For the gardener who gardens with one ear always tuned to the birds, these are the gloves. The Flora & Fauna design is the most charming of all Burgon & Ball's RHS prints — a delicate scattering of dainty songbirds among fine, fluttering foliage, the kind of scene you half-see from the corner of your eye on a quiet morning in the borders. It's a soft, elegant, gentle pattern, and a lovely thing to wear while you work.

The design has serious heritage behind it. The illustrations are elegant Chinese watercolours and hand-coloured engravings dating from 1819 to 1912, specially selected from the RHS Lindley Collections — one of the world's most significant horticultural archives. There's something quietly lovely about wearing nineteenth-century botanical and ornithological art to do the morning's deadheading, and something very fitting for any gardener who plants with the birds and the wider wildlife of the garden in mind.

From Burgon & Ball, the Sheffield toolmaker who've been making garden tools since 1730, in their RHS-endorsed "Gifts for Gardeners" collection. Supplied to us through our partners at AllotMate, who curate proper, well-made tools and equipment for gardeners and allotmenteers who'd rather buy once.

The design

Flora & Fauna is soft, elegant, and full of gentle character:

• Dainty songbirds and delicate foliage — the most wildlife-minded of the RHS prints, a quiet celebration of the birds that share the garden
• Elegant Chinese watercolours and hand-coloured engravings, dating from 1819 to 1912, from the RHS Lindley Collections
• A soft, refined palette — gentle and timeless rather than bold, the kind of pattern that quietly delights every time you pick the gloves up
• The whole effect is calm and characterful — the gloves of a gardener who notices the small, living details of their plot

Where British Bloom is dramatic and British Meadow is a wildflower scene, Flora & Fauna is the birds — the gentlest and most wildlife-led of the four RHS prints we stock.

What makes them work

The construction is identical to the rest of the RHS gift glove range — beautiful design backed by genuinely thoughtful working features:

• Cushioned palm — proper protection for everyday garden work, reducing hand fatigue during longer sessions
• Gathered wrist — close-fitting cuff that keeps soil, mulch and small debris from finding their way down your sleeve
• Soft, tough fabric with a degree of stretch — genuinely soft to wear, yet hardwearing enough to take repeated use, and flexible for fiddly tasks like deadheading and tying
• Snug, flexible fit — moves naturally with your hand rather than sliding around as you work
• Machine-washable at 30°C — significantly more practical than most workwear gloves. Pop them in with the next wash and they come out fresh for next time

Sizing

These are a one-size women's fit, size 8.5 (around 21.5cm across the palm, with a length of about 23.5cm from fingertip to cuff) — equivalent to a UK women's medium. The stretch in the printed fabric means one size fits almost all; they suit average to slightly broader women's hands, and many smaller men's hands too.

If you have particularly small or particularly broad hands, the Briers range offers more precise fit options. But for most women's hands, the one-size fit here works comfortably.

As a gift

This pair makes a particularly thoughtful gift for the nature-loving gardener — the one who knows which birds visit the feeder and gardens to keep them coming. Particularly good for:

• The bird-lover and wildlife gardener — the songbird design is a quiet acknowledgement of the gardener who plants for the birds as well as the bees
• A gardener with soft, gentle taste — anyone who prefers the refined and understated to the bold and dramatic
• Mother's Day, birthdays, Christmas — a distinctive, beautiful gift that feels considered rather than ordinary
• A new or beginner gardener — lovely RHS-endorsed kit to start them off in style
• Pair with a packet of wildlife- or pollinator-friendly seeds, or a bird-care treat, for a complete nature-minded gift

If you're choosing between the RHS gift gloves we stock — Flora & Fauna (songbirds, soft and gentle), British Meadow (wildflowers and butterflies on navy), British Bloom (dramatic dahlias and peonies) and Asteraceae (soft sage green) — pick by the recipient's taste. All are made to the same specification; the difference is purely in the design.

Specifications

• Design: Flora & Fauna — dainty songbirds and delicate foliage
• Source: RHS Lindley Collections; Chinese watercolours and hand-coloured engravings dating from 1819–1912
• Palm: Cushioned for protection and comfort
• Wrist: Gathered cuff to keep debris out
• Fabric: Soft, tough, with a degree of stretch
• Washing: Machine-washable at 30°C
• Size: One-size women's fit, size 8.5 (palm approx. 21.5cm; length approx. 23.5cm)
• Endorsement: Royal Horticultural Society approved
• Range: Part of the RHS "Gifts for Gardeners" collection
• Made by: Burgon & Ball, Sheffield (since 1730)
• Supplied through: AllotMate

Looking after them

• Shake out and brush off visible soil before washing
• Machine wash at 30°C
• Air dry away from direct heat — the printed fabric will fade quickly under tumble dryers or strong sun
• Avoid bleach or fabric softeners — both can damage the print and the stretch fabric
• Store flat or hung gently rather than scrunched up

Treated this way, the print stays soft and clear and the gloves keep their lovely look for many seasons.

About Burgon & Ball and the RHS Lindley Collections

Burgon & Ball have been making garden tools in Sheffield since 1730, drawing on the city's centuries-old expertise in steel and craft. Their RHS-endorsed "Gifts for Gardeners" collection draws on the RHS Lindley Collections — one of the most significant horticultural libraries and archives in the world, containing thousands of botanical illustrations and historical garden materials. We're proud to stock pieces from this collaboration; using centuries-old botanical art to decorate practical garden kit is the kind of small cultural project that suits our shop exactly.

A small thought: the songbirds are the quiet company of every gardening morning — the robin that follows the fork for worms, the blackbird singing from the fence, the wren ticking away in the hedge. There's something rather lovely about gloves that carry a little of that company with them, a reminder that the garden was never really ours alone.