December 2006

December brings festive cheers, mince pies and Christmas trees. Here is a quick reminder before you set out to buy that tree.

The market for Christmas trees has changed from the traditional Norway spruce to the non-needle drop Nordman fir. Yes, I know, the smell of pine is better on the Norway spruce but the needles do fall. At the end of Christmas, as you drag the tree from the house, the needles shed everywhere and a stick of a tree is left. Buying a Nordman fir eliminates finding needles six months later still wedged between the skirting-boards!

The Nordman fir (Abies nordmanniana, below) has light green leaves which are softer to the touch than the traditional spruce. Prices are affordable, ranging from £15.00 for 3-4ft up to £45.00 for 7-8.5ft and you will be rewarded with a tree that is twice as bushy.

Many people feel that it is a waste and not environmentally friendly to buy cut trees, even though most trees are now cut from managed plantations. If you feel like that then try something new; why not decorate a box cone or a yew spiral with lights, then put in into the garden after Christmas. Buy a container grown holly tree from £15.00, green or variegated in leaf colour and plant out after Christmas.

A cut Christmas tree will need regular watering if it is to last throughout the festive season. To enable your Christmas tree to take up water, cut off the bottom 1cm of the main trunk after you have got it home. Stand it in a bucket of water outside in a cool but sheltered place and keep the water topped up.
Once it has been brought inside, try and use a stand or bucket, which will still retain water. Position it away from sources of heat like radiators and fires and keep the water level topped up at all times.

Freshly cut Christmas trees are classed as garden or green waste by local authorities and can be recycled at all household waste recycling centers. Often the local councils offer a collection date for recycling so watch out for information in your area.

Elsewhere in the garden, keep on clearing up those leaves especially from the lawns. After rainy days, prick any damp patches in the lawn with a garden fork and top dress with a compost/lawn sand mix.

Bare-rooted hedging plants and trees have finally been lifted, so get planting before the end of March as deciduous plants should be planted when they are not in leaf. Wrap up with fleece any tender plants such as bay (Laurus nobilis, above) and Cordylines.

It is a good time to prune fruit trees into shape; remove any dead, diseased or damaged wood. Try and aim for an open, wine-glass structure to encourage light onto the branches and help prevent disease. Shorten any long branches on roses or shrubs to prevent wind damage until it is time to prune them in spring. Plant soft fruit now and you will be rewarded with home-grown, organic fruit next summer. You will discover at your Plant Centre a good range from blackcurrants to white currants, blueberries and raspberries.

Plants for winter are Prunus x subhirtella ‘Autumnalis’ (left) which is the best tree to achieve flowers throughout the cold weather. It is available in white and pink semi-double flowers. Cotoneaster x ‘Cornubia’ in tree form provides a good show of long-lasting berries against the evergreen foliage. The dogwoods have red to yellow winter stems providing an attractive show. Mahonia x media ‘Charity’ is an evergreen shrub which will tolerate shade; it has yellow racemes of fragrant flowers.

Skimmia japonica ‘Rubella’ is an evergreen plant which carries large clouds of red flower buds all winter. Skimmia reevesiana has beautiful red berries and doesn’t need a pollinator. Viburnum tinus (below) is one of the best winter-flowering shrubs with dark green leaves and fragrant pink-white flowers. Finally, Chimonanthus praecox (Winter Sweet, right) will provide fragrant flowers during winter. Have a lovely Christmas and best wishes for the New Year.

Happy Gardening!

Contacts
The regular "In the Garden" features for Monkey Magazine are written and researched by Cat Wilkins.

If you have a comment, or would like to make a suggestion for possible future topics, please feel free to email her by clicking on this link: Cat Wilkins