Plantable Holiday Cards: The Greeting That Grows Into Spring

The lists are coming out. Who gets a card this year, who gets a gift, who gets both. Somewhere in the next few weeks you will sit down with a stack of envelopes and a pen, and for a short while the people you love will all be on one table in front of you.

It is one of the nicer rituals of the season. It is also one of the shortest-lived. A holiday card is read once, stands on a shelf for a few weeks, and then quietly goes into the recycling in January. Billions of them follow the same path every winter.

This post is about a different kind of holiday card. One that does not end in January.

What is a plantable holiday card?

A plantable card is made from seed paper. The paper is formed by hand from recycled cotton, and real seeds are pressed into the pulp while it is still wet. When the sheet dries, the seeds are held inside it, dormant and waiting. You can write on it, mail it, and stand it on the mantel like any other card.

The difference comes afterwards. Instead of being thrown away, the card is torn into pieces, soaked overnight, laid on soil, covered with a thin layer of earth and kept watered. Within a few weeks the paper softens and breaks down, and the seeds inside it sprout. Our cards carry sweet alyssum, baby's breath and ice plant, so what comes up is a small patch of white and pink rather than a single plant.

If you want to see exactly how that works, we wrote a step-by-step guide: How to Plant Seed Paper Cards (and Actually Get Them to Bloom).

Why seed paper suits the holidays so well

A plantable card is a card and a small gift in one. That alone makes it useful in December, when you are trying to find something thoughtful for people who do not need another object: a teacher, a neighbour, the colleague who covered for you, the relatives you only see once a year.

There is also a quiet logic to the timing. A card sent in December arrives in the middle of winter, when nothing can be planted outdoors. So it sits on the shelf through the holidays and into the new year, and then, when the weather turns in March or April, it goes into a pot or a garden bed. The person you sent it to gets a second moment with your card months after everyone else's has been forgotten.

And for people who are trying to make their holidays a little less wasteful, it is an easy swap. No glitter, no foil, no plastic window in the envelope. Just paper and seeds, and nothing left over at the end.

This year's cards, designed and printed by us

This is the first winter we are sending out cards of our own design. Each one is drawn in our studio and printed in small batches on handmade wildflower seed paper, with a light touch of ink so the seeds stay viable. They are folded A6 cards, blank inside, with a kraft envelope. Four of them are for the holidays.

Little Cottage

A small house with a red roof, smoke from the chimney, two pine trees and a scatter of snow. Merry Christmas, from our home to yours. Deep green ink with a touch of red. This is the one to send to family.

Pine and Berries

Two sprigs of pine cross the card from opposite corners, each tipped with a cluster of red berries. Season's Greetings, Merry and Bright. The most traditional card in the set, and the one that looks best in a row on a mantel.

Three Ornaments

Three baubles on fine strings, one striped, one with a star, one dotted, in soft pink, yellow and grey-green. Joy to you, and a happy new year. It works for Christmas and for anyone who celebrates the season a little differently, which makes it the safe choice for colleagues and clients.

Warm Mittens

A pair of red mittens pegged to a line, with a few small green snowflakes drifting around them. Warm wishes this holiday season. The cosiest of the four, and a good one for children and teachers.

Each card is $7.99, and if you are writing a stack of them, any six cards from our own line are $38 and any eight are $45. You can mix holiday cards with thank-you cards or anything else in the range. See all four together here: Plantable Holiday Cards.

If your list starts earlier, we also made three plantable Thanksgiving cards: three pumpkins in a row, falling leaves, and a pumpkin pie fresh from the oven.

How to send a plantable card well

A few small things make a difference.

Write with a pen, not a marker. Seed paper is thicker and more textured than ordinary card stock. A regular ballpoint or a fine felt-tip works nicely. Heavy, wet ink can soak in.

Tell them it grows. Not everyone has seen seed paper before. The back of every one of our cards carries the planting steps, so the recipient has what they need, but a single line inside the card, something like "plant me in spring," is a nice touch.

Suggest a time to plant. In most of the northern United States, that means waiting for the last frost in spring. Indoors in a pot on a windowsill works any time of year, which is a lovely option for someone in an apartment.

Skip the stickers and tape. Anything you glue onto seed paper ends up in the soil. Keep the card itself plain and let the envelope carry the decoration if you want some.

Who to send them to

Family far away, who will appreciate having something to look forward to in spring. Hosts, as a thank-you tucked in with a bottle of wine. Teachers and caregivers, who receive a lot of chocolate and not many things that last. Anyone who gardens, or who keeps saying they would like to start.

Plantable cards also work well for businesses. A client holiday card that grows into flowers in April is remembered in a way a printed card simply is not, and it says something about how a company sees itself. Our business thank-you cards can carry your company name or your own line, so if you are sending in quantity, get in touch.

Pairing a card with a small gift

If a card alone feels too slight, a plantable card pairs naturally with something small and useful. A fridge magnet, a little jar of good honey, a pot of herbs for the kitchen. The card becomes the gift that keeps going after the honey is finished.

For the people on your list who are getting a proper present, the card still matters. It is the part they keep. Make it one that does something.

Happy card-writing season. May at least one of yours end up in the ground.