Unique, Sustainable Gift Ideas for Flower and Plant Lovers
Give the joy of flowers with these unique, sustainable gift ideas for flower and plant lovers; perfect for Mother’s Day, weddings and birthdays, or ‘just because’ treats for a loved one.
What do you give a flower and plant lover who cares about the environment and doesn’t want more stuff (we’ve all got enough stuff), but wants to be more present to the joy and beauty in her every day?
There’s nothing quite like a thoughtful gift to say ‘I love you’, but finding the right thing, whether it’s for a birthday, an anniversary, Mother’s Day, or just because, can be hard for anyone who cares about having a positive impact on the planet. I absolutely dread anything I give being considered tat or, God forbid, landfill; I’d truly rather give nothing at all.
It’s hard to beat a freshly grown bouquet of flowers cut straight from your own garden, tied with brown paper and string (and maybe throw in a cake, still warm from the oven, extra points for lemon drizzle), left with a note on a loved one’s doorstep. But for those times when you’re not lucky enough to be nearly next door from the person you want to spoil or you don’t have fresh blooms at your fingertips*, there are plenty of brilliant alternatives that are sure to make your flower-loving friend’s heart sing.
*who put both Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day in the UK off-season for flowers? I keep meaning to get up a petition to change them both to June when we can give roses and apple mint.
Here are a few of my favourite unique and sustainable gift ideas for flower and plant lovers to help you shower your loved ones with affection, whatever the occasion and no matter how far apart you are.
A bundle of the most beautifully packaged, sustainable seeds you’ve ever seen
It’s no secret that I love seeds, and I set up a seed merchants because I think that receiving a bundle of beautiful packets is one of the few things that can rival a fresh bouquet, and because the seeds they sell in garden centres are so unrelentingly ugly.
Seeds are a brilliant gift that keep giving, as your loved one can experience the magic of watching the seeds grow and bloom throughout the seasons, cutting flowers for their table again and again through the summer. This way of gifting flowers supports bee and insect life, too.
I sell my own seed exclusively to members of Gather because, as a kitchen table business producing most of my own seed, demand has always outstripped supply. However, I recently created a special gift package of seeds which is available in my public shop here for anyone to purchase as part of a gift membership to Gather ( see below - while stocks last) as a treat for a friend. Or for yourself—I absolutely don’t judge.
Seeds are specks of hope, of potential, or dormant happiness, just waiting to be awoken. An utterly glorious gift for any flower lover.
Gift membership to Gather: blissful escapism for flower lovers
My digital membership space, Gather, offers an escape from the noise and overwhelm of the modern world, with a library of gorgeous photography and writing about life in my cottage and flower garden through the seasons.
This isn’t a course, and there isn’t any homework; in fact, there aren’t any shoulds at all in Gather. It’s a place you can go when you want to switch off for a while and browse with a cup of tea (or glass of wine), surrounded by beauty and peace.
I created Gather because I couldn’t find the kind of content I was really craving myself anywhere else—it’s a throwback to the good old days of Instagram when gorgeous stills filled our feeds, no excessive noise or pointing and dancing, just simple beauty.
Gather is a flower lover’s haven, a place you can go and spend a nourishing hour or two in daydreams of a cottage garden. There are guides to growing your own flowers throughout the seasons, and interviews with flower experts, but you don’t have to have a garden to enjoy all that Gather has to offer; you can simply lose yourself in a world of cottage living, seeds, soil, and flowers.
I offer gift subscriptions for 3 months, 6 months, or an entire calendar year, so you can choose how much Gather you’d like to give to your loved one. Once you’ve purchased the gift subscription of your choice, you’ll receive an email with a beautiful downloadable PDF with a secret one-time code which unlocks a year of Gather that you can either email or print out and send to your loved one so that they can dive in as soon as they’re ready.
Gather is the perfect gift for a flower or plant lover who doesn’t want more clutter, but instead wants more peace of mind and something to help them unwind at the end of a long day.
A luxurious gift option for nature lovers: a bottle of Ffern’s natural perfume
Ffern is a gorgeous small batch natural perfume company based near me in Somerset, UK. Their packaging is beautifully minimalist and entirely plastic-free, and their natural fragrances are released in limited edition runs seasonally to members of their client list, known as the Ledger.
Each bottle costs £79, and you will be billed in advance of the season’s release (you can also purchase a limited supply of existing fragrances), but you can cancel any time you like. Doing business this way helps them know how much perfume to make in each season’s batch, thereby cutting down on waste with each production run—ingenious.
A wonderful luxury gift idea, whether you’d like to purchase a bottle of perfume as a one-off gift for a friend, or stay signed up to the Ledger so you can get every season’s release (keeping a bottle here and there for yourself, and ensuring an ongoing supply of an utterly gorgeous luxury gift for nature-loving friends and family).
You can sign up to the waiting list for Ffern’s Ledger list any time, and they’ll let you know as soon as they have an opening for new clients. They ship within the UK and to the USA, but don’t currently ship elsewhere in the world—just something to be aware of when planning your gift-giving.
Full disclosure - I am a fully signed up Ffern customer and I love them so much, I made a film about the Spring 23 release.
Make up a bulb bowl instead of giving a bunch of flowers
Nothing beats a bowl of bulbs to cheer up your windowsill or table in the winter and early spring, and they are surprisingly easy to make. I’d recommend keeping an eye on your local charity shops for any glass or china bowls that might catch your eye, or bigger old-fashioned mixing bowls and urns for something a bit more substantial. You can then buy some bulbs that have already started sprouting from whatever is available to you locally (snowdrops, narcissi, hyacinths are all lovely bulbs for pots), carefully separate out the bulbs before planting in your chosen container. Add a little moss on top of the earth nestled in around the bulbs if you can find it, just because it adds an extra touch of magic to the whole affair.
Some tips for planting bulbs in pots: you absolutely must not over-water them. I have done this; they were looking a bit floppy, and I mistook this for thirst and tipped a little water out of my glass onto them. And then I did it again a few days later. They are now really quite damp. However, there is nothing to be done but hope they grow through it and put them in a slightly warmer place to encourage a bit of evaporation and transpiration.
Even if your bowl is glazed, put a mat or a slate underneath it to protect your table or window sills. I find not even the sturdiest looking containers are totally watertight and they seem to ‘breathe’ moisture. The only failsafe option for this is glass.
Cool and light will give you the longest display in terms of flowers, but you can use temperature cannily to bring the flowers on or slow them down. After a few weeks in my cool study, I got impatient and put them on the kitchen windowsill. The first one bloomed a day later, and my heart sang.
A lovely, thoughtful gift—though impossible to post for obvious reasons, so one to save for when you can give your gift in person. And, best to give this as soon after you’ve assembled it as possible, and definitely before the flowers have opened so that the recipient can enjoy them for as long as possible.
Find their local flower grower to send a seasonal, low-impact bouquet of fresh flowers
If you are in the UK, use Flowers from the Farm to find your local flower grower. If you are in the US, Floret has some great directories of the network of flower growers stateside.
Once you find a likely-looking candidate, it’s worth giving them a call or sending them an email to find out which flowers and foliage they have fresh and available, and asking them if they can put together and deliver a bouquet to your budget.
Don’t be shy; many local florists will be grateful that you’re going the extra mile to support a small business rather than taking the easier option of ordering a bouquet from one of the big online companies.
Gift subscription to garden museum, or local garden
For the garden lover who doesn’t want any more clutter, gift membership to somewhere like the Garden Museum (Britain’s only Museum dedicated to the history, art and design of gardens) and Kew Gardens in London, or a garden that’s local to the person you’re giving a gift to, is another great gift idea. If your garden lover is of a literary and artistic bent and lives within reach of the South Downs, for example, gift membership to the extraordinary house and gardens of Charleston would be a real treat.
Again, Google is your best friend when it comes to researching this one, but the time you take to do your research properly will pay off with an incredibly thoughtful gift that your loved one can enjoy time and time again. The added bonus is, of course, that you’re also supporting the upkeep of a beautiful garden.
Track down a classic gardening book
Rather than getting your flower and plant-loving friends the latest release on Amazon, why not try Oxfam Books or Ebay to find some pre-loved classic gardening texts? Here are a few of my favourite classic gardening books for a little inspiration to get you started.
A book for the literary-minded garden lover: Grounding, by Lulah Ellender
A book for the beginner gardener: The Complete Gardener by Monty Don
A book for the keen gardener: The Well Tempered Garden by Christopher Lloyd
Did I mention I wrote a book? It is called Grow & Gather and I will sign, gift wrap and hand-write a message for you if you order it from my shop. Give me extra time if you are ordering it for someone in the States, shipping does take a little time.
And finally, a few practical things no gardener will ever want to be without
If you’re looking for the perfect gift for a practically-minded gardener of any level, there are a few essentials that will always be welcome gifts. The ideal trowel for weeding and planting (this elegant beech-handled trowel with a bronze blade is my favourite), a pair of snips for cutting flowers, some good old-fashioned plastic-free string for tying up plants, and hand cream (my favourites are Elizabeth Arden or Bramley) will never go amiss.
I hope these gift ideas spark some inspiration for you to dream up the perfect treat for your flower loving friend—or perhaps they’ll give you some inspiration for your own wishlist to share with loved ones when the time is right.
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