The holidays are here and so are the busiest shopping days of the year! Gardening is America’s #1 hobby and you can bring happiness to others by giving gardening presents. 

Amaryllis is a great holiday gift. It is showy and one of the easiest plants to grow. A quality bulb company can offer extra large bulbs that will bloom this year and in future years too. Always remember: the bigger the bulb, the better.

The following is a brief description of more gift ideas:

Lightweight gardening hoses are getting popular. Good pruning tools are always appreciated. A pocket knife is a handy gift. Solar-powered gardening pots are popular—they glow at night!

A new shovel, spading fork or hoe will be appreciated by a true gardener. A garden cart can help your friend move plants and tools around their yard.

Nitrile garden gloves are very popular. Hand scrubbing lotions will clean and moisturize our hands (the most important gardening tools). 

We all need to eat more veggies. A juicing machine can help us to get all the servings we need for a healthy diet. A dehydrator can convert our garden produce into nutritious snacks.

Thermometers, soil thermometers and rain gauges provide valuable information to a gardener.

Gnomes and other garden statuary are risky gifts, but sometimes these gifts bring the biggest smiles!

When all else fails, a gift certificate to a local garden center or a gardening catalog will put a smile on your friend’s face.

Happy holidays!

Written by Tom Kalb, Extension Horticulturist, North Dakota State University. This article is an excerpt of a story published in the NDSU Yard & Garden Report, November 15, 2014. The photo was made available under a Creative Commons license specified by the photographer: Liz West.