How to Give Potted Plants for Mother's Day

Potted plants can be great alternatives to cut flowers for Mother's Day because they last longer and can provide delight for months or even years. Potted plants also help to keep air cleaner, humidify rooms and increase levels of well being. That's quite a Mother's Day gift.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Pot
• Ribbon
• Mother's Day card

1. Go to a gardening center, a large hardware store with a gardening section or a florist to choose your plant.
2. Pick a potted plant that is low maintenance if your mom is away from home frequently or lacks the time or inclination to spend caring for plants. Some good indoor choices in this situation are hydrangeas, philodendrons, indoor palms and aloe. Excellent and very hardy outdoor choices include rosemary and lavender.
3. Choose a pot for the potted plant. Unless you buy a plant already potted in an attractive vase, it will be housed in a green plastic tub that is meant to be temporary. Select a pot that looks attractive - plain terracotta pots are suitable and affordable, and either repot the plant yourself or give both the plant and the pot to your mother.
4. Include a small bag of potting soil to fill up the new container. Ask a store representative which type of soil is best for the potted plant you've chosen.
5. Place the plant on the floor of the car where it won't tip. The passenger foot area is a good place to try. If you have a box to keep the plant upright, use that instead.
6. Wrap a ribbon around its plastic container or pot. Tuck one corner of your Mother's Day card between the ribbon and the container. Also, dampen the soil before giving the plant if it has become dry and crumbly to the touch.

Tips & Warnings

• Give your mom the plant with the small, plastic care tag still sticking up out of the soil. These tags contain all of the information needed to care for the plant, and avid gardeners often leave these tags in for the lives of their plants.
• Ask your mom whether she has any allergies before you give flowering indoor plants, such as geraniums. Such plants can produce irritating allergic reactions.