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The Fernwood Almanac

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

Bare-root season proper, and the cheapest month of the year to plant a hedge. Everything tender comes under glass, and the tools get cleaned.

PlateMichaelmas daisies, last colour of the year, November
In flower

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

What is out in November

  • Winter-flowering viburnum Viburnum x bodnantensePink on bare stems, and scented, from now until March.
  • Mahonia Mahonia x mediaYellow spires and the last bees of the year on them.
  • Autumn cherry Prunus x subhirtellaFlowers in fits all winter whenever it turns mild.
  • Ivy Hedera helixIn flower now, which is why it is worth leaving on a wall.
  • Strawberry tree Arbutus unedoFlowers and last year's fruit on the plant at the same time.
  • Christmas rose Helleborus nigerLate in the month in a mild year, January in a cold one.
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 November

Plant

  • Bare-root hedging: hawthorn, beech, hornbeam, field maple. A quarter of the price of the potted equivalent and it establishes better.
  • Bare-root roses and fruit trees.
  • Tulips, still fine right through the month.
  • Amaryllis and prepared hyacinths indoors for Christmas.

Prune

  • Apple and pear once fully dormant.
  • Take a third off tall roses so the wind does not rock them loose over winter. The real prune is in March.

Protect

  • Wrap tender pots in fleece or bubble wrap, and lift them off the ground onto feet.
  • Lag outside taps. It costs three pounds and saves a plumber.

Put away

  • Clean, sharpen and oil the tools. Nobody does this and everybody should.
On the benches

What we have in during November

  • Bare-root hedging by the metre
  • Bare-root roses and fruit
  • Indoor bulbs for Christmas
  • Houseplants, the full glasshouse range
  • Fleece, cloches and pot feet

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

A bare-root beech hedge planted this month costs about a fifth of what the same hedge costs potted in June, and in three years you cannot tell them apart. Bring the measurement of your run and we will work out the plants, the spacing and the price while you wait.

Tom Wray, Nursery manager
What's on

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

Around this time of year