Need Sustainable Shopping Tips?

Garden centers are a festive place
to shop

Have you thought about plants and gardening-related gifts for people on your shopping list this year? 

Stopping by the local garden center is much less painful than searching for a parking place at the mall and pushing your way through shoppers.  And its more fun than shopping online.  Garden centers and nurseries are feel-good places where you can enjoy the aroma of evergreens and re-connect with plants in spite of the deep freeze outside.

Do you have gardeners, great to gourmet cooks, seniors or shut-ins to shop for?  Have you thought about more sustainable corporate/business gifts that aren’t from a catalog and individually shipped across 5 states?  

Here are some gift ideas that will last longer than that crumbling fruitcake or stack of fudge.

Natural décor and greens
A hostess or corporate gift that says the season is a fragrant arrangement or centerpiece filled with holiday greens.  A natural wreath or garland for the mantel can be a thoughtful touch for a friend who might not buy one herself.

 

 

The ongoing gift of growing

  • Deliver a no-calorie amaryllis bulb that’s ready to grow to your clients who probably cringe when yet another box of candy arrives at the office.
  • Create an herb garden for your favorite cook.  These gifts of good taste keep herbs always at hand and are fresher than the package from the grocery store.  Garden centers usually pot up the plants at no extra charge when you buy the plants and container.
  • Give a whimsical mini garden to a shut-in.  Gardening can be enjoyed – and therapeutic – even in a single container.
  • Take small flowering plants to residents of a retirement or assisted living center.  No dietary restrictions apply. And when even a picture of the outdoors has been proven to promote healing in hospitals, think what a real live plant can do!  

Useful gifts for the gardener
Gardening is a chore and anything that makes it easier, faster or less labor intensive is a welcome treat for any gardener.  A new pair of gardening gloves or herbal hand lotion fits in a stocking. 

Would your favorite gardener like more ergonomic tools that he might not buy for himself, but would mean less strain on his back?  What about new hand pruners or the smaller version used to dead head flowers?  These are the practical gadgets gardeners love.

Do you know seniors 

  • who can no longer get the lawnmower loaded in the car to take to the service center?  A practical gift is to take it in for a full service so the mower is ready to roll come spring.
  • who love their nice yards, but can no longer do all the work?  Give a landscape service such as a one-time tree pruning, spring yard clean-up or a season of lawn care.  

Let plants – and related tools, gadgets and services – make your holiday shopping less frenzied this year.  Plants allow us to be both creative and sustainable – and they keep our connection with Mother Nature alive and growing!

This entry was posted in Residential, Design, Green Landscape, Designscapes News