Ostensibly, plant lovers and gardeners should be the easiest people to shop for. Just get them a plant, right?

Wrong. (Well, most of the time.) I review indoor hydroponic gardens for WIRED and have been a proud plant parent for almost 30 years, so I can say that even if you have a running mental catalog of all your recipients' plants and know which ones they don't yet have, you may not know what they have space for, or what they're looking to switch up to this gardening season.

In general, the best gifts are ones that work with the plants and garden they already have, or that help them care for them.…