December in the garden.

What to plant in December

• Garden Cress Lepidium sativum · herb · start indoors · zones 1 to 13

  The fastest thing you can grow indoors, giving peppery leaves in about ten days. A saucer, some damp paper and a warm windowsill is the whole method.

• Amaryllis Hippeastrum reginae · bulb · plant bulbs · zones 1 to 13

  Pot the bulb with its shoulders above the compost and keep it warm and bright. About six weeks later you get a flower stem the thickness of your thumb.

• Buckwheat Fagopyrum esculentum · vegetable · start indoors · zones 1 to 13

  Sown thickly in a tray it makes pink stemmed microgreens in under two weeks. Use hulled groats and rinse them well, because they go slimy if you skip that.

• Medlar Mespilus germanica · tree · plant out · zones 5 to 9

  An old fashioned tree that needs no pollination partner and almost no pruning. The fruit is picked hard and then left to soften indoors before it is worth eating.

• Endive Cichorium endivia · vegetable · sow direct · zones 7 to 10

  A hardy winter salad that copes with cold and short days. Cover a plant with an upturned pot for ten days before picking and the heart blanches sweet and pale.

• Willow Salix viminalis · shrub · plant out · zones 2 to 9

  Push a bare cut stem straight into damp ground and it roots without any help at all. Cut it back to the stump each year for a fresh crop of straight whips.

• Butternut Squash Cucurbita moschata · vegetable · sow direct · zones 9 to 13

  It handles heat and humidity better than other squash and resists vine borers. Let the fruit harden on the plant, then cure it in the sun for a week before storing.

• Rice Oryza sativa · grass · sow direct · zones 10 to 13

  Transplant seedlings into flooded ground once they are about 20 centimeters tall. Keep the water shallow while they establish, then let it deepen as they grow.

• Sugarcane Saccharum officinarum · grass · plant out · zones 9 to 13

  Lay stem cuttings horizontally in a shallow trench with two or three buds each. It is hungry and thirsty, and it will crop again from the same stools for years.

In flower in December

• African Violet Saintpaulia ionantha

  Year-round with good care · Pink, Purple, White, Blue, Red, Bicolor

• Christmas cactus Schlumbergera

  Late autumn to winter · red, pink, white, purple

• Christmas cactus Schlumbergera × bridgesii

  Late autumn to mid-winter · pink, red, white, purple

• Christmas Cactus Schlumbergera × buckleyi

  Late autumn to winter · pink, red, white, purple

• Coconut Palm Cocos nucifera

  Year-round in tropical climates · yellow, white

• Crown of Thorns Euphorbia milii

  Year round · red, pink, yellow, white

• Japanese Aralia Fatsia japonica

  Late fall to early winter · white, cream

• Mexican Hat Plant Kalanchoe daigremontiana

  Winter to early spring, if conditions are favorable. · Pink, Red

• African violet Saintpaulia ionantha

  Year round with proper care · purple, pink, white, blue

• Bird of Paradise Strelitzia reginae

  Winter to spring · orange, blue

• Chrysanthemum Chrysanthemum × morifolium

  Late summer to fall · Yellow, White, Pink, Red, Bronze, Purple

In fruit in December

• Catalpa

  Autumn

• Coconut Palm Cocos nucifera

  Year-round · culinary fruit

• Holly Ilex

  Fall, Winter

• Japanese Aralia Fatsia japonica

  Late fall to winter

• Nandina Nandina domestica

  Fall to winter

• Lemon Citrus limon

  Fall to winter · culinary flavoring

• Malabar spinach Basella alba

  Late summer to fall · Edible leaves and stems

• Snowberry Symphoricarpos albus var. albus

  Autumn to winter

• Sweet box Sarcococca confusa

  Autumn

• Traveller's-joy Clematis vitalba

  Autumn

December south of the equator

The same month, six months on in the seasons: what to plant in December in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the southern half of South America.

• Chicory Cichorium intybus · vegetable · sow direct · zones 3 to 10

  Sown now, chicory has time to build a solid root before the cold arrives. The bitterness softens after frost, and the roots can be forced indoors for pale winter shoots.

• Florence fennel Foeniculum vulgare · vegetable · sow direct · zones 4 to 10

  Fennel bolts if it is sown too early or ever allowed to dry out. Sow it now into rich damp soil and earth up the swelling base to keep it white and sweet.

• Love-in-a-mist Nigella damascena · flower · sow direct · zones 1 to 9

  Scatter it where you want it and forget about it. The seed pods that follow the blue flowers are as good as the flowers, and they dry perfectly for winter.

• Holy Basil Ocimum tenuiflorum · herb · sow direct · zones 8 to 13

  Tougher and more perennial than sweet basil, and far happier in real heat and humidity. Pinch the flower spikes out regularly to keep the leaves coming.

• Summer Savory Satureja hortensis · herb · sow direct · zones 1 to 10

  The classic partner for any bean dish, and it happens to grow well right next to them. Sow it thinly on the surface and press it in, because it needs light to germinate.

• Hosta Hosta plantaginea · flower · plant out · zones 3 to 9

  The one hosta grown as much for scent as for leaf, with white trumpets that open in the evening. Plant it in shade, keep it damp, and stay ahead of the slugs.

• Pigeon Pea Cajanus cajan · vegetable · sow direct · zones 9 to 13

  Drought hardy, nitrogen fixing and it doubles as a windbreak for shorter crops. Sow it at the start of the rains and it will crop for two or three years.

• Bitter Melon Momordica charantia · climber · sow direct · zones 9 to 13

  Soak the seed overnight and give the vine a tall frame with plenty of air around it. Pick the fruit while it is still pale green, before the bitterness turns harsh.

• Winter Melon Benincasa hispida · vegetable · sow direct · zones 10 to 13

  The waxy skin means the fruit stores for months in a cool dark room. Give each plant several square meters, because the vines run a long way.

• Rocket Eruca vesicaria · vegetable · sow direct · zones 1 to 11

  Fast enough to fill any gap in a bed, ready in about a month. Keep it damp and cut it as a whole row, because heat and drought turn the leaves fiercely hot.

Other months

• January
• February
• March
• April
• May
• June
• July
• August
• September
• October
• November