As the holiday season kicks into full swing, the challenge of finding the perfect gift grows greater as the days pass.  If you’re trying to find something for the gardener or nature lover in your life, today’s trends include a long list of great choices.

Even the most experienced gardener with a shed full of tools will always appreciate new gloves, clogs, tub trugs or top-of-the-line pruners and other hand tools like Felcos, Fiskars or Coronas.  Built to last, gardeners don’t always buy these high quality tools for themselves, so they make great gifts. If you’ve got even more to spend, consider giving a garden cart, tiller, bird bath, or small fountain.  And, if you’re sure you won’t offend with a utilitarian gift, a lightweight, battery-operated blower makes taking care of leaves a breeze.

Today’s home décor trends bring the outdoors in.  Plants make wonderful gifts, especially indoor plants that perk up a house during winter.  Easy-care plants like bromeliads, dracaenas, pothos ivy, peperomia, ponytail palms and tillandsias (also known as air plants), grow well indoors.

An intriguing way to display plants, glass terrariums come in every shape and size. Add a few pieces of ephemera, like seashells you collected from the beach, pretty pebbles or colored glass, a few acorns, or chips of bark.  Whether you purchase one ready-made or put together a do-it-yourself kit for your gift recipient, these creative containers are sure to please. Last year, I was given such a kit, along with the book, Terrariums: Gardens Under Glass, by Maria Colletti, and I relished building my little glass piece of paradise. Other great books about creative indoor plant style include Indoor Plant Décor: The Design Stylebook for Houseplants by Kylee Baumle and Jenny Peterson, and Rooted in Design by Tara Heibel and Tassy de Give.

Finding homes for Tillandsias is even easier – they don’t need a pot or soil, just a periodic mist of water from a spray bottle.  Pretty glass plates, pieces of driftwood, shells, and stylish ceramic bowls all make wonderful vessels for Tillandsias that will match any décor. Drop a plant, a container and a small spray bottle into a gift bag, and voila – instant gift.

Cloches are another clever display option for indoor plants.  French for “bell,” cloches are glass bell-shaped jars that were used in 19th century France to place over plants during cool weather, acting as miniature greenhouses for individual plants.  Grouped together or arranged with other bottles or jars, plants inside cloches add a touch of style to coffee tables and shelves.

Other home décor items reflect today’s nature craze, too.  Home accessory shops are filled with vases, ceramic plates and bowls, wooden boxes, and trays made from natural products reflecting elements of nature.  Botanical prints and nature photographs fill the wall art departments.

Presenting someone with outdoor garden design books in the middle of winter is sure to inspire sweet garden dreams and plans for the spring.  A few of my favorites include Plant Driven Design by Scott Ogden and Lauren Springer Ogden, The Layered Garden by David Culp and Rob Cardillo, and Garden Up by Susan Morrison and Rebecca Sweet.  I’d love to curl up on a cold day with a cup of hot chocolate and these books and imagine what the spring will bring.

Whether you’re looking for something functional, decorative, or inspirational, the wide array of available choices this season will make shopping easier than ever.