Olive Ryan: Gift ideas for the gardener in your life...

As December rolls in, it is officially time to talk about the festive season and what to gift the gardener in your life.

Gardeners, by nature, are practical people and will relish practical gifts that can be used in the garden to make their lives easier.

A quality secateurs, hand trowel, trug or spade will never go astray, and a good book about gardening will always be a winner.

As the weather turns winterish and the days are short, it is also time to get busy indoors, making plans for outside for next year and being inspired by research and reading.

A few new titles appear every year, and this year The Contemporary Garden, by Phaidon Press, examines 300 gardens in more than 40 countries throughout the world. Planting styles, climate, biodiversity and water conservation are all included in the examination of how gardens are redefining design.

Horticulture is at the heart of this book, with architecture, ecology and sustainability all examined as the consideration of design influences over the last 30 years is discussed.

This is the ideal read over the festive season to inspire and ignite imagination for planning projects, providing illustrated examples from all over the world.

The RHS Gardens Of Britain And Ireland was released earlier this year and is a great guide for visiting 100 of the best gardens here and in the UK. It visits professional and private gardens, large and small, and gives insights about the development of the gardens and where they are today.

Great photography, descriptions and history of the gardens will inspire some garden visits in 2026, I have no doubt.

Grounded In The Garden, by TJ Maher, is available since 2024 and is an artist’s account of creating a garden, working with plants, colour and nature to create a magical space. Getting the most from your space, keeping it looking good, making changes, evergreens, colour, gardens in context and gardening in small spaces.

This book is full of practical tips to help you on your own journey with gardening, and has some inspiring images that will help get the creative juices flowing.

Or why not give the gift of a tree this Christmas in the form of a gift voucher for a local garden centre, or a living Christmas tree in a pot which can be planted in the garden in the new year? Why not gift a potted conifer which can be planted out into the garden in a strategic location and used as an outdoor tree for decoration in future years? It’s much better for trees to be living and outside rather than cut down and brought indoors.

A gift of seeds is a great one and Brown Envelope Seeds do a range of gift set ideas from the Undercover Garden gift box to the Four Seasons Salad gift box, and lots more ideas for different seed collections. Check out www.brownenvelopeseeds.ie for more details.

Irish Seed savers also have a range of seed gift sets promoting heritage Irish seeds and it is a great project to support - see www.irishseedsavers.ie for a range of seeds, workshops, and books for gifting this December.

Gifting a workshop or garden event happening in the new year is a great idea and provides something welcome to look forward to in 2026.

The GLDA (Garden & Landscape Designers Association) conference is happening on February 28 next year, and the theme is ‘The Interconnection Of All Things’. The day features a great line-up of speakers again including Seamus O’Brien, Adam Hunt and Lulu Urquhart, Margie Ruddick and Galen Fulford. Check out www.glda.ie for more details about booking, etc.

The Snowdrop Gala is happening on January 24, and always provides a great day out for meeting gardening enthusiasts, examining snowdrops, and getting to visit Altamont in Co. Carlow early in the year.

Altamont Gardens now boasts the largest collection of snowdrops in Ireland and is well worth a visit at any time of the year. The on-site garden centre run by Robert Miller offers a great range of early flowering perennials and bulbs, which are always a welcome sight in January and February.

Check out www.carlowtourism.com for details of booking this event.

There are a number of gardening workshops happening in the springtime for the budding gardener in your life (pardon the pun!). Irish Seed Savers are running a ‘Growing In The Polytunnel Or Greenhouse’ workshop with Klaus Laitenberger in March at their headquarters in Clare.

Ballymaloe Cookery School, Organic Farm and Gardens are running a day-long course in January, 2026, entitled ‘Growing Food And Planning/Preparing Your Garden’, on site in East Cork.

For the more crafty gardeners, maybe making a chair or table from greenwood appeals. If so, then West Cork is the place to go and a workshop at Greenwood Chairs for one or more days to complete a piece of furniture to take home.

Check out www.greenwoodchairs.com for more details about courses available.

There have recently been some free workshops taking place at Glenbower Woods in East Cork, run by Mary Byrne as part of the winter school @thisourproject. Keep an eye out for more events happening in the future on Greywood Arts Facebook page.

It’s great to see this traditional craft of coppicing hazel and making furniture from greenwood coming back into practice and gaining momentum.

Whatever the gift, enjoy the choosing and gifting this Christmas, remember it is the thought that counts, and putting effort into the deliberation of what that loved one may like and enjoy is half the battle.

Happy considered Christmas gifting this year.