Gifts for a gardener, and not one of them is a plant
Plainly: I do not pack seeds, tools, gloves or anything living. There is no gardening box in my catalogue and I am not going to invent one on this page. What I do have is the hour after, when somebody comes in at dusk with soil under their nails and hands that have been holding a trowel since ten, and that hour is genuinely unbought. I pack every box myself here in Canada and write your message onto the card by hand before the lid goes on.
No seeds, no tools, nothing living. What I have is the hour after. I pack every box by hand here in Canada.
Eight boxes for when they come inside, at $99 and $119, and six of the eight come in two sizes.
Anybody who gardens already owns more trowels than they can find.
Bea. Come inside at some point. Love the beans.
Love, Ivan
The boxes I would send a gardener
None of these has anything to do with a garden. They are the boxes in my catalogue aimed at the hands, the feet and the kettle at the end of a day spent outside.
Showing all 8
The Spa & Thank You Box
From$99Soap, lotion and bath salts. Hands that have been in soil since breakfast are the argument.The Leisurely Morning Tea Box
From$99Tea with lavender through it, a mug thrown by hand and a jar of Canadian wildflower honey.
The Cozy Cup Comfort Box
From$99A warm drink, a mug to keep and something sweet to stir in, for the hour after coming inside.
The Relax & Unwind Box
From$99Socks, a candle and a tea, for the evening of a day spent kneeling on wet ground.
The Sweet Scent Home Box
From$99A candle and something sweet to spread, for a kitchen that smells of soil by six.
The Cozy Retreat Box
From$99Wool socks, a hot chocolate and the one candle here that smells of trees instead of flowers.
The Summer Self-Care Box
$119Five things for a long bath, which is what the end of a growing season is actually for.
The Ultimate Cozy Retreat Box
$119A throw, a heavy mug, good tea and a candle, for the months when nothing is growing.
Which one, then
Since nothing here is for the garden, choose by which part of them takes the beating. For most people who grow things that is the hands, then the knees, then the fact that they have not sat down since breakfast. If the question is really how much to spend, how much to spend on a gift in Canada answers it better than I can here.
For the hands
Two boxes from $99 to $119: the Spa & Thank You Box and the Summer Self-Care Box. Soap, lotion and salts. Hands that have been in soil since breakfast are the single best argument for either of these, and the only difference between them is that the first starts lower and the second is sold at one size.
For the hour they come inside
Three boxes from $99 to $119: the Leisurely Morning Tea Box, the Cozy Cup Comfort Box and the Relax & Unwind Box. A cup, something to sit down with and an evening that ends early. These are the three smallest boxes here and any of them is a whole gift.
For the months when nothing is growing
Three boxes from $99 to $119: the Cozy Retreat Box, the Ultimate Cozy Retreat Box and the Sweet Scent Home Box. Winter is the hard part of gardening and nobody buys a gardener anything in February. One of these smells of trees rather than flowers, one is the fullest box on the page, and one is aimed at the kitchen the plants end up taking over.
Two sizes on a box, and where the bigger ones are
The boxes on this page run $99 and $119, and six of the eight come in two sizes. The larger size of a box is everything in the smaller one and about two more things, picked the way the rest of it was picked. On this page the larger size is one or two more things for the same evening. None of them ever becomes a tool.
Eight boxes on the site run a ladder of three sizes instead, and the luxury boxes at the top of it are the fullest things I pack. If you came here meaning to spend more than this page asks for, the links under this are the shortest way there.
The card is the part that explains why no plant.
You type the message when you order, up to 280 characters, and I write it out in pen on a real card. A gardener opening a box with no soil in it wants one line about why, and the best gardening card I have ever written out said come inside at some point.
If you are stuck, people write things like:
"Come inside at some point.""For the hands.""Nothing here needs watering."
The card, the tissue, the tape and the rest of what happens to a box before it leaves.
You do not need another trowel. This is for the hour after you come in.
Love, Ivan
Other things they might be into
Since none of this is actually gardening, one of these shelves may be a closer description of the person.
Most of what is on this page also sits on the shelf for staying in, written about evenings rather than about soil, and there is more of it over there.
If the hands and the long bath are the part that matters, the page about an hour with the door shut is more direct about it.
And if the growing is really about feeding people, the boards and the things to put on them are on the page for somebody who always has everyone round.
Questions people ask me
Is there a plant in the box?
No. Nothing living goes in any box I pack, and I would not ship a plant across the country in a cardboard box in a Canadian winter even if I did. There are no seeds and no bulbs either. This page is honest about that at the top rather than at the bottom.
Are there gardening tools, gloves or a kneeler in any of these?
No. There is no gardening equipment of any kind in my catalogue. Anybody who actually gardens owns better tools than I would pick and more of them than they can currently find, so this is less of a loss than it sounds, but it is a real gap and I would rather name it.
Then what makes this a gardening gift?
The card and the timing. What is in the box is for the hands, the feet and the kettle after a day outside, which is the part of gardening nobody equips. Write the card about the garden and the box lands as a gift from somebody who has watched them work. Send it in February and it lands even harder.
What are the two sizes?
The larger size of a box is everything in the smaller one and about two more things, picked the way the rest of it was picked. The boxes here run $99 and $119, and six of the eight come in two sizes. Each box has its own page, and that page says what is in it, so you can check that it really is what this one claims.
How does it get there?
Shipping is free anywhere in Canada and a box is 1 to 7 days in transit. There is no same-day option and no arrival date anywhere on this page. There is a field at checkout where you pick the delivery date you would prefer. No price on anything inside the box, so it opens as a gift rather than as a number. All sales are final, so check the address before you order.
The gardener already has the gardening things
The reflex when buying for somebody who grows things is to buy something else that grows, or something to grow it with. It is the same reflex that sends a baker a cake tin and a coffee person a bag of beans, and it fails for the same reason: the person you are buying for has been doing this for years and owns the good version already, in the size they like, twice.
What they do not own is anything for the state they are in at seven in the evening. Cold, filthy, pleased with themselves, unwilling to sit down in case the moment passes. That hour is completely unbought, and a box that shows up for it says you have actually watched them do this rather than heard about it.
Every box here is packed by hand in Canada and comes with a card written by hand in your own words. Shipping is free anywhere in Canada and a box is 1 to 7 days in transit. If you want the whole catalogue, every box on the site sits in one grid sorted by price.
While you are here
- Gift Ideas for Hard-to-Shop-For PeopleThe same trap, across every hobby.
- Gifts for Grandparents Who Say They Do Not Need AnythingA lot of the gardeners on my list are on that one too.
- All the boxesThe whole catalogue in one grid, by price.
If you are not sure which box to send a gardener, tell me who it is for and roughly what you want to spend and I will tell you what I would pack. I read every message myself, at team@swipegifts.com.