December 2023 — Monty Don
DECEMBER JOBSCHRISTMAS TREESThe hottest Christmas timber are,Norway Spruce (picea abies), The Nordman Fir (Abies nordmanniana,) or the Colorado Spruce (picea pungens). All three are superb, have particular virtues and might final for a protracted Christmas season if taken care of correctly. All three can even develop in most gardens if they’re purchased with wholesome roots and planted rigorously as quickly as attainable after Christmas.Should you get confused between any of the Spruces (Picea) and Firs (Abies) – there may be one simple approach to differentiate the 2 species. The cones of spruces dangle down whereas the cones of Firs arise like candles. The Norway Spruce grows very quick and for hundreds of years it was the primary supply of softwood, or deal. It’s formally Europe’s largest tree and given the fitting circumstances of damp, chilly winters and damp, cool summers, it should develop to greater than 200ft tall.It is rather immune to chilly and frost-hardy though it by no means thrives when grown on chalk or limestone.Abies nordmanniana, The Caucasian or Nordman fir is far more really evergreen than the Norway Spruce in that it solely sheds its needles after about 15 years earlier than changing them. It additionally has extra horizontal and fairly extra dense branches. The impact could make a extra compact, extra evenly formed Christmas tree. It originates from the Jap shores of the Black sea and can develop even greater than the Norway Spruce, reaching 225ft. It grows on limestone in its Caucasian dwelling however just like the Norway Spruce it grows finest in moist, cool, barely acidic circumstances. My favorite Christmas tree is the Colorado, or Blue, Spruce, picea pungens. Though it comes from the southern states, it originates from a excessive altitude, so may be very hardy and grows right into a tall, very straight, fairly stunning tree, with glaucous blue needles the color of cardoon or artichoke leaves. The excessive altitude and vivid mountain gentle offers it a fairly stiff behavior which is one in every of its most important points of interest as a Christmas tree. Should you do plant one within the backyard it should develop a lot stronger if given most daylight.MISTLELTOEThe Mistletoe in my backyard has had ripe berries for the previous month – which, like every part within the backyard this yr, is unseasonal however means it’s good for Christmas. Mistletoe likes damp climate and desires a bunch to develop from. It’s not really parasitic in that it does generate a few of its personal meals by way of photosynthesis from its evergreen leaves however the roots work into the host wooden like spokes of a wheel and can, in time, constrict and kill the department – and subsequently guarantee its personal dying too. Female and male crops might be distinguished by their development – male ones dangle decrease and don’t have any berries and feminine crops carry the milky white berries and are extra upright. The berries are eaten by blackcaps and thrushes that then wipe the sticky fruit from their beaks which, in flip adhere seeds to the bark which then germinate. The simplest approach to domesticate it’s to duplicate that and rub ripe fruits containing the sticky seeds into the bark of a hawthorn, apple, poplar, Lime (tilia) or area maple. Subsequent spring a small shoot will seem and shortly set up itself. The apples in my orchard now have dozens of huge bunches in addition to within the hedgerow round it.
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DECEMBER JOBSCHRISTMAS TREESThe hottest Christmas timber are,Norway Spruce (picea abies), The Nordman Fir (Abies nordmanniana,) or the Colorado Spruce (picea pungens). All three are superb, have particular virtues and might final for a protracted Christmas season if taken care of correctly. All three can even develop in most gardens if they’re…