Gardening Tips for December

Wildly fluctuating temperatures cold enough to freeze a bucket of water one day and warm enough to open winter sweet blossoms the next are December's hallmark. The last leaves fall from water oak trees mid-month, so that's when I schedule our final clean-up for the year. I also like to spend time catching up on my garden journal and browsing gardening Websites. Tree Tips. You can plant bare-rooted TREES throughout this month. This is also a good time to dig and transplant small SHRUBS and trees, including wild seedlings and old boxwood. Cut It Out. Cut back by half or more all the long shoots that have formed on your Wisteria in the last few months. Rein in English Ivy that has risen to absurd heights in a tree by cutting through all the vines at ground level. Tulip Tricks. Plant Tulips before mid-month and they will probably bloom on time in the spring. Poppy Party. If you haven't yet sown seed of Shirley Poppies, now is the time. You can scatter the seed directly on garden soil, then gently rake it in. Onion Seed Starting. Start onion seed indoors. Appetizing Artichoke. Dig up and eat Jerusalem Artichokes, which are now at their tastiest. Prepare New Beds. If the soil is dry enough, dig new beds, especially those to be used in February or March. Add plenty of organic matter while digging so that only a light raking will be needed at planting time. In Celebration of Alabama’s 200th birthday, we encourage everyone to plant trees or plants that are from our native area! Native Plants for Alabama

Common Name Family Genus

Acalypha gracilens Slender Three Seed Mercury; EUPHORBIACEAE Short Stalk Copperleaf Acalypha Common Three Seed EUPHORBIACEAE rhomboidea Mercury; Common Copperleaf; Rhombic Copperleaf

Acer leucoderme Chalk Maple; Pale Maple ACERACEAE Acer negundo Box Elder; Ash Leaf Maple ACERACEAE Acer rubrum var. Drummond's Maple; Swamp ACERACEAE drummondii Red Maple Acer rubrum var. Red Maple ACERACEAE rubrum Acer saccharum Sugar Maple ACERACEAE Acmella repens Creeping Spotflower; ASTERACEAE Opposite Leaf Spotflower Actaea racemosa Common Black Cohosh; Early RANUNCULACEAE Black Cohosh; Black Bugbane Adiantum capillus- Southern Maidenhair Fern; PTERIDACEAE veneris Venus' Hair Fern Adiantum pedatum Northern Maidenhair Fern PTERIDACEAE Common Maidenhair Fern; American Maidenhair Aesculus parviflora Bottlebrush Buckeye HIPPOCASTANACEAE Aesculus pavia Red Buckeye HIPPOCASTANACEAE Agalinis decemloba Ten Lobe False Foxglove OROBANCHACEAE Agalinis purpurea Purple False Foxglove; Large OROBANCHACEAE Purple Gerardia Agalinis tenuifolia Slender Leaf False Foxglove OROBANCHACEAE var. tenuifolia Ageratina altissima Common White Snakeroot; ASTERACEAE Common Milk Poison Ageratina aromatica Lesser Snakeroot; Small Leaf ASTERACEAE White Snakeroot; Wild Hoarhound Agrimonia Low Agrimony; Small Fruit ROSACEAE microcarpa Groovebur; Small Fruit Agrimony Agrimonia rostellata Woodland Agrimony; Beaked ROSACEAE Agrimony; Beaked Groovebur Agrostis elliottiana Elliott's Bentgrass; Southern POACEAE Bentgrass; Elliott's Bent Agrostis perennans Autumn Bentgrass; Upland POACEAE Bent; Autumn Bent Ajuga reptans Carpet Bugle; Bugleweed; Blue LAMIACEAE Bugle Albizia julibrissin Silktree; Mimosa FABACEAE Alisma American Water Plantain; ALISMATACEAE subcordatum Southern Water Plantain Garden Tips as of December 1, 2017