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NOVEMBER
Star plants
Cortaderia selloana
‘Sunningdate Silver’
• Pampas grass
Euonymus alatus
Chelone obliqua
November can be a damp, raw month. Flowers may be scarce in the garden but there are many berries, evergreen foliage and trees with decorative bark to add interest on the dullest of days.
By this month there is still some colour in the garden, especially from the asters – or Michaelmas daisies – if the weather has been reasonable.
November is a good time to:
- Protect tender plants from frost – learn more here!
- Tidy the garden for winter
- Plant tulip bulbs
- Clean or chuck old pots and trays
- Press on with winter digging
- Plant fruit tress and bushes
November Weather Watch
Some November days can be damp and raw, especially with low cloud cover. Frosts can be quite frequent at night, especially when it is calm and clear. Cold winds, especially those from the east, will make it feel much colder than it is.
How to protect kniphofias (red-hot pokers) from frost
In colder parts of the country kniphofias may not be
reliably hardy, especially when young, but they can
easily be given some protection. Gather up the foliage
and tie it together quite firmly.
This will protect the crown of the plant, so if the foliage is damaged by hard frosts the crown should be unaffected. Protect other slightly tender herbaceous plants like penstemons too. Bracken or straw placed over the plants and held in place with netting, or a layer of a dry loose mulch such as leafmould or bark chippings, will give a good degree of protection from hard frosts. Check the plants from time to time through the winter to ensure no diseases have set in.