The holiday shopping season has arrived. Here are a few ideas for those gardeners on your shopping list.

As gifts for gardeners, there are many kinds of inexpensive, suitable practical gardening items that people would love to receive.

Holiday plants make great gifts. Poinsettias are a good choice. If watered regularly, these can retain their color for months. My favorite is the Christmas mouse poinsettia, which was introduced last year.

Other flowering Christmas plants are also suitable gifts, such as amaryllis, cyclamen, and Christmas cactus.

A large basket or planter full of Christmas greenery is a useful gift. This can be used to decorate a porch, entryway, patio, or indoors for holiday decorations. Add some magnolia leaves to use for holiday decorating.

Outdoor landscape plants are good holiday gifts. Consider ones that offer solutions to gardening problems, such as drought resistant plants, disease resistant or pest resistant plants, deer-proof plants, or native plant species.

For indoor gardeners, there are many options. Consider the Kitchen Mini vegetable/herb plant selections from Pan American Seeds, such as space saving sweet pepper plants, the new Quick Snack Mini cucumber, or the new Bonsai basil. These can be grown indoors on counter tops.

Choose dwarf and space saving plant varieties because gardens and landscapes have been shrinking terribly in recent years.

There are many kinds of suitable gardening tools and aids for gardening gifts, such as pots made from recycled materials. Select well made, high quality tools that will last. My pet peeve is the trashy, cheap hand pruners that don’t last any time.

I particularly love the new Advancing Alternatives Ferria hand plant sprayers. These come in a wide range of beautiful colors. Womanswork has a set of beautifully painted garden tools that make a perfect gift.

Consider paying for landscaping or other professional services as a gardening gift. Examples include a handy-man to paint or fix up a gazebo or garden shed for the loved one.

For gardeners who like to start their plants from seed, give an assortment of seed starting supplies and some garden seeds. I especially recommend seeds of the All America Selections winners. These do well in for all areas of the country.

Gardening books and gardening calendars are perfect gardening gifts. In addition, I highly recommend Baer’s 2025 Agricutural Almanac and Gardener’s Guide, edited by Linda L. Weidman. Published by John Baer’s Sons for two hundred years, this is suitable for both gardeners and non-gardeners alike. It is beautifully illustrated with historical drawings, and is filled with interesting, informative articles.

The Almanac features a fishing calendar, horoscopes, planets in the zodiac, zodiac signs, details on the various eclipses in 2025, garden signs, weather predictions for late 2024 and for all of 2025 and scrumptious recipes from two hundred years ago. It also has a table for foretelling the weather. Handy seed and planting tables list the last day for planting various crops.

This is an affordable item that also makes a great hostess gift as you attend those holiday parties and open houses.

The Almanac contains nearly a hundred pages, and features inspiring and useful information recipients can use throughout the year.

For rose lovers, the Almanac has a detailed article on climbing and rambling roses. This also has articles on strawberries, the bigleaf lupine, and many other garden plants.

The Almanac also features anniversaries and highlights from American history. In addition, there is garden and plant lore.

Gardeners will find weather predictions for each day of the year for all areas of the country along with information on garden signs.

When you aren’t sure which plants or seeds the gardener might like, consider gift cards or gift certificates so the recipient can make a choice.