Gardening by Month - December

Fill your home with festive plants this Christmas. Bring the outdoors in with natural decorations that look extra special. Choose a real wreath and festive garlands, along with foliage bundles made from holly and mistletoe.

For seasonal cheer, choose from the houseplant selection in the Garden Centre. Flowering houseplants make gorgeous table decorations and lovely gifts when you go visiting. Christmas favourites are the poinsettia and cyclamen in festive red and winter white.

Potted hyacinths have pretty flowers and they bring a sweet fragrance to your home and garden. Position them where you can smell the fragrance when passing by. They’re ideal for a windowsill, conservatory, doorstep, patio or balcony. Once your hyacinth finishes flowering, cut back the flowers but keep the foliage as this helps build the bulb for next year. They grow well outside, flowering in March and early April, reappearing year after year.

The orchid adds a touch of style to your festive home. The cymbidium is one of the easiest orchids to grow, which is surprising when it has such exotic flowers. The flowers last for about ten weeks, and colours include festive reds and whites, along with cream, yellow, pink and orange.

You can still enjoy the garden in December. The rain in November has made the soil easy to work, so get some fresh air while you’re digging and planting. Even though the days are shorter, there’s still plenty of scope for being in the garden and you can make the most of the bright weather to prepare for winter.

Plant winter honeysuckle. It has clusters of lightly scented white flowers from now until March and grows to about 6ft by 6ft or 1.8 metres. Honeysuckle works well in the border, or position it near your back door to enjoy the fragrance when you step outside.

It’s a good time to plant crab apples so long as it isn’t frosty. Suitable winter shrubs for empty patches in your garden are holly bushes or a Christmas box, which is shrub with black berries followed by white flowers. The Skimmia is a favourite of ours and it has lots of flower buds around now.

Plant cyclamen in clusters for Christmas cheer in the garden. You can put them in pots close to the house for a charming festive touch.

Come and be inspired by the winter wonderland at Garsons, including Christmas trees. And why not drop hints for the gardening gifts on your wish list? Until next month, wishing you a very merry festive season.