Dec. in the Garden 🌿 leave palm trees alone 🌿 repotting orchids 🌿 the benefits of urine

NURSERY NOTES: NATURAL GARDENER has a 20% storewide sale happening now through Sunday. 🌿 FRUITFUL COMMONS: join this young, non-profit for a "gathering of growers" at 4 p.m. on Dec 13 at the very kid-friendly Meanwhile Brewing Co. Let's raise a glass to all we accomplished in 2024, they write, "and generate visions for more fruitful collaboration in the new year." Facebook event, Fruitful Commons 🌿 LEAF LOVERS CLUB meets at Batch on Dec 7, 9 a.m. - 2 p.m. This club is open to all. Apart from offering expertise, they are setting up a pop-up market with houseplants, succulents and cacti. 3220 Manor Road. Leaf Lovers Club 🌿

PALM TREES: PLEASE LEAVE THE SKIRT: Austin Bat Refuge, and many others, are passionate on this subject. The "skirts" of the palm trees provide critical habitat for 5 species of bat, and tidying them up can have a devastating effect on bat populations. Austin Bat Refuge. For a link with stronger language (warning!), a video from Crime Pays but Botany Doesn't. Let Palm Trees Be! ❦

HOW TO RE-POT AN ORCHID: gardeners are often given orchids as gifts — and it can be a challenge to keep these fussy plants alive and well. Writer Kristina Hacker guides us through 'the harrowing task' of transferring your orchid to a new home without killing it. Gardenista ❦

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PEE FOR PLANTS? For years organic gardeners have been aware of the unique properties of their urine. It is rich in nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, the very same NPK that you see on commercial fertilizers, and it's easy for plants to absorb, writes Chris Hull. Organic Authority ❦

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December in the Garden

by Chris Winslow

Some advice from horticultural sage and former owner of It's About Thyme Nursery about what to do in the upcoming month.

1. Replace summer annuals with winter bloomers if the frost has burned them. Top performers are dianthus, flowering kale, flowering cabbage, pansies, snapdragons, violas, and stock. Add some rich compost and bone and blood meal to the soil to give the new plants a boost.

2. Plant bulbs: There is still plenty of time to plant those spring flowering bulbs. Look for narcissus, daffodils, tulips, anemones, ranunculus, jonquils, and muscari.

3. Cut back perennials: If the frost and freezing weather has damaged the tops of your flowering perennials, cut them back to just above ground level and mulch with compost and pine-bark mixed. This will conserve soil moisture and keep the roots healthy and warm.

4. Choose a living Christmas tree: This is the season to bring a tree indoors for the holidays. Why not choose a living one that you can add to your landscape in January. Some good choices: Allepo pine, Arizona blue-ice cypress, deodar cedar, blue point juniper, and Italian stone pine.

5. Rake leaves: Get outside, do some raking and inhale some of that lovely chilly winter air. Remember, un-raked leaves can damage your lawn, especially if they become wet.

6. Start a compost pile: Please don’t send those leaves (mentioned in 5) to the landfill. Use them to build a great big compost heap.

7. Move tropical plants inside… or they will die. Mandevilla, plumeria, philodendron, ficus, bougainvillea, and hibiscus will all perish if allowed to freeze. Put them in a garage or greenhouse, and provide as much light and ventilation as possible; water when dry throughout the winter. If you can’t carry them in, have some row cover (freeze cloth) close at hand.

8. Care for fruit trees: Spray them and look after them. Rake all leaves from around the base. Spray with dormant oil to kill scale insects. This should also be done on scale-infested shrubs. Inspect burford holly and euonymous, as they are prone to this.

9. Buy a little rosemary tree (trimmed). They are a delight, and make nice table decorations for Christmas. After the holidays, dig it into your culinary herb garden as a center point.

10. Rest on your laurels: On those super cold days when it’s too cold to be outside, curl up by the fire and reflect on your successes of the past year… and dream up some plans for 2025. A bigger vegetable patch? Chickens? A koi pond. An evergreen screen against the traffic? A moon garden? Endless possibilities. Happy gardening everyone! ❦