Mother’s Day - How to Make Your Plants the Perfect Pick-Me-Ups

It’s always encouraging to see young children choosing something for their mum on Mother’s Day, and plants are ideal gifts – why? Well, where children may be unmoved by large flowery hand-tieds or floral arrangements, what will attract them is anything compact, bright and colourful, especially if they are easy for small hands to carry. Plants have the extra attraction of being something that can be nurtured and grown.  So, what are the points to bear in mind when making your Mother’s Day plant display child friendly? 

Colour  

Adults may traditionally link blue with boys and pink for girls, but just a brief look round the children’s toy section in any retailer and it’s obvious that there is no room for subtlety here.  There are plenty of strong, primary colours, distinct patterns, the showier the better.  This is the time to contrast yellow with pink, blue with red or put together bold blocks of one solid, cheerful colour.

Containers  

Plant pots such as colourful buckets or quirky containers will grab children’s attention. They are also drawn to simple, recognisable shapes, for example when they draw a flower it will almost always be a daisy. Stock up on mini gerbera plants and Polyanthus which both fulfil the open flowered, daisy criteria. 

Keeping the price competitive 

Not all plants need to be in pots. If you want to keep prices low and still keep plants attractive then colourful, imaginative wrapping is the answer. And if the paper and cello used is biodegradable, then even better. Don’t forget to add a tag so that children can write their own message. Choose a selection of gift-wrapped mini plants that will keep your plant range pocket money friendly. 

Child friendly plants 

Bromeliads are fascinating to look at and care for, and Cacti and Succulents are always a popular choice. Also easy to look after, (you don’t want their plant to die within the first week) Kalanchoe and any flowering bulb such as Tulip, Narcissus or Muscari which can be replanted in the garden afterwards.  

They don’t have to be all flowering, add green plants such as Chlorophytum (Spider Plant)to your range, these produce ‘spiderlettes’ which can be carefully removed and potted on, hopefully starting off a whole new generation of plant lovers. 

Images FCH 

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Su Whale is a florist and freelance writer with over twenty-five years' experience in the floristry industry. She is the author and publisher of three best-selling books: Cut Flowers, 4th edition (2020) Cut Foliage, 2nd Edition, (2021) and Houseplants (2019), all bookshelf essentials for the professional florist.