16 Dec What to Get Your Seedy Friends and Family This Holiday
This year, don’t just give the gardener in your life the same pair of gloves covered in the same frowzy florals. No doubt he or she already has them. And in, um, spades. For your dear design-minded cultivator, it’s time to think outside the box.
For the creative DIY gift, find a bewitching plant and a potter that complements it, or vice-versa (top). We recommend succulents, because they’re sure to endure even your most garden-challenged friends. A layer of smooth pebbles will add extra polish.
The stylish workhorse is an entirely different ball of wax. Ever since we started shopping there a few years ago, Venice-based A+R has been like mod godsend (modsend?) to us. Last summer we picked up this fork and trowel duo ($66) by Claus Jensen — and ding dong, they’re still in stock! While we were planting our fall interest flowerbed, they worked like a charm, and they look poppy and adorable even when they’re left lying around the yard.
Courtesy of A+R
Ditto this watering can below, which we own in white. We love its sexy geometric shape, the color (stays cleaner than you’d think), the wide and easily fillable mouth, and the hidden grip at the bottom, which allows for easy handling when you’re watering your birds of paradise. Okay, okay, it’s $88, but the thing is like an art piece.
Courtesy of A+R
For the armchair gardener, we’re digging the one-two punch of Edible Selby ($35) and The Selby Is in Your Place ($35). By, whaddyaknow, Todd “the Selby” Selby. The interiors book visits the raucous living spaces of the likes of Lou Doillon, Terence Koh, Simon Doonan and Jonathan Adler.
The food book takes us into the kitchen and garden of Rockaway Taco, shares community-garden edibles, and peeks over the shoulder of a chef foraging for herbs in a Swedish forest.
The farmer’s market warrior, meanwhile, could probably use some help lugging home those vegetal hauls. This graphic, reusable sack ($12) by Wonder Thunder fits the bill, right down to the organic cotton composition.
Courtesy of Etsy/Wonder Thunder
Courtesy of Etsy/Wonder Thunder
And once the fruit has come home (or inside from the garden), how to display them? We’re drooling over this stainless steel Lotus Leaf centerpiece ($240) designed by Chang Yung Ho for sale at Alessi. Alas, it’s on backorder, but your classy, hard-to-shop-for loved one won’t care it’s late when they unwrap this glistening baby.
Courtesy of Alessi
The mould is based on an actual leaf pulled from the lotus pond at the Old Summer Palace.
Just so we’re clear, we’re not against gloves as gifts. These bicolor work gloves by Auclair available at Sierra Trading Post (on sale for $15.71) are charming and unexpected. And in lieu of the requisite floppy hat, might we suggest a packable visor ($145) by Eric Javits that appeals to both classicists and trend spotters alike? (Visors have indeed become a thing within the street style set.)
Courtesy of Sierra Trading Post
Courtesy of Neiman Marcus
Potter heads will get motivated by multitasking containers that can be placed on tables or hung from branches. These snappy Circle Pots ($89) are available at the Los Feliz-based Potted.
Courtesy of Potted.
And if they don’t have a modernist birdhouse yet, this birdie apartment from Chiasso is a rent-controlled $28.
Courtesy of Chiasso
Whether you’re celebrating New Year under California-friendly heat lamps or waiting until Memorial Day to host an outdoor soiree, you’re going to need lighting, like these indoor-outdoor hurricane lights ($69.99) from Grounded.
Courtesy of Grounded
And while you’re at it, wow ’em when they walk in with a fleet of signature drinks arranged on a butler tray like this one from CB2 ($49.95).
Courtesy of CB2
Oh, and for the littlest gardener in your life, this organic cotton onesie ($24.99) available at Brooklyn Botanic Garden is one of the cutest things we’ve ever seen.
Courtesy of BBG