About this product
Full description
The Burgon & Ball Flora & Fauna Trowel and Secateurs Gift Set is one of those genuinely lovely garden gifts that combines proper working tools with proper aesthetic considered — a beautifully boxed pair of hand tools in Burgon & Ball's RHS-endorsed Flora & Fauna design pattern, with all the build quality you'd expect from one of Britain's oldest toolmakers. At £33.99 for both tools beautifully presented, it sits properly at the considered-gift price point: substantial enough to feel important, accessible enough to give without endless deliberation.
From Sheffield toolmakers Burgon & Ball, who've been making proper garden tools since 1730. RHS-endorsed — chosen by the Royal Horticultural Society as one of their official recommended tools.
What's in the box
Two coordinated tools, properly presented:
- Bypass secateurs with high carbon steel blades for lasting sharpness, robust alloy handles, soft cushion grip for comfort. 10-year guarantee against manufacturing defects. Suitable for the everyday garden pruning work — rose stems, soft shrub growth, deadheading, light cutting
- Stainless steel trowel with a painted blue handle (in coordinating design). Engraved with the Gertrude Jekyll quote: "The love of gardening is a seed once sown, that never dies." — a properly thoughtful detail. Lifetime guarantee reflecting Burgon & Ball's confidence in the tool's build quality. Ideal for everyday digging, planting and soil work
- Coordinated gift box — ready to give. No additional wrapping needed
The two guarantees (10-year secateurs + lifetime trowel) are genuine selling points — this is kit that's expected to be in working use decades from now, not next year's replacement.
The Flora & Fauna design story
One of the genuinely lovely things about this set is the design provenance. The Flora & Fauna pattern was developed by Burgon & Ball in collaboration with the Royal Horticultural Society, drawing on hand-coloured engravings and Chinese watercolours from the RHS Lindley Collections. The Lindley Library, based at RHS Wisley and the London headquarters, holds one of the world's most important horticultural art archives — centuries of botanical illustration spanning the great periods of British and Chinese garden art.
The Flora & Fauna design captures that heritage feel: delicate foliage, dainty songbirds, a quietly considered visual register that suits the cottage garden, the country kitchen, the proper potting shed. Properly different from the bright modern prints that dominate the supermarket garden-gift aisle. Heritage with substance.
About the Gertrude Jekyll quote
Gertrude Jekyll (1843–1932) was one of the most influential garden designers in British history — the designer behind the borders at Lindisfarne, Hestercombe, and Munstead Wood, and the writer whose books shaped how generations of British gardeners think about colour, planting and garden craft. The quote engraved on the trowel — "The love of gardening is a seed once sown, that never dies" — comes from her writing and is one of those genuinely true things she said.
The detail matters. Most engraved tools have generic quotations; this one has a properly British horticultural piece of cultural history embedded in it. The kind of small touch that elevates a working tool into a considered gift.
Why this set works
- The two essential hand tools — trowel and secateurs are the daily-use pair that every working gardener needs. A gift set that gives both means the recipient has the foundation kit covered
- Coordinated design — both tools in matching Flora & Fauna pattern. Looks considered on the potting bench; reads as a proper set rather than mismatched pieces
- Proper materials throughout — high carbon steel blades, stainless steel trowel head, alloy handles, cushion grip. No corner-cutting; proper RHS-endorsed quality
- Two different guarantees reflecting two different tool lifespans — 10 years for the secateurs (mechanical wear point), lifetime for the trowel (genuinely should never need replacing)
- Cultural depth — the RHS Lindley Collections design heritage and the Gertrude Jekyll quote add real provenance rather than generic decoration
- Gift-box presentation — ready to give without additional wrapping; the box is part of the gift
- Properly priced — £33.99 for two coordinated tools represents real value vs buying individually (typically £18 + £20 = £38 separately)
As a gift
At £33.99, the Flora & Fauna Gift Set sits at one of the genuine gift-giving sweet spots — substantial enough to feel like a proper present, accessible enough not to require months of saving. Particularly suited to:
- Mother's Day — the design aesthetic and the coordinated set make this one of the most consistently popular Mother's Day garden gifts
- A milestone birthday for a gardener — 50th, 60th, 70th. The lifetime guarantee on the trowel suits a "this is yours to keep" gift
- A retirement gift — particularly for someone moving into more time-rich gardening years
- A wedding gift for a couple moving into a new home with a garden
- A house-warming gift for someone with a new garden
- For an experienced gardener — even those who already have basic tools will appreciate properly aesthetic-considered RHS-endorsed kit
- For a new gardener — the essential starter pair, in a quality the recipient will use for decades
- For someone who appreciates British craftsmanship — the Sheffield-made / RHS-endorsed / Lindley Collections design provenance all reads as serious heritage
Pair with a packet of seeds, a small potted plant, or one of our growing guides for a complete gift presentation.
About Burgon & Ball
Burgon & Ball are one of Britain's oldest toolmakers, founded in Sheffield in 1730. They're RHS-endorsed, supplier to the Royal Horticultural Society, and the chosen manufacturer for the Sophie Conran licensed garden tool collection. We stock their range because they make proper garden tools the proper way — tested in real working gardens, built to last decades rather than seasons.
The Flora & Fauna range
The Flora & Fauna design extends beyond this gift set into other coordinated pieces in Burgon & Ball's range. If you like the aesthetic, look out for:
- Flora & Fauna gardening gloves — in the same coordinated design
- Flora & Fauna kneeling pad — protects knees during planting work
- Flora & Fauna apron / tabard — the matching workwear piece
- Flora & Fauna tool roll — for keeping the set tidy in the shed
The range is designed to build up over time — buy one piece, add another for a birthday, the matching tool roll for Christmas. Three or four coordinated Flora & Fauna pieces on the potting bench is the cottage-garden aesthetic done properly.
Specifications
- Brand: Burgon & Ball (Flora & Fauna range, RHS-endorsed)
- Contents: Bypass secateurs + stainless steel trowel + coordinated gift box
- Secateurs: High carbon steel blades, alloy handles, soft cushion grip, 10-year guarantee
- Trowel: Stainless steel head with engraved Gertrude Jekyll quote, painted blue handle, lifetime guarantee
- Design: Flora & Fauna pattern inspired by RHS Lindley Collections (hand-coloured engravings and Chinese watercolours)
- Endorsement: Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) endorsed
- Presentation: Coordinated gift box
- SKU: GRHTSBOXFF
A small thought: the best gardening gifts aren't the showiest ones — they're the ones that get used. A trowel that fits the hand properly, a pair of secateurs that stays sharp, presented in a way that makes the recipient feel properly thought about. Twenty years from now, when the gift box is long gone and the tools are properly broken in, this set will still be in regular use in someone's potting shed — properly aged, properly characterful, and properly remembered. That's the gift you give when you want it to matter beyond the moment of opening it.
What's included
1 x Burgon & Ball Flora & Fauna stainless steel trowel (with engraved Gertrude Jekyll quote)
1 x coordinated gift box presentation
Care and use
- Oil pivot points and brass ferrule annually for smooth action
- Sharpen secateur blades occasionally with a fine stone or file
- Store dry; avoid damp or outside storage
- Trowel handle can be oiled annually with light vegetable or linseed oil