December Horticulture Hints

I often think that December is a good month for Christmas and all of its glitter and tinsel. Somehow all the lights and colorful decorations make up for an almost dormant landscape. However, if you plan well, the winter garden can be quite beautiful. Many plants are their most colorful during the winter season.

Christmas Trees and Poinsettias

Many people enjoy having a live Christmas tree each year, and choosing just the perfect one is a rite of the season. Of course, we want to keep them in good condition as long as possible. The best way to get a fresh tree is to cut your own. If that is not possible, many fine trees can be purchased from retail lots. Watch for new shipments and purchase one as soon as it is unloaded. When you get the tree home and ready to set up, cut off an inch or so from the bottom of the trunk and place the tree in water immediately. If you are not ready to decorate, leave it outside in a cool, shady place.

Never let the water level go below the cut surface. When that happens, a seal of dried sap forms over the cut stump in four to six hours and the tree is no longer able to absorb water. If this happens, make another fresh cut to the base of the tree’s stump.

Be sure to check the water level frequently. A tree can absorb as much as a gallon of water in the first 24 hours plus one or more quarts each day during the first week. As long as the tree is taking up water, it is relatively fire resistant. Disregard all those fancy recipes or products that are supposed to prolong the life of your tree. Research shows that plain water is the best preservative for Christmas trees.

To be sure that your poinsettia will last through the holidays, choose a healthy plant that has been cared for properly before you purchase it. After you get it home, avoid placing it near hot or cold drafts. An optimum temperature would be 60°F to 68° F; temperatures above 75° F can cause them to decline. Overwatering kills the roots of poinsettias. Either remove decorative foil wrappers or punch holes in them so that excess water can drain away. Water when dry, and place near a bright window but not in direct sun.

Be careful of these poisonous holiday plants: azalea, mistletoe, Jerusalem cherry, and Christmas holly berries. Avoid using them where children can gain access to them. Fortunately, the poinsettia is not at all toxic. Researchers at Ohio State University indicated that a child could eat 500 to 600 poinsettia leaves and not show any signs of poisoning.

The Vegetable Garden

Consider purchasing an assortment of gourmet lettuces to add to the garden now. They add color, interest, and good taste to herb, vegetable, and container gardens as well as to flowerbeds. Harvest citrus from your own trees. In my neighborhood we share kumquat, grapefruit, orange, calamondin orange, Meyer lemon, and Satsuma.

Enjoy eating turnip and mustard greens, collards, and other leafy greens from the garden. Even if you have not grown your own, they are in plentiful supply at supermarkets and vegetable stands.

For those of you who are not Southerners and perhaps don’t know how to eat these delicious greens, there are a few things you need to know. A bit of bacon or ham cooked in the same pot makes a huge difference to their taste. Pepper sauce is necessary for flavoring the greens. I made mine this past summer by pouring hot vinegar over cayenne peppers. The sauce has been brewing, and now just a dash of it adds the perfect flavor to the cooked greens. If you were not able to make your own sauce, a fair imitation of it can be purchased at the grocery store. 

Amiable Spouse and I also enjoy Mississippi cornbread with these meals. I pour a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil into an iron skillet and heat it to the sizzling point on top of the stove. Then I mix stone-ground corn meal with enough salt to season it and enough water to make it the proper consistency. I pour this into the hot skillet, press it flat with my fingertips, and then place it in a 450°F oven until it is brown and crisp. Serve the greens with fresh radishes, green onions, and piping hot cornbread. My mouth waters just thinking about it!

The Flower Bed

If you have not already done so, it is not too late to add some winter color to your landscape with colorful dianthus, diascia, nemesia, ornamental cabbage or kale, pansies, sweet alyssum, snapdragons, or other cool-weather annuals. Plant a few near the entry, perhaps in an attractive container, to lift the spirits of all who enter. Don’t forget the beautiful gourmet lettuces and red giant mustard greens. They not only add color to a flowerbed, herb garden, vegetable or container garden—they also add spice to the salad bowl and lively garnishes for holiday meals.

December is a good month for planting bulbs in the garden. If tulip bulbs have been refrigerated for six weeks, they may be planted. They will think they have spent some time up north, so they will bloom in early spring. Throw them away after they bloom, for they cannot tolerate the heat of our summers.

Consider forcing a few paperwhite (Narcissus tazetta) bulbs. They may be planted in a pot that is 3 to 4 inches deep in any well-drained soil or sterilized planting medium. Plant bulbs slightly below the rim of the pot with their tips showing. Water thoroughly and keep moist.

Many people prefer to place them in decorative containers anchored with 1-2 inches of pebbles, decorative stones, or washed gravel. Place a layer of the chosen material in the bottom of a container that does not have a drainage hole. Place the bulbs on top of the material, and fill in around them enough to hold the bulbs in place, but do not cover the bulbs. Add just enough water to almost reach the base of the bulbs, and keep it at this level. Allowing the bulbs to be immersed in water will cause them to rot.

Place the planted containers in a cool dark room until roots begin to develop. Then move to a bright, sunny window. Insufficient light will cause the plants to grow tall and lanky, and they will probably fall over just when you’d like to be enjoying them. As plants begin to flower, move them to a cooler area with indirect light in order to prolong the life of the flowers. Fertilizing is not necessary as the bulbs contain enough food for the developing plants. They will be thrown away after they bloom.

Christmas Plants and Decorations

Winter in Florida has its own unique beauty. Days are often mild enough to walk through the woods. At such times it is fun to collect magnolia cones, sweet-gum balls, fallen hickory nuts, acorns, pine cones, and other dried materials for use in arrangements and seasonal decorations. Grape vines twisted into a wreath make a wonderful place to display your finds. From the garden, select branches of holly, nandina, pyracantha, and juniper to add freshness and color to your decorations. In fact, with our wealth of evergreen material, there is no need to look beyond the garden and the woods for holiday decorations.

Several hollies bear bright red berries that add color to the winter landscape. Some of the most colorful berries that I see in our area are borne on both the dwarf and the standard Burford holly (Ilex cornuta ‘Burfordii’). American holly (Ilex opaca) and many of its cultivars such as ‘East Palatka’ (a cross between I. opaca and I. cassine) and ‘Savannah’ produce a good crop of red berries. Not to be missed is the yaupon (Ilex vomitoria) that blooms in woods and in gardens with shiny, almost translucent berries.

Sweet Olive (Osmanthus fragrans) is less colorful than the hollies, but if one is on your property you will enjoy its fruity scent. Native to China, Japan, and the Himalayas, this evergreen shrub or small tree can grow up to 20 feet tall and wide. During the cool season, tiny, tubular white flower clusters bloom and impart a delightful apricotlike fragrance to the air. If you have missed out on this well-adapted plant, now is a good time to add it to your garden.

Rosemary, too, is a popular plant around Christmas time. Frequently it is pruned into topiaries shaped like Christmas trees and decorated with red bows. Plant these outside after the holiday season, for they are perfectly hardy in our area and will delight you for many years.

Firethorn (Pyracantha coccinea) is a scene-stealer during the winter. If you decide to plant this thorny shrub in your garden, give it plenty of space. I enjoy it best in the parks and on roadsides where the colorful berries are well displayed, and where I will not be the one who has to prune it. Oftentimes firethorn is espaliered against walls and fences. Pyracantha berries are edible and are sometimes used to make a tasty jelly.

Camellias also add to the beauty of the winter garden. Blossoms are often picked and floated in bowls for holiday decorations. Now is a good time to add camellias to the landscape. Visit parks, garden centers, and other places while they are in bloom and select the cultivars you like best. Both Camellia japonica and C. sasanqua are long-lived, dependable shrubs. Both can be depended on to bloom and add color during the winter months. Plant your selections in light shade in acidic, well-drained soil. Mulch well and water regularly until established. If tea scale appears on the underside of camellia leaves, spray with Ultrafine Horticultural Oil as directed. 

December Gardening Tasks

Most trees and shrubs will fare well if planted in winter. Plants set out now will grow roots out into the surrounding soil over the winter and have a head start over plants set out in spring. Summer’s heat stresses hardy plants more than winter’s cold.

Raking leaves and pine needles goes hand-in-hand with our cool weather. Save these treasures by using them to mulch around shrubs, trees, and tender plants. Do not use more than two or three inches, however, and never make a mulch “volcano” around plants. Clear mulch a few inches away from the stems of plants. 

Many trees and shrubs will fare well if planted in winter. Plants set out now will grow roots out into the surrounding soil over the winter and have a head start over plants set out in spring. Summer’s heat stresses hardy plants more than winter’s cold.

If a freeze is predicted, water your landscape thoroughly. Move plants in containers into protective structures. Mulch around outdoor plants to protect the roots. If plants must be covered for protection, be sure to remove the covering as soon as temperatures are above freezing. Avoid using plastic covering, especially if it touches the leaves of plants. It can do more harm than good. Plastic is a poor insulator, but it holds heat well. When the sun comes up the following day, your plants may bake under the plastic covering.

We gardeners float along and do our gardening tasks in due season. Each one is unique and different, and we revel in the opportunities and delights offered by each one of them. There is much to enjoy in the winter garden. To the diehard gardener, every season is the time to garden, and the winter is just a variation on the theme.