Gardening gifts for Mother’s Day that will last

Hummingbird feeder, but keep it modern. This front design hummingbird feeder will encourage pollinators to frequent the garden, which will help the garden thrive more.

Merry People rain boots are incredibly soft and comfortable, and they’re super easy to put on and take off. It is tall enough to protect the ankles from wet blades of grass from mowing, but not so long as to be cumbersome or uncomfortable to kneel on. And they come in a range of colors (from the delicious yellow that’s so ubiquitous on rainy days, to a sophisticated dark green that will make you think of your favorite evergreen).

Move up Mum’s regular vegetable garden assortment and get her some unique plants to grow this year. The Japanese seed company Kitazawa Seed has an extensive seed library for products that are popular in Asian cooking, from round Kamo eggplant, Napa cabbage, shiso leaf, and radishes of all shapes and colors. Even the packaging (yellow manila envelopes and green ink featuring an illustration of a plant) feels sophisticated and unique.

Scooping is an essential part of gardening, and while your low-maintenance mom may have been using an empty plastic bowl for all of her scooping needs for decades, it’s time to upgrade the one tool she knows gets used constantly. The handle is comfortable, the scoop is large, and the unique barrel-shaped top allows more soil to be held than a regular potting scoop, avoiding spills.

Like most gardeners, I have different gloves for different occasions. A pair of long, thick rose pruning gloves are great for hard yard work, and short, rubber gloves (similar to work gloves you can find at any hardware store) for everyday gardening. But for more delicate tasks, from harvesting to pruning to growing seedlings, I love these thin gardening gloves from Foxgloves. Unlike typical gardening gloves that can feel too bulky and cumbersome for more delicate tasks, these are lightweight and form-fitting, giving you more control when you need it.

These French folding knives are completely utilitarian and a must-have for gardeners. They can be used for pruning, harvesting, and even cutting string, bags of soil, or seeds. It folds and locks securely, and it deserves a spot in a gardener’s pocket. It’s the handy tool they’ll reach for when the shears are on the other side of the garden bed or garden

Even the most experienced gardener can find plant nurseries overwhelming—most of them distressed by the fact that they can’t come home with everything. Enter floral starter packs for gardeners who may or may not be overwhelmed, lazy, indecisive, or a little ambitious. Ferry Morse presents the Sweet Floral 12-Pack for Cottagecore vibes. Comes with a mix of Hollyhocks Daisies and Shasta Daisies.

What makes this mix so practical for a gardener is that it has measurements notched into it, so when my mom reads about how to plant the seeds 2 inches before soil level, she won’t have any qualms about whether or not she did it right. It’s the kind of fun gift gardeners might not buy themselves.

Vegan food has never looked so good. Arber’s botanical concentrates will help mommy’s green thumb shine a little brighter. Their outdoor kit will cover all of her garden’s basic needs (from pest control to lawn feeding that feeds her belly and soul). Everything is organic and non-toxic, which makes it especially ideal for edible plants.

If mom spends a lot of time on TikTok or Instagram, she’s already seen these metal raised garden beds and has been craving them—silently or out loud. They come in a wide variety of exact shapes, shapes, and sizes, and are incredibly modular.

It’s very hard to find a harvest basket that actually makes sense. The wooden ones are a bit heavy. And woven baskets don’t last and aren’t great for rinsing dirty produce. Wire baskets are rusty, and gardening baskets that are actually shaped like strainers aren’t very pretty. These stackable bins from the design house of HAY are similar to the bins used in restaurant and farm kitchens alike. They come in tons of different color combinations and solids and in three different sizes. It’s made from 100% post-consumer recycled plastic, and folds up when not in use.

If ever there was a gardening tool that felt like an extension of their arm, it might be this hand hoe—specifically in the Korean style my grandmother used. Its uniquely curved blade makes it a truly versatile tool that can be used for multiple purposes: weeding, chopping, tilling, hoeing, hoeing, digging, you name it. One side of the blade is slightly sharper, so it can cut through stubborn roots and weeds, and the pointed end doubles as a chopper. It’s also a great tool when transplanting seedlings and young plants into the garden.

For the indoor gardening enthusiast, the Rise Garden smart indoor system allows mom to have a thriving edible (and/or vegetable) garden all year long in a trusted, controlled environment. They offer vegetable seeds of several varieties, from leafy greens to herbs to tomatoes, but you can also stock up on seedless pods so she can grow her own favorites (you’ll just want to remind Mom not to grow anything that tall to include it all in a light palette). This personal indoor garden size fits easily on a kitchen counter, but they also offer larger, tiered options.

Anyone who spends a lot of time outdoors needs a good hat. This cotton hat is breathable, comes in a range of different colors, and has an SPF of 50. Mom can throw it in her tool bag (no need to worry about it keeping its shape) and run it through the washing machine when it gets dirty.

I know it’s not the fanciest of gardening gifts, but this cart is absolutely amazing. It glides easily over gravel, cover, large rocks, and uneven ground, and is way easier to maneuver than a wheelbarrow. There’s a unique lever that makes it super easy to dump heavy contents out of the bin too – the bin ends up on one side while all four wheels stay on the ground. If you’re conscious that you don’t give your gardening-loving mom a pretty gift this Mother’s Day, fill her with a variety of potted plants from the nursery for her to decorate.

This soft and durable apron (also available in cream) for florists and gardeners is the apron mom can easily slip into, has roomy pockets to hold her most-used tools, and comes with a set of work gloves. The straps crisscross across the back, eliminating the need for laces, and fits all body shapes and sizes.

It doesn’t matter how young or fit you are – something to kneel on when your hobby is gardening. This kneeling doubles as a bench (simply flip it upside down), and folds down to take up a little less space in the garden shed.