The Neighborhood Gardener – December
Gifts from the Garden
Instead of the usual gifts, how about giving your loved ones a gift from your garden? You can give seed packets or plantable cards filled with your favorite heirloom seeds. And even non-gardening friends would appreciate dried herbs or teas that you grew yourself. Learn how to make these gifts and more.
Holiday Gift Plants
Plants make wonderful holiday gifts; they bring a bit of nature indoors and many can be replanted in Florida landscapes. And there’s more than just poinsettias and amaryllis. Make your gift plant unique by putting it in a creative container and including a card with care information. Learn more about a few of our favorite plants that we think would make great gifts for the holiday.
Wendy’s Wanderings
As a gardener, I am delighted at this time of year because I get to bring a real, live tree into my house for at least a month, and it’s considered completely normal. Florida consumers have many choices when selecting a holiday tree: pre-lit artificial trees, unlit artificial trees, potted live trees, cut trees from out of state, and cut trees from a Florida tree farm. Wendy gets real (about Florida Christmas trees).
Plant of the Month: Rosemary
Rosemary enhances both your cooking and your landscape. This member of the mint family is recommended for experienced and budding gardeners alike since it’s easy to grow, drought tolerant, and relatively resistant to pests and diseases. Rosemary will thrive year-round, although it may need to be protected from freezes in colder areas of the state. Learn more about this hardy Mediterranean herb.
Petscaping
“Petscaping” is a term used in discussions of landscape design. The idea is to protect beloved animals from poisonous plants and harmful chemicals, while also keeping those cherished landscape plants safe from curious (and sometimes destructive) pets. This article on Gardening Solutions has the do’s and don’ts of petscaping.
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December in Your Garden
Reliable cool-season vegetables to plant this month include cabbage, collards, kale, and broccoli. Inspect regularly for pests on indoor plants. Keep in mind that plant-specific temperature, light, and humidity are key to ensuring that indoor plants thrive. December is a good time to consider performing a soil test.
For more month-by-month gardening tips, check out the Florida Gardening Calendar. Three different editions of the calendar provide specific tips for each of Florida’s gardening regions—North, Central, and South.
What’s Going On?
If your Master Gardener Volunteer program or Extension office is having an event, be sure to share it with us.