Guides / What to plant
What to plant in November
Plant tulips this month rather than in September, because cold soil carries less of the fungus that causes tulip fire. Indoors, growth has slowed or stopped, so watering should drop too. Winter jasmine starts flowering on bare stems.
These are Northern Hemisphere months. If you garden in the Southern Hemisphere, the equivalent month is May.
In the garden
Amur Cork Tree
Phellodendron amurense
How to grow Phellodendron amurense, a hardy tree with corky bark and aromatic leaves. Male trees, huang bai bark and invasive risks.
Cabbage Tree
Cordyline australis
How to grow cabbage palm, Cordyline australis. Why it is not a palm, tying the leaves up for winter, what to do when the trunk rots after a hard frost and how it regrows from the base.
Common rhododendron
Rhododendron ponticum
How to recognise Rhododendron ponticum, why it sterilises woodland, telling it from garden rhododendrons, removing it, and the honey that poisoned an army.
English Oak
Quercus robur
How to identify and grow Quercus robur. The one check that separates it from sessile oak, why a single tree supports over 2,300 other species, and why acorns kill horses.
Hardy Rubber Tree
Eucommia ulmoides
How to grow Eucommia ulmoides, the only species in its family. Tearing a leaf to see the rubber strands, why it is extinct in the wild, and how tough it is in a garden.
Scots pine
Pinus sylvestris
How to grow Scots pine, Pinus sylvestris. The most widely distributed pine on earth, the orange upper bark that identifies it, and why it suits poor sandy soil that defeats other trees.
Siberian Ginseng
Eleutherococcus senticosus
How to grow Eleutherococcus senticosus, a hardy prickly shrub from the Russian Far East. Why it is not a ginseng, where the name came from, and how easy it is in a temperate garden.
Winter Jasmine
Jasminum nudiflorum
How to grow winter jasmine, Jasminum nudiflorum. Flowers on bare stems in January, pruning straight after flowering, training a scrambler, and why it has no scent.
Herbs and edibles
Apple
Malus domestica
How to grow apples, Malus domestica. Rootstocks and what they control, pollination groups explained plainly, winter pruning, and the cyanide in the pips.
Bay laurel
Laurus nobilis
How to grow bay, Laurus nobilis. Clipping a standard, overwintering it in a pot, treating bay sucker and scale, and telling true bay from poisonous cherry laurel.
Black walnut
Juglans nigra
How to grow black walnut, Juglans nigra. Superb timber, a rich strong-flavoured nut, and a root system that poisons the ground around it.
Chinese Artichoke
Stachys affinis
How to grow Chinese artichokes, Stachys affinis. The little spiral tubers, keeping them contained, lifting every one, and why they shrivel within a day.
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.
Finger lime
Microcitrus australasica
How to grow finger lime, Microcitrus australasica. An Australian rainforest citrus whose fruit is filled with juice vesicles that burst like caviar.
Gooseberry
Ribes uva-crispa
How to grow gooseberries, Ribes uva-crispa. Growing on a leg, thinning for dessert fruit, American gooseberry mildew, and the sawfly that strips a bush in days.
Indian Gooseberry
Phyllanthus emblica
How to grow Indian gooseberry, Phyllanthus emblica. The intensely sour amla behind chyawanprash and triphala, the leaves that look like a fern and are not, and the cold it will take.
Japanese quince
Chaenomeles speciosa
How to grow Japanese quince, Chaenomeles speciosa. Flowers on bare wood in February, hard aromatic fruit in autumn, and the wall training that suits it.
Jerusalem Artichoke
Helianthus tuberosus
How to grow Jerusalem artichokes, Helianthus tuberosus. Why they take over a plot, using them as a windbreak, lifting every tuber, and the inulin problem.
Kale
Brassica oleracea var. acephala
How to grow kale, Brassica oleracea var. acephala. The easiest brassica, picking leaves all winter, and why frost improves the flavour.
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.
Kiwi fruit
Actinidia deliciosa
How to grow kiwi fruit, Actinidia deliciosa. A vine that needs a male and a female, serious support, and the warmest wall you can offer it.
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.
Medlar
Mespilus germanica
How to grow medlar, Mespilus germanica. What bletting is and how to do it, why the fruit is picked hard in November, and the tree's very short pest list.
Passion fruit
Passiflora edulis
How to grow passion fruit, Passiflora edulis. A tender vine for a greenhouse or conservatory, and why the hardy blue passionflower is not a substitute.
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.
Pomegranate
Punica granatum
How to grow pomegranate, Punica granatum. Brilliant orange-red flowers, a long hot summer needed for fruit, and a plant most cool temperate gardens grow for looks.
Sweet chestnut
Castanea sativa
How to grow sweet chestnut, Castanea sativa. Telling it from horse chestnut, why the nuts are often small, and the blight and canker to watch for.
Wild service tree
Sorbus torminalis
How to grow wild service tree, Sorbus torminalis. A scarce British native, an ancient woodland indicator, and fruit that has to rot before you can eat it.
Winter Savory
Satureja montana
How to grow winter savory, Satureja montana. The evergreen savory for winter picking, pruning it without killing it, and why it needs sharper drainage than almost anything else in the herb bed.
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.
Yacon
Smallanthus sonchifolius
How to grow yacon, Smallanthus sonchifolius. Telling storage tubers from propagation rhizomes, curing them sweet in the sun, and the inulin they store instead of starch.
Indoors
Dragon Tree
Dracaena marginata
How to grow Dracaena marginata. Why tap water browns the tips, cutting a leggy cane to make it branch, and the saponins that affect cats.
Flaming Katy
Kalanchoe blossfeldiana
How to care for Kalanchoe blossfeldiana. Watering a succulent that is sold in flower, deadheading, and the long dark nights that make it bloom a second time.
Hoya
Hoya carnosa
How to care for Hoya carnosa, the wax plant. Never cutting off the flower spur, keeping it pot-bound so it blooms, and the winter rest that sets the buds.
Inch Plant
Tradescantia zebrina
How to grow Tradescantia zebrina. Keeping the purple and silver colour, pinching to stop it going bare, rooting cuttings in a week, and the name the trade is retiring.
Moth Orchid
Phalaenopsis amabilis
How to grow a moth orchid, Phalaenopsis. Watering an epiphyte, reading the roots, the temperature drop that triggers a new spike, and where to cut the old one.
Pencil cactus
Euphorbia tirucalli
How to grow pencil cactus, Euphorbia tirucalli. Not a cactus, the seriously caustic sap, and why 'Firesticks' needs full sun to keep its colour.
Polka dot begonia
Begonia maculata
How to care for Begonia maculata. Pruning to stop it going leggy, watering a cane begonia without rotting it, keeping the spots bold, and rooting cuttings.
Venus Flytrap
Dionaea muscipula
How to care for Dionaea muscipula. Pure water, winter dormancy, full sun, feeding and the trigger hairs inside each trap.