Does the gardener in your life need new and better tools? The holidays are coming. malialeon/Shutterstock

Now that we’ve finished our yard work, it’s time to shop for gifts for the gardeners in our lives.

Everyone needs more light in their life. This is especially true during the dark days of winter when we wake up before the sun rises and by the time we reach for our before-dinner glass of wine, it’s already pitch dark outside. Garden lighting can be convenient and inexpensive, and fortunately it’s become a lot simpler over the decades.

Sometime in the 1980s, when we’d been living in our home for less than a decade, we lit up the garden. In those days, you had to bury low-voltage wiring and buy special light fixtures. It was a lot of work and the lighting fixtures never lasted long, and not just because I occasionally cut the wire while digging in the garden. Luckily, inexpensive solar lights changed all that. Today, there’s no need to bury wires, and the lights are easy to install.

Consider a gift of lights in the garden, like these solar lights along a garden path. George Trumpeter/Shutterstock

Garden lighting serves many purposes. Ground-level lights can mark the edges of paths or where the garden meets the lawn. If you’d like to illuminate a specially attractive plant, you can find light systems that will do that. You can drape a string of lights along a tree’s branches. There are no rules.

There are plenty of gift options for indoor lighting, too. Last year, I was given a grow light from Temu that helps houseplants thrive. Most houseplants are really tropical plants and even if placed in a south-facing window, they may not get enough light to flourish. My Temu light is adjustable; I can choose how long it stays on, how bright the light is and the range of the light spectrum I want.

Loads of indoor and outdoor garden lights are available, and I certainly haven’t tested them all. But one item I have tested a lot over the years is lawn rakes. About three years ago I found one that I really like: the True Temper clog-free rake. What makes this rake different from many others is that the plastic tines at the head of the rake connect, which prevents leaves, twigs, acorns and such from getting stuck between the tines. It saves a lot of time. And it is made in the United States. A rake is a gift to the environment, not just the recipient, as perhaps you can wean your gardening friend from their loud, polluting, climate change–contributing leaf blower.

When I mentioned to my wife, Nancy, that I planned to recommend this rake in my column, she said she would not be pleased to receive a lawn rake as a gift. Sometimes you have to give a gift to yourself.

All sorts of garden tools make good gifts.

Every gardener needs a hand pruner, useful for cutting flowers for bouquets and for pruning small branches. Felco produces excellent ones, but for a disorganized gardener like me, who loses three sets of hand pruners each year, they cost too much. Pinetree Garden Seeds in New Gloucester has a very good hand pruner for only $9.95. While it may not last as long as a Felco, you won’t feel as bad when you lose it.

For larger branches, a gardener needs loppers. I don’t have a favorite brand, but do have some advice: Make sure the handles extend, both to give you more leverage and to let you reach high branches.

A trowel is also essential. I like the Wilcox All Pro trowel. It’s made in the U.S. from stainless steel and is unbreakable. Though it comes in different lengths and styles, the standard 12-inch version works for me. If you give someone the model with the built-in ruler, the recipient will thank you when they’re planting bulbs next fall.

Those are just a few items. Walk around your local garden centers and peruse catalogs from Maine-based companies for other ideas. If you like something they’re offering, your gardening friends probably will, also.

Tom Atwell is a freelance writer gardening in Cape Elizabeth. He can be contacted at: tomatwell@me.com