Garden Blog - December 2024

To paraphrase the ever youthful and never knowingly understated Ms. Mariah Carey, ‘’all I want for Christmas is yew, holly, ivy, and maybe a sprig of mistletoe’’. Of course, this famous chart-topping chirruper is not alone in desiring to brighten her humble abode with berries and evergreens in the darkest depths of winter, as our superstitious ancestors have been doing it for many millennia.

Here at Deene Park, we gardeners, being sticklers for tradition, will be busying ourselves in exactly the same manner, creating festive balls with which to decorate the Great Hall.

The process of making our festive balls is as follows. Two mesh hanging baskets are filled with florist’s foam and attached to each other, forming a globe. We leave the foam dry, ensuring that the final creations are not too heavy to lift into place. Heading out into the gardens, we collect a selection of evergreen foliage, berries, and coloured stems. Returning to the embryonic balls, we firstly insert coloured stems, giving an outward burst of colour. Evergreen foliage, such as bay, yew, or laurel, is used to densely cover the wire frame so that it cannot be seen. Bright coloured berries of holly or stinking iris are added for their cheeriness. Finally, we add golden yellow flowering quince fruits. Hoisting the Christmas balls into place is no mean feat, as they are quite weighty, and at over six foot across, quite bulky. However, with teamwork, we accomplish our goal. Once in place, the final garnish is added in the form of a hanging sprig of mistletoe, of course.

One of the plants utilised in our festive, is the rather inelegantly named stinking iris. It is one of two iris species that are native to Britain. With tufts of evergreen sword-life leaves, Iris foetidissima, as it’s known to botanically minded folks, is the perfect iris for a shady spot, particularly beneath trees, where other plants struggle. Blooming between June and July, its leaden-blue though to buff-yellow flowers are delicately marked with deepest blue or chocolate veining. In autumn, however, stinking iris really comes into its own, when its large fleshy seed pots split open to reveal masses of vivid orange-red seeds that remain well into winter. The name stinking iris was given because some people find the bitter smell of its crushed leaves unpleasant. That said, if you don’t go sniffing its crushed leaves, you can simply enjoy the undoubted beauty of its flowers and fruits.

Rose pruning is the main task occupying the time of we gardeners throughout December, as we have many dozens of all types in the gardens here. An air of mystery surrounds the process in the minds of many, but in reality, it’s a straightforward enough task.

First up, and easiest to deal with, are ramblers that grow freely through trees. These require no attention whatsoever, simply leave them to ramble.

Specie roses are another group requiring only minimal attention, in the form of removing dead and diseased material.

Climbing roses, trained along wires attached to walls, do need attention to keep in check. Left unpruned they will soon become a tangled mess with reduced flowering. For best results, dead, diseased, and weak material, is removed completely. Smaller branches are pruned back to three or four buds from their base, just above an outward facing bud. Long, strong, vigorous new stems, can be trained to form the permanent structure of the rose, and replace older stems that have become less productive.

Shrub roses, hybrid teas, and floribunda types, all follow the same basic principles, the aim of which is to create an open habit of growth. Always remove dead, diseased, weak, and crossing material, and prune healthy growth to an outward facing bud. Hybrid teas and floribundas then have vigorous stems reduced to between four and six buds in length, with weaker stems back to three or four. Shrub roses have a more lax habit, and are pruned less rigidly, with growth pruned back by roughly a third.

Pruning roses is a task that can be carried out at any time during dormancy, so there’s no great rush, as you have between now and February to get the job done.

Meanwhile, in the glasshouse, cuttings of tender perennials, taken not so long ago, have rooted well and been potted-up. Once established, they will be potted-up again into their final containers, before being used to decorate the ‘big house’ along with pots and urns in the gardens next year. Also coming along nicely are the spider plants that we use in our bedding displays. They are wonderfully easy to propagate, as the baby spiders are simply popped into a pot of seed and cutting compost and kept watered. They root in no time at all, and a bit like growing cress on tissue paper, they are the ideal way to introduce young folks into the joy of gardening.

On that cheery note, until next month, happy gardening!

“Before rose pruning”	After rose pruning	Festive Balls	Baby spider plants	Iris foetidissima, stinking iris	Potted-up rooted cuttings