What to give a gardener? Not a dirt-scented candle.

It’s gift guide time, and I consider it a public service to filter through the best and worst the internet has to offer when you type in “gift ideas for gardeners.” It’s my job to save you from misguided attempts at shopping for gardeners, which you may recall from a few years ago once included a one guide’s recommendation of $50 dirt-scented candle.

To be clear, most gardeners want two things — free labor in the garden for weed pulling, hole digging and wheelbarrow pushing or dump truck full of gorgeous compost. But if you’re not able to or interested in providing either of those, here are a few suggestions that should be better received than the floral bedsheets recommended by the New York Times’ Wirecutter product review website.

Gardeners are a practical bunch. They want hard-working tools that will last. They’ll need a good spade, proper digging fork and sharp hoe with a long handle. The best ones will be found at garden centers or online from manufacturers like DeWitt and Sneeboer. 

Of those three tools, many gardeners might be lacking the hoe because it’s not an obvious must-have tool, but once you use one, it quickly becomes clear just how useful it is. A hoe that works on both the push and pull strokes is a fine tool. Sneeboer’s Royal Dutch hoe is my personal favorite, but any design with a blade sharpened on the front and back that glides just below the surface of the soil will make quick work of weed seedlings. Just make sure that it has a handle that is long enough that it can be used standing straight up.

If you know a gardener, you know a person who has lost at least a couple tools in the garden, possibly for years. A holster that can hold hand pruners and one other tool, perhaps a soil knife or another small weeding tool, can minimize the occurrences of missing tools. A holster that slips onto a separate leather belt is the most adaptable to a variety of gardening outfits.

Gardeners like to learn about gardening when they can’t be doing it, so books and magazine subscriptions are both safe gifting bets. “Martha Stewart’s Gardening Handbook” offers 368 pages of inspiration and practical information that should appeal to a wide range of skill levels. 

My go-to book to give to gardeners is “The Well-Tended Perennial Garden” by Tracy Disabato-Aust. Now on the third edition, it’s a practical maintenance guide for anyone trying to make sense of how to keep a garden looking good.

If you want to lean into the pretty side of garden gifts, avoid the sheets, candles and hand lotion and think pottery. A beautiful pot to plant in or vase to display flowers from the garden will never go unappreciated. Cambridge, Wis., potter Peter Jackson’s Wakefield Handmade pots and vases are collection worthy, but any piece with a little personality will be put to good use by the gardener in your life.

Now if you happen to be attending a garden-themed white elephant gift exchange, I have the perfect suggestion: That dirt-scented candle was such a hit, there are now several of them on the market.