FLOWERS
Take cuttings of
flowering shrubs
Cut the thickest straight stems of this
year’s growth on deciduous shrubs
like viburnum and weigela, to make
hardwood cuttings now they’re
dormant. Trim the cuttings to approx.
15-20cm, leaving a bud at the top and
the bottom. They will root easily in a
sheltered spot in the garden. Add
grit to the soil and bury two-thirds
of their length. They’ll be rooted by
late spring and can be left to grow,
then moved next autumn.
Make new woody perennials like
cornus from hardwood cuttings
VISIT gardenersworld.
com/propagation for more
advice on making new plants
PHOTOS: SARAH CUTTLE; GETTY/JAMES GUILLIAM (EYEEM); JASON INGRAM; TIM SANDALL
Use dividers to file your seed packets into monthly sowing order
December 2020
Maintain your
Keep plants like cyclamen cool, to help the flowers last
Look after Christmas plants
Put your Christmas pot plants in the
right place to help them last for the
whole festive season and beyond.
Azaleas, Christmas cactus and
cyclamen can go somewhere cool
and light. Snip out flowers as they go
over to encourage more blooms and
to keep them in growth. Poinsettias
WHAT TO DO NOW | DECEMBER
cut flowers
Strip the lower leaves then trim the
stem base of cut flowers. Put them
in a bucket of clean water for a few
hours to extend their vase life.
Make a vertical slit at the base
of woody stems before plunging
them in slightly warmer water.
Arrange them in a vase kept
somewhere cool and bright for the
longest display over Christmas.
need a bit more warmth but must Prepare your cut flowers carefully
avoid direct heat of any kind, while to increase their vase life
orchids need warmth and light.
Water them all sparingly from
the bottom with rainwater that BRING IN BUDS
has had time to come up to room
temperature. Mist the orchids if Cut shoots from
you’ve had the heating turned up. winter-flowering
shrubs early in the
month to bring under
Sort seeds cover. Kept in a cool
Go through your seed tin to make a spot in a bucket of
shopping list for new seed and put
them back into a sowing order for
water, the buds will
spring. Check the sow-by dates and gradually open to
discard out-of-date seed. In general, give you beautiful
the harder the seed coat, the longer flowers for festive
the seed will last in your tin.
Sort into sowing order – some may
decorations. Try
need sowing straight away to get a scented Viburnum
cold period before germinating. Next x bodnantense or
are the early-sown pelargoniums and delicate, pale winter
half-hardy annuals, followed by hardy
annuals to sow straight into the
jasmine. Avoid
border, then perennials and biennials. placing them in
a warm spot until
WATCH videos and get you need to so they
tips at gardenersworld.com/
seeds-bulbs
stay fresh for as
long as possible.
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