This month Christmas trees are on our minds! I have to say, nothing can take the place of a real tree in my opinion, but some of the more expensive ‘drop resistant’ ones like the Korean fir just don’t have the real Christmassy smell.

Position away from radiators
The Fraser fir tree (Abies Fraser) has the right smell and doesn’t shed its needles, but you do have to pay a premium compared to the old traditional Norway spruce. However, what-ever tree you buy, if it has a cut end it will need watering every day. Saw off the bottom few inches when you get it home – as you would with cut flowers – and put the base in a container of water. Position it away from radiators and top up the water daily.

An idea for a present for a gardening enthusiast – beginner or more experienced – is a good pruning manual, and I can recommend ‘The Royal Horticultural Society Encyclopaedia of Pruning & Training’ by Christopher Brickell and David Joyce. It gives good, easy to follow advice on how and when to prune shrubs, trees and climbers, and I always keep it to hand to refer to. An added bonus is that it has plenty of pictures!

Providing fragrance, colour and a food source for birds
If you want to add interest to your garden in winter, how about adding a winter flowering shrub such as Mahonia, Daphne bholua, Hamamelis (witchhazel) or Sarcococca (Christmas box). These provide fragrance and colour, as well as being an important food source for the birds in winter. There is even time to do some planting before the coldest weather of the season arrives in January/February. If it is suitable and not too waterlogged or frozen, container grown trees and shrubs can still be planted.

Add height to flowering displays
Dress the house with stems from the garden, using the bare twisted branches of corkscrew hazel or willow for a vase. Use the red or yellow stems of Cornus (dogwood) or Salix (willow), which can be used inside or alternatively pushed into pots outside to add height to flowering displays.

It is traditional to plant shallots on the shortest day of the year. Shallot bulbs are planted so that just the little tip is visible above the soil at a distance of 15cm in rows 20cm apart. You may have to keep replanting them, as the birds tend to pull them out until they root!

Happy Christmas and a good gardening New Year to you all!