3 Gifts you can make for your garden-loving mom
Nothing says loving care like making a gift for someone. With Mother’s Day drawing near, why not stick your hands into making a gift your garden-loving mom would appreciate having in her home.
There are garden-loving moms that adore perfume, others are simply suckers for nature and some appreciate art with all their heart. Here we suggest some supplies and steps you can follow to create something out of the ordinary for your ‘ma’ this Mother’s Day. Something so “sweet”, and that will certainly outlive a box of chocolates.
Hydroponic flowers for the scent-sational mom
If your mom is a lover of the finest perfumes, why not spoil her with a hydroponic hyacinth display, it looks elegant and emits the most mesmerizing fragrance. Perfect for a mom as fabulous as yours!
It will spend the weeks after she receives it growing more beautiful and developing an invigorating perfume that will be well worth the wait.
Difficulty to make: extremely easy
What you’ll need:
- A glass vessel in your preferred size
- Small pebbles
- Hyacinth bulbs (quantity will vary on your vessel size and quantity)
- Water
- Chrysal Flower Food
Step 1 Gather all your materials and place them on your preferred surface to work on.
Step 2 Fill your vessel with the pebbles to your desired level.
Step 3 Add water and keep filling the vessel until it is slightly under the top surface of the pebbles.
Step 4 Add Chrysal Flower Food to the water to ensure optimal growth and flowering.
Step 5 Place your hyacinth bulb or bulbs on top of the pebbles so that the roots from the base of the bulb will grow into the water. The bulb itself must not touch the water.
Step 6 Wash your hands as handling hyacinths can cause skin irritation.
Step 7 Place your display in a cool, full shade spot and keep an eye on the water level by topping it up as it drops, ensuring healthy root formation.
Step 8 Once you notice a few centimetres of growth you can provide your display with morning sun.
Step 9 When you’re ready you can give your thoughtfully made gift to your mom with the care advice you have received. The display can be brought indoors when it flowers.
Air plant in recycled glass for the eco-warrior mama
Difficulty to make: easy
What you’ll need:
- One repurposed or recycled glass vessel, washed and dried
- Pebbles
- 1 - 2 air plants of your choice
- Spanish moss (optional)
- Twine (optional)
- Spray bottle
- Water
- Scissors
- Air plant food
Step 1 Prepare all your materials and place them on a flat surface to work on.
Step 2 Take your cleaned glass vessel and fill it with your desired amount of pebbles.
Step 3 Add a layer of spanish moss on top of the pebbles.
Step 4 Place your air plants on top of the spanish moss.
Step 5 Cut a piece of twine to the size of your liking to wrap around the mouth of the jar.
Step 6 Fill a spray bottle with water and air plant food and give them a gentle misting.
Step 7 Place your air plant display in a spot where it will receive sufficient indirect light until you present it to your mom.
Kokedama for the artistic mother
Kokedama is an old Japanese art form that makes for an exquisite gift. You can create a kokedama ball with a variety of plants, such as Anthurium, succulents, orchids or ferns - the plant list goes on. We suggest going with one that your mom loves best.
Difficulty to make: moderate
What you’ll need:
- Pokon – Coco Growing Medium
- Bonsai soil
- Sphagnum moss
- Suitable plant of your choice
- Water
- Scissors
- Pokon Universal Plant Food
- Twine
- Spray bottle
- Refuse bags or similar to work on
Step 1 Spread out your refuse bag - this will be your work surface - and combine coco growing medium and bonsai soil in a 7:3 ratio. Carefully add water and mix until it reaches a consistency to form a soil ball that stays together and is about the size of a grapefruit.This will be your base.
Step 2 Soak the sphagnum moss in water until it's damp, then rinse.
Step 3 Next, take your chosen plant and clean the soil from the roots.
Step 4 Use the damp sphagnum moss to wrap the roots and bind the plant with twine.
Step 5 Insert it into the soil ball.
Step 6 Finish it in sheet moss, with more twine to secure it, then spritz with water.
Step 7 Hang it in a semi-shady spot in your home.
Step 8 When the ball feels light, it is time to be watered. Soak the ball in a bowl of room-temperature water for about 10 minutes. Then transfer the ball to a colander for a few minutes to allow it to drain off any excess water. When the ball no longer drips, it's ready to be hung in its happy spot in your home until it reaches its new one with your mom.
Step 9 Once a month, fertilise your plant with a liquid fertiliser to give it the nutrients it needs.
If you think one of these ideas will work brilliantly, start now, gather your supplies and experience the joy that comes with making a gift for your dear mother.