If you’re one of those stubborn people who thinks it might be fun to wrap up a large Rosa rugosa and place it under the Christmas tree, here’s F&F’s guide to the most desirable plants as presents.
1. Spindleberry
Image by Elle Epp
This is a beautiful, mythical-looking shrub that steals the show in autumn. Read all about it here.
2. Saffron Crocus
Image by cskk
This is probably the most beautiful culinary plant you can grow, and it will save you a pretty penny in the kitchen as well. Read this post and start salivating over saffron crocus.
3. Sea Buckthorn
So this might be difficult to wrap, but it does look utterly marvellous, with lovely silvery foliage for most of the year followed by incredible edible orange berries. Read more on this garden stunner here.
4. Magnolia grandiflora
If you’re planning to fit this under your Christmas tree, buy small: Magnolia grandiflora ends up as an enormous shrub with the most spectacularly large flowers. Read this post, fall in love, and then wonder where on earth you’ll fit it in your garden.
5. Lemon bottlebrush
Image by Owen and Aki
What gorgeous, soft, huggable flowers this shrub has! Here’s the lowdown on a fab find from down under.
6. Giant Himalayan Lily
Image by pkdon50
Give this to a level-headed, patient gardener who doesn’t mind seeing their present pop up not this summer but, oh, five or six years after planting. But it is worth it: I promise.
7. Rose ‘Ena Harkness’
If you want to tell someone that you love them, sack off horrid hybrid tea red roses and go for a rose so full-bodied and passionate that it is tumbling over itself to flower. ‘Ena Harkness’ is gorgeous-looking and gorgeously-scented too. So grow it, and love it.
8. Pasque flower
Hoorah for a plant whose decline is even greater than its rise. Yes, of course I love those dusky flowers it produces in April, but I adore the sea of silky seedheads that fly up once the flowers have fallen. Oh yes, you need a tapestry of pasque flowers in your garden, you really do.
9. Summer snowflake
This is a classy plant whose bulbs you could cram into a stocking. But the glamour of these tiffany-lamp flowers demands something a little grander: I’d almost be tempted to wrap them up in an enormous box and declare them the star present. Here’s why they are so fabulous.
10. White forsythia
Image by Sharon.
No-one can accuse you of being a boring present-giver if you produce one of these marvellous shrubs. Just think of how beautiful these white flowers will look, and how well they will stand out in a street full of ubiquitous lamp-yellow forsythia. Let us charm you into buying one.
We want your ideas for the best plants as presents. Let us know in the comments below.
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