Gardening by Month - December

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

For seasonal cheer, choose from the well-stocked houseplant selection in Garsons. Flowering houseplants make pretty table decorations and lovely gifts when you’re visiting. Christmas favourites are cyclamen in shades of red and white, and the poinsettia in festive red and winter white.

Potted hyacinths have gorgeous flowers and bring a sweet heady fragrance to your home and garden. They are ideal for a windowsill, conservatory, doorstep, patio or balcony. Position them where you can smell their fragrance when passing by. 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, year after year.

The orchid can add a touch of style to your festive home. The cymbidium is one of the easiest orchids to grow, despite its exotic flowers. The flowers last about ten weeks, with colours that include white, cream, yellow, pink, red and orange.

You can sow herb seeds to grow on your windowsill over the winter. Basil, dill, chives and mint can all be grown indoors. Choose some indoor pots to make a lovely display.

Moving outside, you can plant winter flowering jasmine in a sunny or semi-sunny spot. It’s hardy and can have a profusion of cheerful flowers from November until March.

Here are some jobs in the garden:

• Pull up weeds while they are still small and the soil is damp.
• Protect tender plants with horticultural fleece and check it’s securely in place.
• Roses can be reduced in height by a third to prevent the wind catching them. Buddleia, clematis, wisteria and anything tender can be left until the end of winter.
• If you have strawberries, they will benefit from a protective straw mulch around now. Once you’ve finished all your jobs for December, clean up your garden tools and perhaps ask for new ones for Christmas!

Give a helping hand to the wildlife in your garden. Leave cutting perennials down until spring as they provide shelter for insects and food for birds. Give birds a water supply and check it’s not frozen. Add a bowl of water on the ground for other wildlife. Birds will be pleased for nuts, seeds and suet balls to help them through the leaner months. If you know any wildlife lovers, Garsons has a fantastic range of feeders and bird tables to choose from, which make thoughtful Christmas gifts.

Until next month, have a very merry festive season!