When it comes to gifts for gardeners, most people turn to boring old favourites – bendy trowels, floral kneelers and gloomy arrangements of air plants. Here are a few more creative suggestions, with prices ranging from free to outrageous.

Truffle-inoculated trees

The price of white truffles fell 84 per cent this autumn but the more common Burgundy truffles seem to be holding their own at £280 a kilo, making them an excellent bet for the garden futures market. A £20 outlay on a seedling oak or hazel inoculated with Burgundy truffle spores (pictured right) may produce truffles in four to six years, according to Mike Collison of Trees to Grow. Alternatively a mini-truffle-orchard of five inoculated trees costs £89.99. Shipping to the US can be negotiated on orders of more than 20 trees. www.treestogrow.co.uk

Wind harps

Eerie Aeolian harp music makes a suitable signature tune for these uncertain times. Ornate wrought iron or copper Aeolian harps, producing a celestial sound and priced from $440, are made by Mohican Wind Harps in Ohio. www.mohicanwindharps.com

Domes

No self-respecting summer house should be without a dome (pictured left). One framed in lead-coated copper and made by Tanglewood Conservatories in Maryland, is reassuringly expensive at around $350,000 and can be shipped anywhere in the world. www.tanglewoodconservatories.com

Gardening gloves

I find gardening gloves cumbersome and prefer bare-handed gardening. Foxgloves, pictured right, however, provide a chic solution (their limited edition style is almost elbow length) in red, blue, moss or green Supplex nylon and Lycra spandex. They are machine washable and cost from £17.50. www.foxglovesinc.com

Books

Reading is a good way to while away the winter. In The Vertical Garden: In Nature and the City (North $66), Patrick Blanc reveals how he has been softening the hard hearts of our cities since 1988, when he created a green wall for Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie in Paris. Also highly recommended is Elizabeth in the Garden: A Story of Love, Rivalry and Spectacular Design, left, by Trea Martyn (Faber £18.99), a captivating story of court intrigue played out in fabulous gardens that were designed to impress the outdoor-loving queen.

Tyre swings

Elizabeth’s equestrian enthusiasm can be celebrated with an eco-toy – a horse-shaped swing made from recycled tyres and designed to hang from a tree, pictured right. Available through Sand Edge in the UK, it costs £69.99. www.sandedge.com

Bridges

Some of the prettiest come from Coulson’s Bridges in Suffolk (pictured left). There are cheaper and more prosaic ways to link one garden area to the next but these masterpieces are beautiful, functional and available worldwide. Prices from £1,000 to around £7,000. www.coulsonsbridges.co.uk

Tools

While junior plays, parents might appreciate a Spork, a combination of a trowel and a fork. This sturdy hand tool slices into the earth for swift weeding and costs only £19.50 from www.spork-finestgardentools.com

Flower vase discs

A more modest but ingenious gift comes in the form of a small, everlasting metal disc (pictured right) that prevents the familiar stench of rotting vegetable from developing in vases of cut flowers when the water is left for more than a day or so. It also sees off pond algae. The cost is £9.95 per disc through Aqua Midas and delivery is free worldwide. www.aquamidas.com

RHS membership

Another easily shippable present is membership (pictured, top) to the Royal Horticultural Society at £49 for UK residents, £52 for continental Europeans and £57 for other parts of the world. This buys a year’s subscription to the society’s magazine, RHS seed, horticultural advice and free or discounted tickets to RHS shows, including the Chelsea Flower Show. www.rhs.org.uk

Vegetable seeds

Every year Chelsea has a theme. A few years ago it was “drought gardening”, which unleashed a very wet show. I’m hoping the theme for 2009 will be “recession gardening”, which should get the economy going faster than the government’s tax tickles. All the same, credit-crunch-hit friends may appreciate selections of vegetable seed, pictured left, from Thompson & Morgan to keep them fed next year. Try Prince Charles’s Duchy Originals range of organic seed (from £1.99). www.thompson-morgan.com

Special roses

At this year’s Chelsea, I fell in love with Young Lycidas. He is strongly scented, deep pink and one of the new roses for 2008 from David Austin. Sadly, he is not yet available outside the UK but the company offers exquisite alternatives, such as Benjamin Britten (pictured right), to buyers in other countries. Prices from £14.95 or $19.95. www.davidaustinroses.com

Bangladeshi floating garden

For a worthy present I can think of nothing better than a floating garden to help Bangladeshi farmers continue to grow food during monsoon floods. The gardens are made from rafts of water hyacinth covered in soil and dung, which, in turn, support crops. Bought through Practical Action, £31 funds the materials for one garden. www.practicalaction.org

Swap site

Finally, for those who are embracing the credit crunch by having a no-spend Christmas: a plant swap website lets gardeners swap excess seed and plants for free. www.plantsreunited.co.uk

Robin Lane Fox will return next week