The 14 Best Gifts for Plant Lovers We’d Buy Ourselves (2025)

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• The Ultimate Plant Parent Mug

  

  Photograph: Kat Merck

  Fellow

  Carter Wide Houseplants Mug

  Many WIRED reviewers swear by their Carter mugs—Boutayna Chokrane and coffee writer Matthew Korfhage, among them—and for good reason. They're stylish (especially the versions from Fellow's Artist Series), the lip is perfectly thin to avoid spills, hot drinks stay hot all day, and the wide mouth is made to fit an Aeropress. The only caveat is that this wide version won't fit in a car's cupholder, so it's best as a mug for walking … preferably to a plant store, which is appropriate, as the mug's designer, artist Charlie Wagers, is himself part-time owner of a plant shop in Pittsburgh.

• A Plant That Lasts Forever

  

  Photograph: LEGO

  Lego

  Icons Succulents Building Kit

  Though this completed Lego set takes up valuable shelf or table real estate that could be open for plants, it could provide a cheery pop of color for a dark corner or area where plants might not thrive. My household has both this succulent kit and the bonsai tree ($50), which features seasonal blossoms.

• A Stylish Propagation Station

  

  Photograph: Kat Merck

  Mkono

  Plant Propagation Tubes

  Propagation tubes as decor is not a new concept, but not everyone has the table or shelf space for the number of tubes they need. This hanging version comes in small, medium, or large sizes, as well as your choice of wood finishes. There's also a white version with colored tubes if your recipient wanted to hang it in front of a window for a stained-glass effect. (They may want to treat the tubes with hydrogen peroxide first to avoid algae growth.)

  Pair one with a gift certificate to Palmstreet, an online marketplace for live plants in the vein of Etsy or Poshmark. The app's a bit cumbersome, but I had a surprisingly great time buying mystery boxes of houseplant cuttings to fill my own propagation tubes. Unwrapping each cutting was its own gift—I had no idea what specimens I was going to get, some of which ended up being quite interesting and/or rare. (Boxes average about $15 to $25.)

• A Fun Puzzle

  

  Photograph: Kat Merck

  Cavanilli & Co.

  Cacti & Succulents Vintage Puzzle

  This 1,000-piece puzzle is based on a vintage botanical poster and not only looks great, it's super challenging with all the white space and similar-looking greens. The pieces come in a drawstring fabric bag inside the giftable tube-shaped container, and there's a small poster included to help with orientation. If succulents aren't your recipient's thing, Cavallini also makes similar vintage-inspired versions with houseplants, floral specimens, a flower garden, and wildflowers.

• Grow Your Own Mushrooms

  

  Courtesy of North Spore

  North Spore

  Organic Spray & Grow Mushroom Kit

  You have probably seen other brands' versions of this kit, but those are usually stored dehydrated and are only good for one fruiting, if you're lucky. North Spore's are shipped fresh, with an enclosed little squirt bottle for keeping moist (sorry), so they'll be good for multiple fruitings. My pink oyster mushroom block is about to have its third. Oyster mushrooms are typically the most beginner-friendly, and North Spore offers three different kinds—pink, golden, and blue, as well as trendy lion's mane if your recipient is a more experienced mycologist.

  Suppose your giftee loves growing mushrooms but has graduated to more challenging varieties. In that case, North Spore makes an automated monotub ($165) that can be paired with either substrate or the brand's fruiting blocks. It keeps the growing environment with the proper airflow and humidity, and I've grown so many mushrooms in mine that I've turned into a Crazy Mushroom Lady, leaving bags on neighbors' porches and chasing down acquaintances in the grocery store.

• A Decorative Indoor Trellis

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    Photograph: Kat Merck

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    Photograph: Kat Merck

  If your friend or loved one is supporting their vines or floppy houseplants with bendable moss poles or, worse, a jury-rigged ladder made out of duct-taped pencils (it was an emergency, OK?), treat them to one of these hand-finished, laser-cut plant supports. There are staked versions, modular versions, coasters, wall mounts, and even a paintable peperomia leaf. I tested two—one shaped like a monstera leaf and another like a palm—and both have held up well with floppy philodendrons and occasionally over-watered soil.

• For Your Recipient—and Their Plants

  

  Photograph: Lisa Wood Shapiro

  HoMedics

  Natura Small Plant Humidifier

  Humidity is essential for plants year-round, but particularly in winter. If your recipient lives in a dry environment, why not give them a double-duty gift—a humidifier with a planter in it! The Natura is made with recycled materials and FSC-certified bamboo, meaning the bamboo was harvested from responsibly managed forests.

  WIRED contributing reviewer Lisa Wood Shapiro tested it for our guide to the Best Humidifiers and liked that it could be filled either from the top or from the side, and that the mist spout could be rotated for customized spray directions.

• A Lucky Jade

  

  Photograph: Kat Merck

  We love Urban Stems' flower delivery, but it turns out the brand also offers a selection of plant gifts that ship in just a couple of days. The Good Omen consists of a small jade succulent—thought to attract wealth and prosperity according to feng shui principles, due to its coin-shaped leaves—in an elephant-shaped planter. (Elephants are also considered good luck in many cultures.)

  It comes very carefully wrapped in stiff cardboard and foam, and the vintage-inspired, off-white planter looks even better in person than it does online. If the stems look a little mashed at first, not to worry—it will perk up in about a week. If your recipient already has a jade, Urban Stems offers orchids, bromeliads, ZZs, and more.

• A Tabletop Grow House

  

  Photograph: Kat Merck

  Ferry-Morse

  Modern Indoor Bamboo LED Growhouse

  Whether your recipient is an indoor or outdoor gardener, odds are they have some plants, seeds, or starts that could use some extra light. This easy-to-assemble grow box is a critical part of my gardening life—it features three LED light strips at the top with a timer and varied light-intensity settings.

  It's designed to fit Ferry-Morse's seed-starting trays, but it's also great for houseplant cuttings, starts, and any of the other myriad projects plant people often have going.

• Grow Your Own Herbs

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    Courtesy of Auk

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    Photograph: Kat Merck

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    Photograph: Kat Merck

  I test a lot of indoor hydroponic gardens, and this stylish little planter (read our full review here) hits the sweet spot of success and ease of use. You can grow whatever you want in the coco coir pots, which are slotted on the bottom so the roots can reach the reservoir below. When the water is empty, a handy dial on the side with a series of white shows a red dot. Fill it back up with water and the included nutrients, and the dial rolls back to the first white dot.

  I wouldn't grow anything other than herbs in here due to the light bar height (there's supposedly a setting for tomatoes and peppers, but in my experience, the yields won't be worth it in a garden of this size), but herbs it indeed does well. (It comes with basil and parsley.)

• Grow and Then Chop Your Own Herbs

  

  Photograph: Kat Merck

  John Boos

  Herb Enthusiast Gift Pack

  If you know someone who's interested in growing culinary herbs but doesn't want to commit to a full garden setup, this gift set from cutting board maker John Boos & Co. could be the ticket. It includes three Kratky method hydroponic herb-growing kits—rosemary, cilantro, and basil—along with a harvest strip tool that I loved so much I would give it as a gift on its own, a 17 x 12 x 1-inch Boos Block walnut cutting board, and a burlap farmers market bag. I admit I wasn't sure what to expect from the disconcertingly simple mason-jar herb kits, which are from Modern Sprout, but mine are all growing successfully in a sunny kitchen window.

• A Mail-Order Fruit Tree

  

  Photograph: Via Citrus

  A favorite from our guide to the Best Flower Delivery Services, Via Citrus sends miniature fruit trees in a pot about the size of a flower bouquet. Options include Meyer lemon, kumquat, and calamondin orange. WIRED reviewer Nena Farrell received the calamondin last year, which was in bloom when it arrived, and she reported it smelled great the minute she unboxed it. It eventually did fruit, and is still alive and well on her patio a year later. (They can grow indoors or outdoors.)

• For Making Compost Indoors

  

  Photograph: Kat Merck

  Reencle

  Prime Electric Composter

  As seen in our guide to the Best Kitchen Composters, the Reencle Prime doesn't fully make ready-to-use compost, but it comes the closest out of any of the major brands. It functions a lot like a heated trash can—just throw your kitchen scraps in, and microbes will break them down over time into a sort of loamy mixture. When the volume of the Prime reaches the fill line, the mixture can be scooped out and added at a 1:4 ratio with potting soil, then left to cure for three weeks. After this, it can be used for both outdoor and indoor plants. Not only will it free up space in your giftee's trash can and cut down on dangerous greenhouse gas production, it will make their plants happy.

• A Splurge Showpiece

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    Photograph: Kat Merck

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    Photograph: Kat Merck

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    Courtesy of Gardyn

  Gardyn

  Indoor Hydroponic Garden

  This is my favorite indoor hydroponic garden. (Read my full review here.) It's pricey, and it's a pain to clean when it's time to turn over your plants, but the vertical tube design and front-mounted light bar allow the plants to grow as tall or as wide as they need to, resulting in something that looks more like a living art piece than a vegetable garden. (In just 2 square feet!) An optional subscription plan allows for guided growing through “Kelby,” an AI gardening assistant who tells you when to add water and nutrients and trim roots, and can even compile a cool time-lapse video of your current growth cycle. Gardyn just released an updated version of its smaller Studio model, the Studio 2, which has all the features of the larger garden but with half the plants, for $350 less.