Gardening

Trowels and daffs, gloves and pots: gifts for gardeners on Mother’s Day

A personal touch can make all the difference to your mumsy message

Say it with wellies – and, if you like, some daffodils. Photograph: Thinkstock

Sat Feb 27 2016 - 01:00

Thanks a bunch
Feed her need to plant with a "Thanks A Bunch, Mum" plant set, featuring a gift box personalised with a message. Inside is a terracotta pot, instructions, seed paper confetti, coir compost disc and pewter plant marker. Choose from seed paper confetti in white (forget-me-nots), green (basil and parsley) or yellow (mixed flowers). €19 from notonthehighstreet.com

All gloved up
Treat her to a pair of gorgeous monogrammed leather gardening gloves that will keep thorns at bay and look stylish at the same time. They're handmade in the UK in soft leather with a suede cuff, and can be personalised with her name or initials. €39.99, buyagift.co.uk

Cool tool
There are many gimmicky, pretty fork and trowel sets on the market, but a tough-quality carbon steel set from Big Little Things provides style as well as sturdiness and can be personalised with a name or message as well. The handles are made from ash timber with leather wrist straps included. €24.95, biglittlethings.co.uk

Best of the bunch – Narcissus (Daffodil)
The narcissus evokes the bright, cheery optimism of spring, in shades ranging from zingy yellow to cream with deep orange cups, in a variety of shapes and sizes from hoop-petticoats to trumpets, double-flowered and fragrant. Even just a small tub of narcissi near your patio door can brighten your mood in spring. Most large types naturalise well in grass and look more effective when planted en masse as single varieties. Smaller ones are ideal for pots, as varieties with heavy double blooms often flop and break when grown in containers.

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In pots, go for types such as ‘Bell Song’, which has 20cm stems carrying two or three delicate blooms with ivory-white petals and short, soft salmon trumpets, or the sweetly scented ‘Minnow’, a multi-headed type with lemon-yellow flowers, which goes well planted with forget-me-nots. Daffodils should be planted in autumn in well-drained soil at three times the depth of the bulb. If you have heavy soil, add horticultural grit to the planting hole. They will last longer in light shade, but they will also thrive in full sun. – PA