Guides / What to plant
What to plant in December
Poinsettias and Christmas cactus arrive in many houses this month, and both are harmed more often by draughts and overwatering than by neglect. Outdoors, hellebores flower and holly berries add winter colour.
These are Northern Hemisphere months. If you garden in the Southern Hemisphere, the equivalent month is June.
In the garden
Beech
Fagus sylvatica
How to grow beech, Fagus sylvatica. Planting a bare-root hedge, the single August trim, why a clipped beech keeps its copper leaves all winter, and beech bark disease.
Christmas Rose
Helleborus niger
How to grow the Christmas rose, Helleborus niger. Planting, soil, when to cut the old leaves, the diseases to watch for, and why it rarely flowers at Christmas.
English Holly
Ilex aquifolium
How to grow English holly, Ilex aquifolium. Planting, clipping, hedging, why your holly has no berries, and how poisonous those berries are.
Japanese skimmia
Skimmia japonica
How to grow skimmia, Skimmia japonica. Why you need a male and a female plant for berries, the yellowing that means the wrong soil, and its use in winter containers.
Laurustinus
Viburnum tinus
How to grow laurustinus, Viburnum tinus. Winter flowering, clipping it as a hedge, dealing with viburnum beetle, and the blue-black berries that follow.
Mistletoe
Viscum album
How to grow mistletoe, Viscum album. Squeezing berries into apple bark in February, why bought sprigs never take, the trees it will accept and how toxic the berries are.
Norway spruce
Picea abies
How to grow Norway spruce, Picea abies. The traditional Christmas tree, why it drops its needles indoors, and how to keep a pot-grown one alive for another year.
Silver Birch
Betula pendula
How to grow Betula pendula. Why a short-lived tree is the right choice for a small garden, what the black diamonds on the bark are, the root system to plan around, and tapping the sap.
Herbs and edibles
Brussels sprouts
Brassica oleracea var. gemmifera
How to grow Brussels sprouts, Brassica oleracea var. gemmifera. Firm ground and staking, picking from the bottom up, and why blown sprouts happen.
Citron
Citrus medica
How to grow citron, Citrus medica. An ancestral citrus that is mostly rind and pith, grown for candied peel, ritual use and the fingered Buddha's hand form.
Key lime
Citrus aurantiifolia
How to grow key lime, Citrus aurantiifolia. The most tender citrus of the group, thorny and small-fruited, and one that needs real winter warmth.
Kumquat
Citrus japonica
How to grow kumquat, Citrus japonica. A small citrus eaten whole, skin and all, and among the most cold-tolerant of the group.
Mandarin
Citrus reticulata
How to grow mandarin, Citrus reticulata. The loose-skinned citrus, one of the three ancestral species, and the hardiest group worth growing in a cool climate.
Mashua
Tropaeolum tuberosum
How to grow mashua, Tropaeolum tuberosum. The Andean nasturtium that crops where nothing else will, the daylength trigger, and taming the peppery flavour.
Oca
Oxalis tuberosa
How to grow oca, Oxalis tuberosa. The daylength trigger that decides the crop, why you must not lift before December, and protecting the haulm from the first frost.
Persimmon
Diospyros kaki
How to grow persimmon, Diospyros kaki. Astringent and non-astringent types, why one must be jelly-soft before you eat it, and orange fruit hanging on bare branches.
Pomelo
Citrus maxima
How to grow pomelo, Citrus maxima. The largest citrus and one of the three ancestral species, needing more heat than a temperate summer gives without glass.
Sweet orange
Citrus sinensis
How to grow a sweet orange, Citrus sinensis. Container culture outside the subtropics, the watering that kills more trees than frost, and fruit that takes a year to ripen.
Ulluco
Ullucus tuberosus
How to grow ulluco, Ullucus tuberosus. The waxy Andean tuber that will not go soft, the daylength trigger, and lifting in December after the frost.
Wintergreen
Gaultheria procumbens
How to grow wintergreen, Gaultheria procumbens. A creeping evergreen for acid shade, with red berries all winter and leaves that smell of liniment.
Indoors
Air plant
Tillandsia xerographica
How to care for Tillandsia xerographica. Soaking, drying the rosette upside down, mounting without glue and propagating after flowering.
Amaryllis
Hippeastrum vittatum
How to grow amaryllis, Hippeastrum vittatum. Planting the bulb half exposed, getting it to flower a second year, and the dormancy that most people skip.
Bird's nest fern
Asplenium nidus
How to care for Asplenium nidus. Watering around the rosette, humidity, scale insects and protecting new fronds.
Christmas Cactus
Schlumbergera truncata
How to grow and reflower a Christmas cactus. Why it is not a desert cactus, how to tell it from a Thanksgiving cactus, and what causes bud drop.
Gardenia
Gardenia jasminoides
How to care for Gardenia jasminoides. Why the buds drop, the ericaceous compost and rainwater it insists on, and the steady conditions that decide whether it flowers.
Maidenhair Fern
Adiantum raddianum
How to care for Adiantum raddianum. Why it crisps in an ordinary room, the one thing that revives a fern you think you have killed, and how it differs from its near-hardy wild relative.
Mother of thousands
Kalanchoe daigremontiana
How to grow mother of thousands, Kalanchoe daigremontiana. The plantlets that drop off everywhere, the cardiac glycosides that kill livestock, and containing it.
Nerve plant
Fittonia albivenis
How to care for Fittonia albivenis. The plant that faints when it dries out, keeping the humidity it demands, growing it in a terrarium, and pinching to keep it bushy.
Poinsettia
Euphorbia pulcherrima
How to buy a poinsettia that lasts, keep it alive past January, and get the bracts to colour up again. Plus the truth about whether poinsettias are poisonous.
Weeping fig
Ficus benjamina
How to care for Ficus benjamina. Why it drops every leaf when you move it, settling a new plant, treating scale, and handling the irritant sap when you prune.