You could easily spend a lot of money making your favorite gardener happy this holiday season, but fortunately, you don’t have to. I personally use all three of the items below, and can assure you they are worth every penny of their modest price. Whether it’s a gift exchange at the garden club, a little extra something to accompany a big ticket item for your dearly beloved, or a even treat for yourself (haven’t you been good?), these gifts show that you’ve been thinking about that special gardener as a gardener, and not as “another person I have to get something for.”
Made of pewter
Carol of May Dreams Gardens and I gave the Spring Fling organizers these key chains as a way to thank them for their hard work. They are made out of pewter and that little Garrett Wade tag is easily removed if you so desire. (If the recipient already has a key chain, suggest that they use it as a zipper pull on their favorite gardening jacket.)
Over on the right is my favorite hand lotion, Earth Therapeutics Hand Remedy. It is one of the few “beauty” products that I keep multiples of: one for each floor of the house, plus a few on hand so we never run out. They used to call it Gardener’s Hand Repair, but I guess no one but gardeners bought it so they changed it to a more generic name. As a gardener, it’s difficult for me to resist spending an early spring day weeding with gloveless hands in the moist earth. But when I eventually go inside and wash those hands, they feel like sandpaper. This lotion takes away the sandpaper feeling, and the dry, too-tight skin feeling, and smells pleasantly lemony. It also minimizes peeling after a bad sunburn.
Speaking of sunburn, there’s no better way to prevent it than with an application of Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Dry-Touch Sunblock. As a fair-skinned, sunburn susceptible person, I have used sunblock pretty faithfully since before they invented the SPF rating system, because I hate sunburn a heck of a lot more than I hate looking pasty-white uncool. Until I found this Neutrogena line (thanks to Blackswamp Kim), my intense dislike of sunburn was the only thing that kept me slathering the greasy stuff on. Neutrogena’s Dry-Touch is not greasy. It feels like high quality facial lotion, and once you’ve applied it, it truly is dry on your skin. I look forward to putting this on, even though it costs twice as much as the no-name brand from the discount store. As an added bonus, it comes in a range
of high SPFs, from 30 to 85. I bought the SPF 70 for my Spring Fling trip to Austin, and I also have the SPF 30 “for everyday.”
A gift doesn’t have to cost a lot to show your love, but when chosen thoughtfully it speaks volumes. What are your favorite humble but worthy gardening gifts?
Tagged as:
gardening_gifts,
hand care,
hand lotion,
keychain,
skin care,
sunblock,
sunburn
About the Author
Kathy Purdy is a colchicum evangelist, converting unsuspecting gardeners into colchicophiles. She gardens in rural upstate NY, which used to be USDA Hardiness Zone 4 but is now Zone 5. Kathy’s been writing since 4th grade, gardening since high school, and blogging since 2002. Find her on Instagram as kopurdy.
What differentiates a bulb from a perennial plant is that the nourishment for the flower is stored within the bulb itself.…There is something miraculous about the way that a little grenade of dried up tissue can explode into a complete flower.
~Monty Don
in
The Complete Gardener pp. 142
The keyrings are pretty, Kathy, but it’s the dry Neutrogena Sunblock that’s intriguing… sounds made for Texas and Bill adding his recommendation makes it sound like a great choice for gardeners.
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
Kathy, Great suggestions as always. I’ve now been listening to you and emulating you for exactly one year today when I made my first posting. I so much appreciate the help I have gotten from bloggers in my garden and at my desk. thank you. thank you.
Great gift suggestions. I use that same sunscreen now, and will vouch for it being a wonderful product.
I’m a big fan of the neutrogena sun-block. I use the 85 every day (if I remember).
We’re on the same page this first-week-of-December, Kathy. I love your suggestions and I’m going to forward this little ‘hint’ to someone in my family for ideas!
xoxo Deb
Great suggestions. Every gardener can use a good hand lotion. I have not tried Earth Therapeutics lotion before…but I plan on getting some right away! It will be my gift to myself!
That key chain is adorable! It would be great to keep just the “gardening shed” key on (assuming one has a gardening shed key!).
I like your blog. Of course, in Houston, I hardly qualify for “cold climate gardening”!
Have a wonderful holiday season!
If you’d e-mail me your snail-mail addy, I’d show you one I’ve been saving with your name on it.
That keychain is a treasured souvenir of the Spring Fling. My thanks again to you and Carol for a thoughtful, spot-on gift.
Those key chains are great! I am another fan of that sunscreen. I also use the one for faces.
Thanks so much for your help.
I can finally see your blog !
Stocking stuffer gifts for gardeners is a great idea. I can think of a million thinks I’d like…not sure if they’ll fit in a stocking though 🙂
The key chain is precious !