The Garden in December 2024- ‘Rounding off the Year’

I have to admit that the December garden with its short days and being at the mercy of the rather unpredictable winter weather is often best viewed from inside the house. Yesterday in bright sunshine I could find some interesting features whereas today as I write this the weather has changed to very wet and windy and my views, literally, are rather different!

However, even in the darkest days when the rest of the garden looks aged and weather worn there are still small joys to be discovered as I discussed in the December 2020 blog. There are still a few flowers to be found, some buds showing promise for the weeks and months ahead, a little foliage colour, the tracery of branches and twigs, seed heads, colourful stems and twigs and, of course, the evergreen background to all good gardens. Some flowers come into their own at this time of year such as the bright yellow Winter Jasmine (Jasminium nudiflorum), Mahonia again yellow and the white and pale pinks of the scented Viburnum x bodnantense. Other flowers are just literally hanging on at the end of their flowering period such as the gracefully fading Hydrangeas and a few late Red Campions (Silene dioica). In our garden swelling buds are showing on the cherries, Witch Hazel (Hamamelis), Cornus mas, Sarcococca, Skimmia, Star Magnolia, Camellia, and Sambucus. As far as foliage colour is concerned we look to one of our Acers which is always the last to shed its yellow and orange, finely dissected leaves, Cotinus coggygria and the Oak-leaved Hydrangea. Of course, at this time of year branches and twigs really stand out and the plants with twisted or contorted shapes are particularly attractive such as Robinia ‘Lace Lady’ and Prunus incisa ‘Kojo-no-mai’. Some seed heads survive the winds and rains of autumn such as the ‘silver pennies’ of Honesty (Lunaria annua) and, if you are really lucky, allium heads while the coloured stems and twigs come from the Winter Dogwoods (Cornus alba), some Acers as well as some Willows (Salix). In winter all these are the highlights in between the evergreen plants which hold the garden together which for us include Mahonia, Taxus, Pittosporum, Pinus mugo, Ilex and the semi-evergreen Buddlejas.

Mahonia coming into flower and Hydrangea still trying hard in late November!

 

 Buds of promise on a Sarcococca- Christmas Box  //  Surviving Honesty seed heads, if a little worn!

 

Colour from leaves and twigs on two of our Acers

 

Evergreens really come into their own at this time of year – Pinus mugo, the mountain pine.

 

The 2021 blog should have come from the Aberglasney gardens but a combination of inclement weather and my bad back unfortunately prevented us from visiting in late November. In 2022 I highlighted five plants all associated with Christmas- Christmas Box (Sarcococca), Christmas Rose (Helleborus nigra), Christmas Trees (Norway Spruce, Nordmann Fir and Frazer Fir), plus the indoor plants Christmas Cacti and Christmas Peppers. Finally in 2023 I sang the praises of three native plants which we also associate with Christmas- Holly (Ilex), Ivy (Hedera) and Mistletoe (Viscum album). All these are still available on the Old Railway Line’s website under ‘news’ and ‘monthly garden guides’.

As for my five December plants ‘that I wouldn’t want to be without’ I will just choose any five of the plants mentioned above which happen to catch my eye on any particular day!

During this year I have covered many different gardening topics, most of which fall into particular headings. This is largely due to the very varied list of topics which the gardening group which attends my Saturday morning talks at the Old Railway Line suggested in the last talk of 2023. It seems a good idea, therefore, that in this final blog of the year I should list all these topics in their various categories for ease of reference. As are all my past blogs they are still available on the Old Railway Line’s website under ‘news’ and either ‘monthly garden guides’ or ‘gardening tips’.

I will start with the very wide topic of ‘Taking Cuttings’ which is an excellent way of producing plants at very low cost which are identical to the parent material, something  warmly welcomed by friends, neighbours and family! (All are 2024 unless otherwise stated)

March 2024- Softwood stem cuttings

May- Leaf cuttings from indoor plants

May- Fuchsia cuttings and creating standard fuchsias

July- Semi-ripe cuttings

Aug- Softwood cuttings of tender perennials

Sept- Root cuttings

Oct- Hardwood and Ripewood cuttings

Now comes an even larger topic and one which many gardeners struggle with- ‘Pruning’

Mar 2024- Pruning some shrubs, roses and climbers (Rose pruning also featured in June 2022)

Apr- Pruning of Hydrangea, Buddleja and Penstemo

June- Pruning early flowering shrubs

Aug- Pruning Wisteria, Rambling roses and trained fruit

Sept- Pruning Climbing roses

Dec- Winter pruning ornamental trees and shrubs and fruit trees, bushes and canes

My third, but much smaller, group is about ‘Lawn Care’

Apr 2024- Spring lawn care

Sept- Autumn lawn care

Next comes a section on Soil and related topics. I have said and written many times that our garden soil is one, perhaps the most important one, of our garden assets and anything that can be done to improve it will lead to much happier plants and therefore much more successful gardeners!

Feb 2024- Peat-free composts, their components and uses

Mar- Soil improvement and making garden compost

Oct- Making leaf mould

Now onto the ‘plant based’ topics’ of which unsurprisingly there are rather a lot! Firstly, I would just remind you that every month of 2024 started off with some plants ‘that I wouldn’t want to be without’- reliable and easy to grow plants that do well for Teresa and I here in West Wales and provide us with interest in every month of the year. In addition I have covered:-

Jan 2024- Ivies

Feb- Good winter plants

Mar- Growing vegetables

Apr- Figs and Bonsai- an unusual combination!

May- Tender Perennials (also in May2023)

          Hardy Herbaceous Perennials (also in July, Aug and Sept 2022)

          Plants for Shady areas

July- Roses (also in June 2022)

Aug- Collecting Seed

Sept- Naming Plants- The Binomial System part 1

Oct- The Binomial System part 2 and Bare Root plants.

Finally there is a rather mixed group:-

Jan 2024- Making Gardens more Weather Resistant

Feb- Making Gardens more Bird Friendly

June- Climate Change and our Gardens and the Use of Mirrors in gardens

Aug- The Health Benefits of Gardening

Nov- Getting on Top of Weeds

Jan and Feb 2021- Creating a Garden Pond

 

Pruning is a topic which, as you can see in the above, I have covered several times this year at the relevant times for different groups of plants. As the final part of this series we come to winter pruning which for many trees and shrubs is a good time as they are dormant and as such suffer less shock than when actively growing and are much less likely to ‘bleed’ (lose sap) from the pruning cuts. Having said that most trees, other than fruit trees, require little in the way of pruning except perhaps in their early years to establish a good branch structure, to remove lower branches to produce a clear trunk and possibly to remove branches which might be in the wrong place such as crossing other branches or over hanging a neighbour’s garden. Small branches of less than an inch/2.5cm in diameter can be removed with a single cut with a pruning saw or secateurs as close to the trunk or main branch as possible. In the early years of a tree’s growth the very low branches even though they might be a bit spindly are worth leaving on the tree at first as they help to thicken the trunk. As the tree develops these thinner, lower branches can be removed, in the way described above, gradually over a few years working from the base to produce a clean and more attractive trunk. Branches any thicker than this need to be removed more carefully as with their extra weight a single cut near the trunk can result in the branch breaking in mid-cut and tearing some bark from the trunk itself. To avoid this damage to the tree these larger branches need to be removed in two stages, the first being to make cuts between 6”/15cm and 12”/30cm from the trunk. Firstly, a small undercut is made to prevent any tearing of the bark, followed by a deeper top cut made just outside the undercut. As they join the bulk of the branch will fall away leaving a short stub. If left this will not only look unsightly it will also eventually rot and this rot can pass into the tree itself.  The stub therefore needs to be removed again by using two cuts. The first is a small undercut to prevent tearing made just outside the branch collar which is the slightly swollen base of the branch. The second is the main cut made from the top and angled slightly away from the trunk and in line to join up with the undercut.

In terms of some types of fruit trees, winter is their main pruning time. This applies to ‘unrestricted’ forms ie. not trained forms such as cordons, fans, espaliers and step-overs which are best pruned in the summer (July/August). Winter pruning is also not appropriate for ‘stone’ fruits such as cherries, plums, damsons and gages which are also best pruned in the summer to reduce the chance of suffering from silver leaf, a fungal disease. So, winter pruning is essentially about apple and pear trees and is necessary for three reasons- to maintain the health of the tree, to control the size and shape of the tree and to encourage the production of flowers and fruit. Fruits on these trees form either on ‘spurs’ or ‘tips’ and this influences the pruning methods used although pruning for both types always starts with the removal of dead, damaged and diseased wood. On spur fruiting trees the main objective of pruning is to encourage the production of these spurs which are short, side-branches bearing plump fruit buds- the more spurs the more fruit! This is done by pruning new growth on the branch leaders by one third to an outward facing bud, pruning laterals (side shoots) to 3-4 buds from the base of the lateral and pruning sub-laterals (side shoots on the laterals) to 1 bud. On tip fruiting trees the fruit is formed near the tips of the previous year’s wood and therefore a proportion of the new shoots must be retained otherwise no flowers or fruits will be produced in the next growing season. At the same time new growth must be encouraged to produce the shoots on which future years’ fruit will be borne. All this is achieved by pruning new growth on branch leaders by one third to an outward facing bud to encourage the growth of new laterals and to control the size of the tree, leaving laterals that have plump fruit buds near their tips (fruit buds are always fatter than shoot buds) and cutting back other laterals to a fruit bud lower down or to 3-4 shoot buds from the base to encourage new growth which will produce fruit buds in following years.

In terms of ornamental shrubs, winter is a good time to remove any dead, damaged or diseased wood when the internal structure of the shrub can be more easily seen and to plan the pruning for the months to follow. There are basically four types of shrubs to consider- evergreens, shrubs that flower on the current year’s growth, shrubs that flower on the previous year’s growth and shrubs grown for colourful stems. Most evergreen shrubs such as Berberis, Eleagnus and Ilex require little pruning apart from maintaining their size and shape which is best done in early spring just before growth starts. Shrubs which flower on the current year’s growth such as Buddleja, Caryopteris and Fuchsia should be pruned hard, again in early spring to give them the maximum time to grow and flower in the one season. Shrubs which flower on the previous year’s growth such as Chaenomeles, Deutzia, Forsythia, Philadelphus, Ribes, Syringa and Weigela which all flower in the first half of the year are pruned after they have finished flowering in the late spring or early summer by cutting back the flowering shoots to fresh, new growth below. This gives them time to produce plenty of new growth which will flower the following year. Finally, shrubs grown for their colourful stems such as Cornus alba, Rubus cockburnianus and Salix alba should be pruned within a few centimetres of the ground in late winter/early spring to encourage the plant to produce lots of new shoots which always have the best colour. An alternative, less drastic method is to prune one third of the stems down to the ground each year which maintains the size of the shrub but also produces some new shoots with good colour for the new season.

Winter is also a good time to prune soft fruit bushes and canes. Gooseberries and both Red and White currants can be treated in the same way by cutting back new growth on all the leaders/branches by one half to one third and pruning any remaining laterals/side-shoots to two buds. Their fruit is carried on spurs on older wood and this method of pruning encourages spur formation. Black currants, on the other hand, fruit mainly on one year old wood and their pruning concentrates on cutting a proportion of older wood back to the ground each year in order to encourage new growth which will produce fruit next year. On planting Black currants all the shoots need to be cut down to one bud from the base. This might seem rather drastic but it is necessary in order to stimulate the plant to produce new growth right from the base. After that each year a third of the shoots should be cut back to one bud in order to produce a constant supply of one year old growth. The pruning of Raspberries depends on their type- summer or autumn fruiting. For summer fruiting varieties the old canes from last year which have carried fruit need to be cut to ground level when fruiting has ended and this year’s new canes tied into the supporting wires to fruit in the following growing season. For autumn fruiting varieties all the canes are cut back to ground level in late winter. They will fruit on the canes which they make in the growing season to come which should be tied in as they develop. Blackberries, however, require yet another pruning method which can also be used for hybrid berries such as Loganberries and Tayberries which are crosses between blackberries and raspberries. Like raspberries all these need some form of supporting structure such as a wall, fence or wire frame to carry their often, long canes. This group of berries produces its fruit on one year old canes ie. canes which grew in the previous year. At most times in the year these plants will be carrying both their old canes which will fruit in the current season and new canes which will fruit next year and it is important to distinguish between them. One way of doing so is to grow the canes in a fan shape with the one year old canes tied into the lower wires where it is easier to pick the fruit while the new canes are allowed to grow more vertically and tied into the upper wires. After fruiting is over the old canes are cut back to ground level in late autumn or early winter and the new canes are retied onto the lower wires ready for fruiting in the summer to come.

Well that’s all from me for another year- my fifth year of writing these blogs!, but, all being well as my mother was very fond of saying, I will be back in January with hopefully some useful and interesting thoughts and ideas. In the meantime, Teresa and I wish you all a very happy Christmas and a healthy and prosperous 2025.

Keith.