Flowers used to be the traditional Mother’s Day gift – beautiful, thoughtful and readily available (with the bonus of being something you can order quickly online or over the phone when the date may have slipped your mind!).
However, environmentally conscious sons and daughters are increasingly turning to actual plants to show their mothers how much they care – some kiwi businesses have reported up to a 40% jump in plant sales for Mother’s Day 2016.
Increasingly, people are looking to give a gift that lasts longer than a few days, and one which has long term benefits. House plants help clean the air, and fruit or vegetable plants will add to your mother’s table for months or years to come. Plants are the gift that keeps giving! They are less susceptible to fashion trends and are generally more cost effective than cut flowers.
The floral industry is still big business, but has come under increasing pressure to reduce the amount of chemicals used to keep flowers fresh, and to cut back on the packaging and cellophane used to wrap them.
However, if you have beautiful flowers in your own garden, a hand picked bouquet makes a fantastic gift, and is often memorably fragranced. There’s little more endearing than when small children are left to their own floral devices – they come up with incredibly interesting arrangements, and they love being able to give a gift they have created.
Mother’s Day needn’t be about huge commercial gestures, it is simply a great opportunity to acknowledge the love and time your mother has invested in you. Be it a plant, a bunch of flowers or a phone call, Mums deserve to be appreciated.