108 Fall Into My Garden
November 7, 2025
The Art of Giving Gardening Gifts
H appy New Gardening Year, Readers!
Isn’t it great to have a fresh start on mistakes we’re likely to continue making in 2026?!?! Or you could try making new ones. For inspiration, read my old blog posts where you’ll find some of my own mistakes to draw from. Every gardener needs variety!
Well, the Giving Season is behind us. Whew! Which makes this a good time to share my tips on how to give gifts to us gardeners that we might actually want! Judging by gifts I’ve received over the years, giving good gardening gifts seems like a difficult task!
Those who need my advice are not you, Readers. So feel free to forward this to someone who needs a hint.
I do this as a service so you won’t receive gifts like some given to me by otherwise much-loved family and friends.
And, gawd, I hope they won’t look too closely below and spot one of their gifts that ended up on my Baker’s Rack of Shame…
Not really—there’s no shame in giving. I just have nowhere else to put certain gifts I can’t bring myself to donate or throw out. Let’s just say I have a “private collection” on display of gifts that deserve special recognition!
By the way, that rack must be 60 years old or more. As a girl, I grew up with it right outside our kitchen door. And it’s still got its original paint!
My 4 Tips on How to Buy Gifts for Gardeners
Follow these tips whether you’re buying a gift for a newbie gardener, a longtime avid gardener, or a dedicated plant snob. (Who? Me?)
1. Know The Gardener’s Style
Every gardener needs gift buyers who pay attention to their style, both personal and in the garden.
My BFF, Evelyn, knows all my styles perfectly. She often says—after being out and around town—how she came across an item and knew instantly: “Sheri would love this!”
For instance, that time she came upon Snow White and knew I needed her to complete my dwarf’s garden.
By the way—dwarfs? I like.
But I will never. Ever. Ever! Have gnomes in my garden. Don’t gift me one! No gnome deserves a place even on the Rack of Shame.
Evelyn knows this. For that and many reasons, she’s a trusted gift giver.
Another is My Man Mike who usually just asks what I want, tries hard not to make that face, and buys it for me.
Sidenote: Did I tell you that when I call Evelyn to chat, her phone’s ringtone for me is an annoying dog barking his head off? LMAO. Oh, how I work in mysterious ways, because she didn’t set that ringtone up herself. (I love when I call her that she picks up so fast…)
2. Don’t Think Twice, Give a Plant
People who like to buy plants as presents tell me that I intimidate them because I’m such a plant snob. They’re afraid they might give me a wrong plant.
For Plantsake…just buy me a damn plant!
Gardeners love plants, and to us, no plant is a wrong plant unless it’s half-dead and moldy…and thankfully nurseries don’t sell potted poison oak.
In my garden, when I come across a plant someone gave me, I have fond feelings—no matter how “ordinary” the plant might be.
When given to gardeners, plants are well taken care of and live a good life. When a gardener and a plant get together, it makes them both happy.
Plants will never end up on my Baker’s Rack of Shame.
3. Do Think Twice, Don’t Give a Tool
No one should buy gardening tools for someone else. Gardeners should buy their own.
I’ve received tools I’ve never touched. Such a waste.
Yes, “it’s the thought that counts” blah-blah-blah. But someone who doesn’t live with your garden 24/7, and certainly no one who doesn’t garden alongside you, has any idea what sort of tool you’d like.
When there’s a chore to be done, the right tool is a “must-have,” not a gift.
I don’t wait around for my birthday or Christmas. I go out and shop for one that will both get the job done and that I like—and I buy it for myself.
This is not a self-centered act. If I’m a plant snob, I’m a tool snob, and I’m a professional at both! So sue me.
4. Don’t Think at All, Give a Gift Card
If you don’t know a gardener’s style and can’t tell a live plant from a dead one, a gift card from a good nursery will do very nicely. But please, NOT one from the Garden Center—big air quotes on “Garden”—in a hardware or big-box store!
And don’t apologize like: “I didn’t know what to get you….”
We gardeners LOVE to plant shop for ourselves especially when someone else pays. Though when you buy a card, remember: Be generous. We do have to pay for our own gas (haha!!) and cupcakes.
Speaking of Shopping for Ourselves…
Readers, accept this truth: we can’t count on others to give good gardening gifts. We must count on ourselves. Got it?
I’ve been fortunate enough to buy many gifts for myself, and I have a perfect track record. Not one of them has ended up on the Bakers Rake of Shame.
To inspire you, I’ll share a selected few of the many things I’ve received from myself over the years.
I really, reallllly needed this one…
Cercis canadensis ‘NC2016-2′ (Flame Thrower)
It may not look like much in the photo, but that magnificent thing is a deciduous tree that cost me $150. That’s a tad expensive, but I believe any item over $1 can be a gift!
I bought it because it was the first Flame Thrower I’d seen in weeping form instead of standard. The grower happened to grow it that way, and I was in the right place at the right time to snatch it up.
When spring arrives, it puts out very tiny pink flowers. But the best part comes after bloom when the leaves emerge. They appear burgundy at first, then over summer, some fade to chartreuse-yellow, others don’t. Those 2 colors are always present until fall when all the leaves turn to oranges, reds, and yellows.
Used to be, you could find Flame Thrower only in Oregon. Now it’s more available, but still only in standard form. How boring is that!
Here’s a self-purchased gift that is NOT boring…
I finally bought myself a Day-of-the-Dead husband and wife!
I’m only sorry they’re not the 5-foot-tall couple I’ve been eyeing for 15+ years. But do you know how expensive those are?! Holy crap! Thousands and thousands. These two were more manageable at $175.
In the photo, they’re seated next to Ms. Happy Hippo. AP gifted one to herself and one to me. She painted hers, but I left mine to weather naturally. Do you like Ms. Hippo’s succulent bow??
I made my Day-of-the-Dead purchase at N&A Nursery in Stockton, California, but I don’t have much else to say about N&A.
Driving in, we got our first look, and AP said, “you’re gonna like this place.” She knows I like hot-mess nurseries because I love love love the challenge of the hunt.
But inside, nothing was labeled or priced which drives me to the moon and back. Good Lord people! I am not going to hunt down a salesperson to get a price every time I see something I like.
Maybe some of you remember the annual San Francisco Flower & Garden Show that used to be held at the Cow Palace in Daly City. It featured large garden displays along with vendors, and was always just packed with loveliness. I went every year for about 20 years until it moved elsewhere and went down hill.
One year I came away with this ceramic birdhouse…
I still get a family of birds in it every year.
It sat next to a pot of succulents. And whenever baby succulents fell away, instead of walking them to the greenhouse and potting them up in actual soil, I’d be lazy and just place them around the birdhouse porch. They continued to grow there. Go figure. (Gawd, I love gardening.)
I could fill an entire blog post of Flower & Garden Show self-gifts, but I have to remember my husband is one of my readers…
Here’s a fairly new purchase I know he’s good with…
It’s located next to the new walkway railing we built in 2025. Years back we took out an oak tree here, and I had Mike leave the stump. It took me years to figure what to put on it.
Now I can relax…for a hot minute, maybe.
Lastly, Readers, I have a gift for you!
ME!!!
You’ll have to pay your own way, but it will be worth it. Instead of reading my blog, you’ll get to listen to me talk for 5 hours. In real time!
How fun is that?! I hope you do sign up.
On the day, come up and say “hi” and let me know you’re a Reader. I’d love to meet you!
And that will be your gift to me.
