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Red Dirt Ramblings®

Firmly rooted in the Oklahoma soil

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    • The Back Garden
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December is a busy garden time

4 December, 2021 By Dee Nash

by Dee Nash
4 December, 202121 June, 2022Filed under:
  • Bulbs
  • Fall
  • Garden Design
  • Gardening
  • Weather
  • Winter

Ever since we returned from Portugal last month, I’ve been swamped. December is a busy garden time of year. November is pretty busy too with Thanksgiving and such.

Then, I caught a cold, and I’m finally recovered.

Although my garden may not seem busy in December, it really is.

Spring-blooming bulbs need to be planted sometime in December.

I’m planting spring-blooming bulbs in the perennial beds and blowing out the oak leaves. We also work to get the leaves off of the front fescue lawnette. It’s important to remove oak leaves from the garden because, unlike less fibrous tree leaves, oak leaves mat down when it rains, cover emerging plants, and suppress seed germination.

I love using shredded oak leaves as mulch on top of my garden beds, but I have so many leaves I can’t use them all. This is the sidewalk border. You’ll see it with flowering bulbs below.

I know this advice goes against everything on Facebook and the “leave the leaves campaign,” but I remove oak leaves and put them in piles where they decompose. I also shred some of the oak leaves and put them back on the garden beds. Shredded oak leaves are wonderful for breaking up clay over time. I do leave my dead perennial stems standing in the garden to protect overwintering insects and such.

Before I’m tarred and feathered, I promise you we had more fireflies than ever last summer. It was quite magical to go out each evening at dusk, sit with a glass of wine and enjoy them lighting up the night sky. I would do nothing to harm my lightning bugs.

Garden in late winter-early spring
My back garden in late winter-early spring.

Oklahoma’s weather is too warm for December this year.

Our weather is unseasonably warm because we’re in a La Niña weather pattern for the second straight year. Highs have been consistently in the high 70s Fahrenheit. For December, that’s really warm. We’re getting a mild cold front tonight, and I’m glad. I hate planting bulbs when it’s this warm outside. They tend to break dormancy early and use up some of their energy.

However, if I’d grown a fall garden, the weather would be perfect for harvest. What a difference from last year! Remember October’s double ice storm whammy? That was nuts. I’ll take a calm December weather-wise any day.

Keep your garden watered as long as temperatures are above 40F.

In the December garden, I’m planting bulbs and keeping the garden watered. Oklahoma is very dry this fall, and I want all of the gardens around the house to be well watered. That way if there is a fire, I won’t be providing extra fuel.

Narcissus and tulips really add structure to my sidewalk border.

Here are the spring-blooming bulbs I’m planting this year.

These bulbs combine with all of the previous year’s plantings of daffodils and other small bulbs.

Tulipa ‘Purple Dream’ from 2009. I planted these in the front border that year. Unfortunately, in later years, voles became a problem.

Hybrid tulips don’t typically bloom year after year, so I treat them as annuals.

I ordered a few tulips this fall: ‘Dreaming Maid‘ ‘Kansas Proud‘ and ‘Negrita,’ along with a blended selection called Love Circles. Where do they come up with these names? The first group is all shades of purple and the Love Circles collection is red and white. I like red tulips planted with purple.

Let’s be honest. I like all tulips. They just aren’t easy to grow here sometimes, and they’re kinda expensive as a bedding plant.

I now plant tulips mostly in the garage and sidewalk borders. Moles and voles don’t seem to touch these borders probably because of all the years of planting unappetizing daffodils. Also, the dirt in both spots is lightly-amended sandy, red soil, and easy to dig. Here is how I planted the sidewalk border last fall.

If you’re interested in buying some tulips, Colorblends still has some available. I just ordered the blend, Jacques and Jill.

Planting bulbs
How I planted the bulbs in the sidewalk border last fall. I’ll probably do the same this year with any tulips I get. On top of the soil is some recycled potting soil from my tomato plantings in Smart Pots.

Speaking of daffodils, I ordered fragrant orange and pink cupped ‘Cosmopolitan‘ and pale yellow ‘Moonlight Sensation.’ Both are unique which is probably why I ordered them. I order so early in fall I barely remember why I order anything.

I’m still a huge fan of historic ‘Thalia,’ and if I could only grow one daffodil, it would be this one.

‘Thalia’ daffodil with tulip foliage.

I specifically grow tiny Scilla siberica ‘Spring Beauty’ so I can see blue pollen pockets on my honey bee’s knees in early spring. It’s the little things, right?

Scilla siberica is a tiny, but beautiful bulb. It has blue pollen too.

I’m also growing sulfur-yellow Eranthis hyemalis, winter aconite, because it’s the first to flower in late winter. Sometimes, there will be crocus nearby, but frequently, Eranthis blooms first especially in protected areas like beneath the mugo pine next to the house.

Tiny yellow winter aconites, Eranthis hyemalis.

In the December greenhouse

In the greenhouse, it’s quite warm, and I’ve opened the front door all week long to keep things cooler. My tropical plants are all tucked into the greenhouse waiting for spring to come again. The roof vents can only do so much, and the side vent is broken for the time being. We need to fix it. Long story. I water the plants every other day to make sure they stay alive especially during such warm weather. When the weather cools off, I’ll reassess my watering. The cooler I keep the greenhouse in winter, the better because the plants won’t dry out, and disease problems seem fewer.

In the December greenhouse.

What’s growing indoors?

Inside my house, I have all of my amaryllis and paperwhite bulbs planted. I decided not to try forcing hyacinths this year. With such warm temperatures, it’s hard to keep them cold enough even if I use our refrigerator. Here are all of my forcing bulb archives if you’d like more information.

Hippeastrum ‘Inferno,’ ‘Miracle,’ and ‘Merry Christmas’ in January 2020.

This year, all of the bulbs for both indoors and outside were delivered in a staggered fashion. Supply chain problems I’m sure, although it seems like things are getting better. I’m growing three varieties of paperwhite narcissus. As readers of this blog know, I don’t like ‘Ziva,’ but I do love the sweeter-smelling narcissus varieties like ‘Inbal,’ ‘Erlicheer’ and others.

As for other things in my life and garden, Carol Michel and I are producing a new podcast episode each week on the Gardenangelists. If you don’t understand how to listen to podcasts, Carol wrote a great blog post detailing the process.

I hope you’re having the best December ever, and I’ll try to post a little more about my amaryllis as they bloom.

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Comments

  1. Robin Ruff Leja says

    30 December, 2021 at 10:28 pm

    I was at first puzzled how you could be busy in the December garden when I have zero garden chores right now. But now I see! I plant my bulbs in November here, after a killing freeze, and it’s usually a chilly chore. But now that December is here, it’s warm and rainy every day. Really, I’d rather have snow!

  2. Pat Leuchtman says

    5 December, 2021 at 3:43 pm

    Dee – We make good use of our fallen leaves. We have two tall homemade wire bins to fill up with leaves, and one small bin. We put leaves on our kitchen scraps in another bin and wet the covered bins from time to time. But still we have way too many leaves. They go into bags that get taken down to the town ‘dump’ and from there they go to our great Martin’s Compost Farm – and then those of us who compost get out our wallets and give Martin’s a call.

    • Dee Nash says

      6 December, 2021 at 11:26 am

      Hi Pat, all great ideas for using the leaves. Mine are in large piles in the lower pasture where they eventually break down. I also have tons all over the lower pasture. So many trees and so many leaves. I had to laugh about getting out the wallets. That’s gardening in a nutshell. Hugs and Happy Holidays!~~Dee

  3. Heather says

    5 December, 2021 at 1:52 pm

    I love Scilla for that very same reason! Blue bees knees!

    • Dee Nash says

      6 December, 2021 at 11:25 am

      Heather, there’s nothing really cuter is there?? Happy Holidays!~~Dee

  4. Linda Kinsman says

    5 December, 2021 at 10:34 am

    Hi Dee,
    Thank you for letting us know about Oak leaves. I’ll have to remove some from my front flower beds. I love your tulips too!

  5. Debbie Clem says

    4 December, 2021 at 7:56 pm

    Great article, Dee! I’ve been gardening for years and have just learned this about our oak leaves. Ugh! And your greenhouse make my heart sing. Just lovely!!

    • Dee Nash says

      6 December, 2021 at 11:28 am

      Hi Debbie, thanks for stopping by and commenting! Oak leaves are fabulous, but you have to move them off of your plants, unfortunately. What I’d give for elm or maple leaves in my beds. :)~~Dee

  6. Beth@PlantPostings says

    4 December, 2021 at 4:37 pm

    Yes, very good point about the Oak leaves. I leave some on the garden beds, but I usually rake them off some areas because they take so long to decompose. Beautiful gardens, Dee. Usually, I wouldn’t be gardening much in November and December, but we’ve been warm this year, too. Sounds like that’s about to change. Happy Holidays!

    • Dee Nash says

      6 December, 2021 at 11:28 am

      It’s been crazy warm Beth, although this morning felt more seasonable. I’ve got to get those bulbs all planted. Have a great Christmas if I don’t talk to you beforehand. ~~Dee

  7. Linda Phillips says

    4 December, 2021 at 10:19 am

    Great article. I love tulips, too, and always want to learn more about what works in Oklahoma. I planted some Clusiana last year and I am eager to see if they come back as advertised. They also produced some seeds which I don’t know what to do with. Any ideas?

    • Dee Nash says

      4 December, 2021 at 10:48 am

      Linda, I would just plant those seeds and see what happens. I’ve never planted tulip seeds. How exciting!~~Dee

      • Carol Henderson says

        4 December, 2021 at 10:57 am

        Totally agree about the oak leaves. We have two large willow oaks whose leaves smother the bushes each year. The un-shredded leaves definitely form a mat when they are wet. We move them to the compost pile. Our neighbor’s silver leaf maple tree leaves work much better for us as an immediate mulch. My husband first brought this to my attention. I told just now that he is vindicated. I read your comments too him.

        • Dee Nash says

          4 December, 2021 at 10:59 am

          Hi Carol, glad to vindicate your husband’s thoughts. Oak leaves are just too much for almost everything beneath them. Now, that they are in the compost pile, I’ll finish planting my bulbs. On the other hand, I love maple and elm leaves. They are perfect as mulch. 🙂 Happy gardening!~~Dee

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