Guides / What to plant
What to plant in November
Tulips go in this month rather than in September, and the lateness is deliberate, because cold soil carries far less of the fungus that causes tulip fire. Indoors, growth has stopped and watering should drop with it. 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
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 it supports more wildlife than any other British tree, and why acorns kill horses.
Scots pine
Pinus sylvestris
How to grow Scots pine, Pinus sylvestris. Britain's only native pine, the orange upper bark that identifies it, and why it suits poor sandy soil that defeats other trees.
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.
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.
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.
Sweet chestnut
Castanea sativa
How to grow sweet chestnut, Castanea sativa. Telling it from horse chestnut, why British nuts are usually small, and the blight and canker to watch for.
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. Why tap water kills it, why it must be cold and dormant all winter, why you should not feed it meat, and how the trap counts.