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The Fernwood Almanac

December in the garden in the Fernwood Almanac, Ludlow, Shropshire

Foliage, wreaths and the birds. Very little needs doing outside, which makes it the right month to plan next year properly.

PlateHolly cut for the Christmas wreaths, December
In flower

In the nursery and in a garden within about ten miles of Ludlow.

What is out in December

  • Holly Ilex aquifoliumBerries only on the female plants, and only if a male is nearby.
  • Christmas box Sarcococca hookerianaSmall, dull, and you can smell it from the car park.
  • Winter jasmine Jasminum nudiflorumYellow all month on completely bare wood.
  • Skimmia Skimmia japonicaBuds all winter, opens in spring, and the berries last both.
  • Silk tassel bush Garrya ellipticaGrey catkins a foot long. Odd and worth it.
  • Winter honeysuckle Lonicera x purpusiiStarting, and it carries all the way to February.
Planting calendar

Written for the Marches, where the last frost is usually the middle of May and the first is usually the end of October.

Jobs for December

Cut

  • Holly, ivy, spruce and dogwood stems for wreaths and the house. Cut from the back of the plant where it will not be missed.

Prune

  • Wisteria, winter cut: back to two or three buds on the spurs you shortened in July.
  • Vines, before Christmas. After that they bleed.

Check

  • Stored dahlia tubers and stored apples, once a fortnight. Take out anything soft.
  • Greenhouse heaters and their thermostats before you need them.

Feed

  • The birds, every day now rather than on and off. Once they rely on a feeder, missing a week matters.
  • Fresh water, unfrozen, is worth more than the food in a hard spell.
On the benches

What we have in during December

  • Christmas trees, cut and pot-grown
  • Wreaths, made here
  • Foliage bunches and copper rings
  • Amaryllis and forced hyacinths
  • Bird food, feeders and water dishes

Stock turns over with the calendar. If you are after something specific, ring on 01584 555 0234 before you drive over and we will walk out and look.

From the nursery

A note on this month

Every wreath on the stand was made in the potting shed forty feet from where you are standing, from foliage cut on the site. If you would rather make your own, the wreath evening on the fourth is the same materials and someone showing you how.

Ellie Fern, Head of nursery
What's on

Annual fixtures, so the dates move by a day or two but the months do not.

Around this time of year