The COVID-19 pandemic forced us to become more creative: creative with how we take care of ourselves, how we spend our time and who we spend it with. As the winter looms large, these tasks are bound to become increasingly challenging. Now it’s time to get creative with local gift giving.
Gardening, a new quarantine hobby for many, is winding down for the season, but that shouldn’t stop you from gifting your loved ones plant-related gifts. Whether it be houseplants, other home decor or the occasional odds and ends, these local stores have you covered for the holiday season.
Down to Earth
Nestled just three blocks west of Fifth Street Market sits Down to Earth, a home-and-garden shop brimming with gift options. Here are a few spots to focus your attention among the bountiful selections.
Like all good home-and-garden stores, Down to Earth boasts a variety of house plants. Maybe you’re looking for a leafy green four-foot-tall cane plant to anchor an already homey living room. Or perhaps you want something on the smaller end, a cactus, maybe, or even an air plant — those peculiar plants that require no soil or water to grow as they hang elegantly from the ceiling in glass pots. Whatever you choose, be sure to check out the plentiful potting options.
Down to Earth also offers nifty kitchen gifts such as ornate wooden cutting boards, cast-iron skillets and pans, and a dizzying array of colorful cutlery and eatery.
For those wishing to avoid potentially crowded indoor spaces, Down to Earth also offers an outdoor nursery right next door, which gives shoppers good airflow. You can also order online at DowntoEarthEugene.com for curbside pickup.
Down to Earth, 532 Olive Street, is open from 10 am to 6 pm daily.
Gray’s Garden Center
If you’re set on flowers or outdoor plants, Gray’s Garden Center is the nursery for you.
If you’re worried about the weather, don’t be. Gray’s inventory changes through the year to help ensure every plant you purchase fits the seasonal rotation.
Gray’s receives a fresh shipment of flowers daily, making for great bouquets. The best part? Through an on-site collaboration with Reed & Cross Floral, each order of flowers includes local same-day, contactless delivery. You can order online at GraysGardens.com.
The nursery provides a long list of gift options. Hanging baskets, ground covers, ferns and grasses, fruits and vegetables, seeds and bulbs and more.
The Eugene branch, 737 W. 6th Avenue, is open from 9 am to 6 pm Monday through Saturday and 10 am to 5 pm on Sundays. The Springfield branch, 4489 Main Street, is open 9 am to 5 pm every day except 10 am to 5 pm on Sundays.
Stingray Botanicals
A recent addition to Eugene, Stingray Botanicals can bolster any indoor garden or plant collection. The store is simple and inviting, always surrounding the customer with a wealth of house plant options.
Stingray offers a unique selection of house plants. The name is fitting as the store sells plants you’d expect to find in an indoor botanical garden; large palm-like plants and deep-colored cacti define the collection.
Lacking an outdoor nursery, Stingray Botanicals vows online to take the utmost precautions surrounding COVID-19. “Since day one, we’ve been regularly cleaning high contact areas such as the POS touch screen in between customers,” reads a web update from the business.
Stingray offers hand sanitizer to everyone who enters and exits and ensures every employee wears a mask. They also provide masks for shoppers who may not have one. ν
Stingray Botanicals, 2490 Willamette Street, Suite 3, is open from 11 am to 6 pm Wednesdays through Sundays.
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