Best Holiday Gifts for Gardeners and Landscapers

Gifts from historic gardens are not only exceptional and display connections with their origins, but support these gardens as well. Free shipping, expedited shipping, gift-wrap, and even good buys on gift certificates are some advantages of last minute purchases.

The Portland Japanese Garden,(Photo #1) nestled in the hills of west Portland, OR is a garden of tranquil beauty and hosts world visitors. The Garden’s online gift store is an extension of the on-site gift store. It offers the same cultural and modern items that keep within Japanese characters. These include:

• bonsai tools and fence-making kits;
• pagoda and solar lanterns;
• temple bells, chimes and small gongs; and
• vases and stepping stones.

The Cloisters of the Metropolitan Museum of Art(NY, NY) (Photo #2) is a branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art devoted to medieval European art and architecture that date from the twelfth through the fifteenth century. The building and its cloistered gardens are located in Fort Tryon Park, northern Manhattan. Two Cloisters – related items that stand out as gifts for landscape gardeners are:

• unicorn Christmas ornaments with detail from The Unicorn in Captivity (South Netherlandish, ca. 1495‚Äî1505) – 4″h x 3″w cast pewter, hand painted with gold overlay; and
• statues of the Virgin Holding the Christ Child (artist unknown) – 13 1/4″h x 4″w x 2 3/4″d cast in marble and hand patinated.

Purchases at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden Shop (Photo #3) aid the BBG’s mission to serve the Brooklyn community and communities worldwide. The shop contains botanical and nature-inspired books and gifts such as the following:

• sets of hand-forged pruners;
• sets of Joyce Chen Scissors with 2″ stainless steel rust resistant blades for bonsai and houseplants;
• two kinds of terra cotta aged moss planters, perfect for indoor or outdoor use – a 5″l x 4″ h rectangular one and a standard classic pot that stands 7″h;
• and GreenPots which are made from rice and are all-natural, durable, eco-friendly and completely biodegradable, available in orange, red, green, or olive, 6.5″h √ó 6″w with matching saucer.

Monticello (Charlottesville, VA 22902) (Photos # 4 & 5) gift store and catalog purchases help to support the Thomas Jefferson Foundation’s mission of preserving Monticello, Jefferson’s mountaintop home and extensive gardens. Monticello’s gardens and grounds were showpieces, food sources and Jefferson’s laboratory of global ornamental and useful plants. Jefferson was also one of the first systematic observers and recorders of American weather. The following items celebrate these two unique parts of Monticello history:

• Seed Samplers such as Favorite Flowers, Vines of Summer, Kitchen Garden, Birds, Bees & Butterflies, 1809 Retirement Seeds and the Monticello Children’s Garden Kit;
• Weather Instruments composed of pierced brass include rain gauges, wind gauges and thermometers.

More Holiday Gift Ideas for Landscape Gardeners

• Best New Books for Gardeners and Landscapers: Recent and Practical Books Provide Easy-to-Obtain Last Minute Gifts
• Last Minute Gift Ideas for Landscape Gardeners: Unique Presents from Garden Centers, Hardware and Big Box Stores