Gifts for Elderly Gardeners: Keep the Garden Within Reach

Gertrude Jekyll trained as an artist. In Victorian England she worked as a painter and watercolorist until deteriorating eyesight largely put an end to that career. She went on to become a garden designer, providing designs or planting plans for some four hundred gardens in Britain, Europe and North America. Some have suggested that her eyesight may even have influenced the Impressionistic style of her planting schemes. Jekyll died at her home, Munstead Wood in Surrey, in 1932, aged 89. Her story is a reminder that the way someone pursues a lifelong interest can change even when the interest itself remains. If you are looking for gifts for elderly gardeners, that is a useful place to start: with the gardener they are today, and what would make their time in the garden easier or more enjoyable.

The short answer: The best gifts for elderly gardeners fit the gardener they are now. Notice what has become inconvenient, then choose around it: something that reduces kneeling or bending, something comfortable to hold, something that brings the plants within easier reach, something easy to read, or something for the quieter months in the garden. When in doubt, give time as well as a thing.

Choosing gifts for an elderly gardener starts with noticing

Before you buy anything, watch an ordinary hour in their garden, or simply ask what has become awkward or frustrating. Is it getting down to the bed, or getting back up? Is it the weight of the watering can, the grip on the pruners, the small print on the seed packet? Or is it simply that the garden goes quiet for part of the year and they miss it?

Each answer points to a different kind of gift. The rest of this guide is sorted that way, by what has changed rather than by price, because one thoughtful gift that fits a real need beats a basket of gadgets.

For kneeling: a kneeler that becomes a seat

One practical option is a garden kneeler with handles. Many designs can be used one way as a padded kneeling surface and turned over as a low seat, while the side handles give something to hold when changing position. A low wheeled garden seat is another option for someone who would rather work without kneeling at all.

Before you buy, check the weight if they will carry it around the garden, and the height of the seat if they are tall.

For the hands: lighter tools with comfortable grips

Look for:

• Thick, soft grips that do not have to be squeezed hard.
• Light weight. Pick the tool up before you buy it, if you can. A lighter tool may simply be more comfortable for them to use.
• Long handles on hoes, weeders and hand forks, so there is less bending to reach the soil.
• Good gloves that fit well, because loose gloves make every grip clumsier.

The word "ergonomic" on a label covers a lot of different designs. Weight, grip size and how the tool feels in their hand matter more than the word.

For reach: bring the garden up to them

If getting down to the soil is the problem, raise the soil. A raised bed, a table-height planter or a few large containers by the back door can let them tend plants standing or sitting. Raised beds have a gardener's advantage too: they warm up sooner in spring and drain better than flat ground. You might also consider a lighter hose on a reel, or a smaller watering can, if carrying a full-size can has become inconvenient.

This is a bigger gift, and the most useful version of it often includes your help to build it.

For the eyes: easy to read

Small print is one of the quiet ways a hobby gets harder. Gifts that help:

• Plant labels and a marker they can write on big and bold, so every row is readable from standing height.
• A garden notebook with wide lines, for sowing dates and what grew well this year.
• Books in genuinely large print about the thing they love, so reading about the garden is as easy as being in it.

In the Gardener's Edition, the puzzle grids use letters of about 22 to 26 pt, with word lists in at least 16 pt.

For the quieter months in the garden

In places where winter slows the garden down, a gift can keep some of that garden feeling close even when there is less to do outdoors:

• A bird feeder placed where they can see it from their favorite chair.
• Seed catalogs and a pencil for planning next year's beds.
• A bulb to grow on the windowsill, so something is flowering indoors.
• A garden to hold in their lap: a puzzle book about the garden, for the long evenings.

If you are choosing something for the holiday season, our guide to Christmas activities for seniors has more ideas for quieter time together. That last idea on the list is where our own book comes in.

A garden they can hold in their lap

We made Large Print Word Search: The Gardener's Edition for exactly this gardener. It has 90 word searches, one to a page, and every page is about the garden: bulbs, vegetables, herbs, roses, birds, bees, tools, weather and the seasons. The grid letters are about 22 to 26 point, the word lists are 16 point, and the answers at the back are in large print too.

Each puzzle carries a short garden note. The very first, "Spring Bulbs," says that a bulb is a little underground pantry, storing food for next year's flowers. And when every word is circled, the letters left over spell a cheerful garden line, with a place to write it underneath. The first puzzle's line is "Good morning, spring! The bulbs are awake."

The puzzles start gently on 11 x 11 grids, with words running left to right, top to bottom or diagonally down to the right. Medium puzzles move to 12 x 12 grids and add right-to-left and upward diagonals; the harder 13 x 13 puzzles use all eight directions. There is a ruled "My Garden Notes" page at the end for sowing dates and plans. It is not tied to one season, so it works as a birthday, Mother's Day, Father's Day or Christmas gift. If word puzzles are already part of their evenings, you might also enjoy our look at the cozy mystery word search format.

The gift of an afternoon

Whatever you choose, one gift does not need to come in a box: an afternoon of your time for the jobs they would rather not tackle alone. Lift the bags of compost, dig the new bed, plant the bulbs they chose. Go on the day they pick, let them tell you where everything goes, and ask them to teach you something while you work. Nobody knows that garden the way they do.

The last puzzle in the Gardener's Edition, "Next Year's Garden," hides the line: "The best garden is always the one you plant next." It is a fitting thought to end on: a good gift can help keep next year's garden within reach.

Sources

• Gertrude Jekyll's life, eyesight, artistic career and garden designs: Gertrude Jekyll, Wikipedia.

Frequently asked questions about gifts for elderly gardeners