No point in backing out of it now – it’s time to embrace the festive season in all its mad glory! If you’re wondering how to include the
1. Bring your garden birds close up. Hang your bird feeders right up against your kitchen window; your reward will be thrilling close-up views of all sorts of tits and finches and maybe even a nuthatch or, on red letter days, a spotted woodpecker. To make them safe from the swooping sparrowhawks place a protective shield of bamboo canes around the feeder. I accept that blue tits are part of nature’s pyramid of numbers but actually I’d rather not witness the evidence whilst I am washing up. We also have a night shift of charming little wood mice with prehensile tails…
2. Cheat with winter stems. The accepted wisdom is to plant winter stems against an evergreen backdrop where they can be lit by the low winter sun, preferably beside a lake – great if you live at Chatsworth…. so cheat, by cutting coloured dogwood or willow stems and pushing them in around the other plants in sunny winter pots. They remain perky and actually increase in colour and vibrancy as the winter progresses, starting to root as spring approaches.
3. Never buy more than one Sarcococca (Christmas box) plant. A quintessential
4. Keep your pots of hyacinths outside. Who ever thought that bringing a naturally hardy bulbous plant indoors to flower was a good idea? Keeping them in your outdoor porch or on a sunny outdoor table will keep them pert and sturdy, with none of that gangly flopping held up with props and string, and they will last twice as long. You can always bring them in and pop them on the table for that special meal.
Now, for once, Laura has given you some REALLY USEFUL ideas, instead of her usual science-y head-in-the-clouds stuff. Let me add a few more to her list of tips :
5. Ship in your Christmas roses. They’re lovely but they’re not roses, and they don’t flower at Christmas. It’s a hellebore, Helleborus niger, in fact. And in my experience, the only time you will get them to flower in late December rather than January is if you buy them ready-primed from a
You should find stacks of them there, all raring to display their enchanting snow-white flowers while the turkey’s on the table (or at least the leftovers). Then you’ll plant them out in the
6. Have a tidy up. If your
7. Give people plants for Christmas. Almost everyone interested in gardening would love a plant (do check out our article on good plants to give as gifts – link is at the bottom). Obvs there are a few that you should leave off the list…… I would personally steer clear of Amorphophallus titanium which looks like it sounds (!), only flowers once every 10 to 20 years, and honks of decomposing meat, however – they would certainly remember who gave them that.
8. Make your own festive little ‘tree‘. Dig out one of those tripod-arrangements for growing dwarf climbers in a pot or even tomatoes. Then use it as a framework for fairy-lights wound round the uprights, baubles, ribbon.. whatever you like, inside or outside. Another gorgeous idea is to fill small pots with a collection of little plants, as in our feature pic this week.
Watch how Laura does exactly this in the video below, using the really popular Liberté pots in our online shop – click on the link below.
Or you could follow my example and just not bother. I know what my tomato tripod would look like after I’d sprayed it with glitter – less Blue Peter and more Little Miss Messy.
9. My first recommendation would be: forage for Christmas decorations. Buying man-made decorations feels out-of-step with the times, and indeed one’s depleted budget. Release your inner Charles Dickens, go out and cut a few sprigs of ivy, rosehips and holly to hang on the walls. I admit I have invested in rather miraculous temporary hooks for this but they are re-useable (make sure you get the ones that can be peeled off without taking half your wall with it!)
My free-from-the-hedgerow decoration – thanks to these miraculous little ‘stick-on’ hooks!
10. Invest in an amaryllis. Is Christmas really Christmas without the drama of a blood red amaryllis on your white linen tablecloth? It raises the game and generally deters the ambitions of those wanting to wear paper hats or blow a kazoo in your face. We have initiated a challenge to see who can get their amaryllis flowering on the day itself – mine are budding up slowly but no sign of a flower yet, and there’s only a fortnight to go……
11.Keep the mistletoe looking sprightly. I’m surprised Elaine didn’t mention mistletoe. Normally she loves to tell you how it grows naturally in her
12. Finally if you’ve been an awfully good girl/boy, remember to write your note to Santa asking him to hurry down the chimney with something from The3Growbags shop, but best to leave it lying around conspicuously for several days before sending it off to Lapland.
Have you noticed how beautiful silvery leaves look in the low December light? Louise has an unusual Euphorbia that hasn’t come true from seed, but whose progeny still delight. It’s more than worthy of being included as one of her Great Plants this Month:
Here is our piece about Great Plants to buy at Christmas
Here’s the short video of Laura creating lovely presents with the gorgeous little Liberté pots:
Still looking for that special present? We’ve got some great new stock in our shop. Who wouldn’t want this beautifully-designed heart-shaped trowel and dibber set, or these pretty orchid snips with their precision blades for perfect orchid pruning? Click on the images below to find out more, or browse all of our lovely curated stock:
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