Gardens tend to become forgotten at this busy time of year, but they can be dressed up for the festive season by putting outdoor fairy lights in trees, which can be seen from the house, and hanging homemade wreaths in prominent places. Don’t forget the birds either by tying up a tasty fat ball or seed feeder.

Dress the house with stems from the garden and use 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. The RHS do this in their gardens and it looks very effective!

Fashion a front door wreath
The long rope-like stems of clematis can be used to fashion a front door wreath. Use florists wire to add any sprigs of holly or other things like dried Hydrangea heads, cones etc, add a tartan bow and there you have it!

A good Christmas tree for the house is the Fraser Fir tree (Abies Fraser). Apparently, it not only doesn’t drop its needles, but it also has that lovely Christmas tree smell, which is something that I think is so important in a real tree. Cut a piece off the trunk and stick in a bucket of water for a few hours before erecting it (think of it like a vase of cut flowers). Keep it in a stand with a water reservoir, don’t site it by a radiator and it will look glorious all Christmas.

Now is the time for poinsettias to flourish
Poinsettias are on sale everywhere this month. They originate from Mexico and like warm, dry, draught-free conditions. They are better bought from somewhere indoors like a garden centre, as standing on a cold market stall outside will do them no good at all.

They are very difficult to bring through to next Christmas and have strange requirements such as being kept in the dark for a length of time and then brought into the light for another spell. To be honest, life is too short – so I would say enjoy them now and send them to the big compost heap in the sky in the new year!

There is still time to do some planting before the coldest weather of the season arrives in January/February, so if it is suitable and not too water-logged, container grown dec-iduous trees and shrubs can still be planted.