthy as you had hoped so you are going to nurture it back to good, green health and then give it to them later.

In the meantime, one of two things will happen. They might forget about the plant and then it is yours to keep. If they do remember and ask about it, you can tell them it isn’t quite healthy enough and talk about the importance of patience in gardening.

Or you really do manage to make that houseplant thrive enough so you can take a cutting or division of it for yourself, then give the original plant to the non-gardener. At which point they might claim once again that they probably can’t take care of it. Repeat your non-judgmental “tut-tut” mumble and go ahead and sacrifice to keep the plant for yourself.

Are you sensing a theme to these gifts? If you put your mind to it, I’m sure you can come up with all kinds of gifts for the non-gardener that will show how much you care about gardening about them.

And that’s your guide for gardeners who are giving gifts to others!

(Oops, one more gift idea… books are great gifts for non-gardeners!)