For the 2009 holiday season give gardeners practical things they can use. Here are some ideas.

You can never go wrong with plants and seeds. Brent and Becky’s Bulbs have been in business for nearly 110 years. This company sells top quality bulbs and plants. They issue a spring and fall catalog. In addition to bulbs, they also sell some perennials as well. For those who garden in warm climates, the pre-cooled spring flowering bulbs are a great choice. The pre-cooled bulb choices include tulips, crocus, hyacinths, windflowers, and others.

Renee’s Garden Seeds are available year-round at independent garden centers and online. These are premium quality seeds in packets beautifully decorated with watercolors. There are complete planting instructions on each seed packet. For gifts, I recommend Renee’s seed collections. Among the choices are numerous herb, flower, and vegetable collections. I particularly like the Heirloom Cottage Garden Collection and the Fragrance Garden Collection. Each collection features five kinds of seeds.

Houseplants and flowering pot plants make very suitable gifts. For the most part, these are sold in plain plastic containers. For that reason, I recommend dressing them up with an attractive cache pot or pot wrap. The Fabric Pots are one possibility. You can also use a piece of burlap or other fabric as a wrap. Secure the wrapping in place with a ribbon.

For very special gifts, consider topiaries. These are trained and pruned in all sorts of fanciful shapes. A number of different species are trained as topiary, particularly ivy.

For stocking stuffers and last minute gardening gifts, keep some of the Galison stationery items around. Galison has added many new items for 2009 that will have special appeal to gardeners.

The Forest Cardinals Sticky Notes are just perfect for gardeners. These show whimsical cardinals perched on various kinds of evergreen trees. The set features 480 decorated sticky notes in assorted sizes. These come in a handsome portfolio.

The Forest Cardinal line also includes Mini Journals. These have an elastic closure and feature 160 lined pages. The Forest Cardinals Memo Mousepad makes a perfect gift. Compared to grubby synthetic mouse pads, this is so attractive and fun to use. It’s a memo pad and foam mousepad all in one. The memo pad has 60 memo sheets.

The lovely set of Forest Cardinals Social Notes comes in a beautifully decorated box with a magnetic closure. The set includes 20 flat cards in two designs with 20 color coordinated envelopes.

Other suitable gift choices from Galison include the Flip Top Notecards. These come in an attractively decorated flip top box. The set features 12 tri-fold notecards and 13 color-matched envelopes. When the sturdy box is empty, it can be used for storing small items, such as paper clips.

Galison has other new garden-themed note cards, such as the Henry Road and Cherry Blossom Thank You Notes. The set features 12 note cards and 13 color-matched envelopes.

For the home office and desktop, Galison has a lovely business card holder that would be perfect for gardeners. This is a new fall 2009 item. With alphabetized tabs, it contains 130 blank cards. It holds standard card refills. Die cut slits hold the cards securely in place. The garden-themed designs include Midnight Bloom, Henry Road, and William Morris Petals and Vines.