What to do in the garden this month

• Finish planting tubers like dahlias and begonias.
• Stake and tie perennials regularly as they grow.
• Start hardening off plants raised under cover.
• Sow salad vegetables every two to three weeks for a constant supply.
• Tie in your sweet peas with plant support rings to encourage them to climb.
• Don’t be tempted to cut down or tie up the foliage of spring-flowering bulbs, let them die down naturally.
• Keep weeding!

Christmas greenery, straight from the garden

What could be more lovely than stepping out on a cold and frosty morning to pick home-grown Christmas greenery, straight from the garden? Graham Rice offers some expert plant suggestions.

It used to be that the only option for holiday greenery in the home was the Christmas tree, along with holly and ivy. Now everything’s changed, and very definitely for the better.

Today an increasing range of attractive evergreen alternatives for decorative foliage is available to use in wreaths, in table decorations and in long-lasting seasonal arrangements. And the great thing about so many of these alternatives is that you can grow them yourself at home. Here are ten options.

Numbers at the end of each entry refer to plant height and RHS hardiness rating.

Source: https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/articles/graham-rice/shrubs-and-climbers/grow-your-own-christmas-greenery

Did you know?

Wallflower (Erysimum)

Wallflower, or Erysimum, is a symbol of fidelity, given from one lover to another. Wallflowers make for meaningful additions to bouquets, as they have since the Middle Ages. Because it is known for clinging to vertical surfaces and staying out of the garden “fray,” it has also become synonymous with the shy and retiring.

Wallflowers run the gamut of warm tones. They come in colours ranging from light golden yellow to orange to red. They can also be purple or brown. Some wallflowers have multiple colours on a single stem, transitioning from pink to purple, and they look good as mixes.

Wallflowers, and other plants of the Erysimum genus, were initially used as medicinal plants, not ornamental ones. Native to Southern Europe, especially Greece, the wallflower was well-established in medicine by the beginning of the common era. For instance, Pliny the Elder classifies these plants as medicinal in Naturalis Historia around 77 CE. Pedanius Dioscorides, writing around 70 CE in De Materia Medica, specifically called out Erysimum cheiri as a medicinal herb. Thus, was it enshrined in European medicine for the next 1,500 years.

Wallflowers are such a popular flower that they’ve undergone some serious cultivation in the centuries since their discovery. Some of today’s best choices include “Bowles’s Mauve,” a reliable wallflower that returns year after year. “Blood Red Covent Garden” is also easy to grow and returns year after year.
However, some of the less resilient wallflowers have better scents, including “Red Jep,” which is a pretty red purple. “Winter Orchid” is an example of one of the multicoloured wallflowers. Its blossoms start out a deep orange and progress to purple before senescing (dying off). Other great choices include “Apricot Twist,” a bright orange, and for lovers of beautiful, blinding whites, “Rysi Moon.”

The etymology of wallflower is pretty simple. They grow on walls, clinging to them as they climb. Hence, wallflower. The Latin name for this species, Erysimum cheiri, stems from the Greek word “cheir,” which means hand. This refers to the custom of carrying the flower in small bouquets to festivals or events. Dating back to the Middle Ages, this tradition predates wallflowers’ use in bouquets today as a refreshingly dainty specimen.

Source: https://www.petalrepublic.com/wallflowers/

Did you see our idea about converting a toilet paper roll into a plant pot last month?

At our last talk the speaker gave us another great idea – how about planting a herb seed in a tea-bag? See what you can come up with – there are lots of ideas on the internet so you can recycle at the same time as growing plants.

Happy gardening!