A plant is one of the few Christmas gifts still in the room next December, and in Australia it arrives at the right time of year to go straight outside. The difficulty is choosing well. A gift plant has to survive an unfamiliar house, an owner who may not garden, and a January of travel and neglect. This guide sorts the options by budget and by recipient, including the honest answer for someone who has killed everything they have ever owned, and finishes with the ordering timing that matters for a nationally shipped gift.
Quick facts
| Recipient | Best gift | Why it works | Care needed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kills every plant | Snake plant or jade | Stores water in its leaves, forgives neglect | Water monthly |
| Small flat or balcony | Devil's ivy or peace lily | Thrives in low light, no floor space needed | Water weekly |
| Keen cook | Potted citrus, bay or rosemary | Productive, lives for decades | Full sun, water twice weekly |
| New home owner | Advanced feature tree | Instant structure in a bare garden | Deep water through first summer |
| Established gardener | Fragrant shrub or unusual succulent | Something they would not buy themselves | Varies |
| Office or colleague | Cast iron plant or aglaonema | Survives holidays and air conditioning | Water fortnightly |
Choosing the right plant gift
By budget
Price tracks pot size more than it tracks species, which is useful to know when shopping. Small potted plants start under thirty dollars and cover most indoor gifts and herbs. The middle band, roughly thirty to a hundred dollars, buys a well-grown indoor specimen, a potted citrus or a decent flowering shrub, and it is where most Christmas gifts land. Above that you are buying advanced stock: a semi-mature feature tree or a large indoor palm that reads as a serious present. Browse garden plants under a thousand dollars if you want to work within a ceiling.
For the person who kills everything
This is the most common brief and the easiest to get wrong, because the usual answer is a plant that is merely tough rather than one that is tough in the specific way that matters. What kills gift plants is overwatering, not neglect. Give something that stores its own water: a snake plant, a jade plant, or a blue chalk sticks for a sunny balcony. Write the watering interval on the card, because a monthly reminder is worth more than any plant label. Our guides to growing blue chalksticks and succulents in Australia are worth including with the gift.
Indoor plants and arrangements
A peace lily is the best gift for someone new to plants, because it wilts visibly when thirsty and recovers within hours, teaching the lesson without any casualties. Devil's ivy suits a shelf or the top of a kitchen cupboard. For a small arrangement, a shallow bowl of mixed succulents in a gritty mix looks considered and asks almost nothing; see indoor plants for every room for placing them once they arrive.
Edible and productive gifts
A potted Meyer lemon is the gift that keeps producing for twenty years and needs nothing more exotic than full sun and consistent water. Growing citrus in your Aussie backyard pairs well with it. Bay and rosemary both make good long-lived pot plants for a cook and tolerate a hot courtyard.
Fragrant and sustainable gifts
A living plant is the low-waste alternative to almost every conventional gift, and a fragrant shrub is the version people remember. French lavender flowers for most of the year in warm districts, and a gardenia in a pot by a door perfumes an entire entry. Our guide to the most fragrant plants for Australian gardens covers the wider range.
How to plant
Most gift plants arrive in a nursery pot and can stay in it for months, but they present far better potted up. Choose a container two to four centimetres wider than the nursery pot for indoor plants, or 50 to 100 millimetres wider for outdoor stock, and make sure it has drainage holes. Use a premium potting mix, or a cacti and succulent mix for anything succulent.
Set the plant at the depth it grew in its nursery pot, firm gently, and water thoroughly until water runs from the base. If the gift is going under a tree on Christmas morning, water it the day before rather than the day of, so it is neither dry nor dripping.
Ongoing care
Watering
Give the recipient one instruction rather than five. For succulents and snake plants, water once a month in summer and less in winter. For peace lilies and devil's ivy, check weekly with a finger and water when the mix is dry two centimetres down. For potted citrus and herbs outdoors in an Australian summer, expect to water every second day.
Feeding
Nothing for the first two months; a gift plant arrives with fertiliser already in its mix. After that, a controlled-release fertiliser in early spring covers most plants for the year. Potted citrus is the exception and wants feeding in spring and again in late summer.
Pruning
Remove spent flowers and yellow leaves as they appear. Tip-prune lavender and rosemary after each flush, never cutting back into bare wood, since neither reshoots from it. Trim devil's ivy to a leaf node to encourage branching, and use the cuttings to make more plants.
Common problems and fixes
The most common failure with a gift plant is a decorative pot with no drainage hole. Water collects invisibly in the base and the roots rot within weeks. If the pot is sealed, keep the plant in its nursery pot and use the decorative one as a cover, tipping out any water that collects.
Leaf drop in the first fortnight is usually a response to the move rather than a problem; keep conditions steady and it settles. Yellow lower leaves on an indoor gift plant mean too much water, not too little. A plant that arrives with foliage marked from transit will grow out of it in a season, so remove the worst leaves and leave the rest alone.
When to order for Christmas
Plants are heavier and more perishable than most parcels, so order earlier than you would for anything else. Aim to have gifts ordered by late November if they are travelling interstate, and allow extra days for Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Tasmania, where transit times are longest and quarantine requirements can apply to some plant material. Ordering early also means a plant arrives with time to settle and recover before it is wrapped. Current cut-off dates and delivery times for each state are on our delivery page.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best plant to give someone who is not a gardener?
A snake plant. It tolerates low light, dry air and monthly watering, and it looks identical a year later. A jade plant is the equivalent for someone with a sunny windowsill.
Can plants be sent interstate as gifts in Australia?
Yes, though some states restrict particular plant types and soil movement, and transit times to Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Tasmania are longer. Order by late November for interstate Christmas delivery.
What is a good plant gift under fifty dollars?
A small potted snake plant, devil's ivy, jade, peace lily or a potted herb such as rosemary or bay. Price is driven mostly by pot size, so a smaller pot of a good species beats a large pot of a poor one.
Are plant gifts a good idea for someone in a rental?
They are among the best, because pots move with the tenant. Stick to indoor plants and potted shrubs rather than anything intended for the ground.
Which Christmas plant gifts are safe around pets?
Lady palm, cast iron plant, peperomia, calathea, rosemary and bay are all non-toxic. Avoid peace lily, devil's ivy, philodendron and poinsettia in a household with a dog or cat that chews.
Ready to plant?
Order early and the plant arrives settled rather than stressed. Our house and indoor plants range covers the indoor gifts in this guide, and succulents and cacti is the place to look for anyone who forgets to water. If a tree is part of the plan, our guide to Christmas tree care in Australia covers living and potted options.
