The Cut Flower Podcast

December in the cutting garden

• Roz Chandler • Season 1 • Episode 141

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Text Agony Aunt Roz with your Cutflower Questions.

In this episode of the Cut Flower Podcast, Roz Chandler discusses the significance of December in gardening, emphasizing the importance of preparation and reflection for the upcoming growing season. She shares practical tips for caring for plants, protecting wildlife, and planning for future business goals. The conversation encourages listeners to take a moment to appreciate their gardens and consider their strategies for the next year.


Key takeaways

December is a crucial month for flower growers.
It's time to plan for the next growing season.
Check on perennials and autumn plantings regularly.
Protect tender plants from winter weather.
Assess garden structure and make necessary adjustments.
Conduct a seed audit to prepare for planting.
December is a good time for bulb planting.
Support wildlife by leaving perennials standing.
Plan your business strategy for the upcoming year.
Take time to reflect on your gardening goals.

Click here to be one of the first to get the information about our 2026 Cut Flower Festival.


Rosalind Chandler (00:00)
Hello and welcome back to the Cut Flower Podcast. It's Roz here again and today we're talking about something a little different. December in the garden. Now I know December can feel like a really sleepy month. The temptation is to shut the gate, head indoors and wait for the spring. But actually this is one of the most important months of the year in a UK garden for any flower grower. It is a chance to pause, a chance to step back, take stock and give the garden the quiet attention it needs.

next year's rush all begins again. I always kind of think of us as fashion designers, we're always working a season ahead and now is the time to plan your 2026. So let's kick off with what I think you should do in the garden in December. Number one, checking on perennials and autumn plantings. One of the first things I like to do in December is just simply walk around the garden. Walk around, have a look, take it all in and I see a lot.

Lots of things have died and I can look at the irrigation. I can put my hands in my pockets, my hat on. I can have my cup of tea always. Earl Grey for me with skim milk. I know most of you are probably going, what? And just look. Check your autumn planted perennials, things like flocks, peonies and anything you planted late in the season. The UK frost, which will come, can cause plants to heave slightly out the soil. So remember to keep going out and having a look. You can just firmly with your foot, put them back in the ground.

around the crowns if needed. This tiny act now saves a lot of faffing around in March. Number two, protect your tender plants. So first of all, we've bought some of our tender plants indoors into the tunnels, things that were in pots, we have a lemon tree, we put our pelagoniums in there, but we will bring them even further into the house because they really need protecting. But have a look around, think what's going to need to be fleeced in the winter and have you got enough fleece?

Now things that need fleece are things like pitosporum or eucalyptus. In the winter before last we lost all of ours and it's not going to happen to me again. So stormy British weather loves nothing more than to relocate your fleece to a village next door. So make sure pots are lifted onto feet to prevent water logging and double check your greenhouse vents and doors are snugly shut. A bit of prevention now means fewer sad plants later. So if you're using fleece,

do anchor it down, do make sure that there's not going to be wind getting everywhere. Wind is actually probably worse than cold for plants. So look at your garden structure. And what do I mean by that? I mean, winter is the truth teller of the garden. When the annuals die back and the perennials retreat, you really will notice where you need height in your garden, where the borders could be a little bit deeper and where you might want to add structure, perhaps an arch or a trellis.

or even a hedge to create movement and space and that's in your garden. But whilst you're looking at your cutting patch, think about things like support structures and what you grew there that year and what things were like. Take lots of photos. It's nice to take photos and video in December from one spot and then go back to the same spot in the spring and then in the summer and see how far you've come. One thing that winter is good for

is a little bit of seed sorting and stock taking. We use fridges that we buy on Facebook Marketplace and we have trays and trays of seeds in there and we really do need to sort them out. And I find December perfect for seed audit. Go through all your remaining packets, check the dates and remind yourself what actually performed well this year. There are some seeds that don't last well, things like Orlaia for instance, not great to keep the seeds and then replant them. This is the month to order those

biennials and hardy perennials before they sell out. And remember sustainability starts with only buying what you genuinely sow. No guilt packets sitting in the drawers, but there's loads in mine. So I'm going to hold my hand up. I have got better at it, but it's good to do a little seed audit and say, okay, well, what am I growing next year? It's too late now to get biennials for June next year in the UK to actually flower. So you will need to buy them as plants.

Number five, a little sowing if you really want to. I do get the itch over the Christmas period to get out in the tunnel and do something, but don't feel any pressure, there's no need to do any. But you can start some sweet peas, you can do some hardy perennials that might need stratification, or any trees and shrubs you're raising from seed. But honestly, if you don't sow a single thing this month, you're doing absolutely fine. It is the last chance for bulb planting December into January, as long as the ground isn't frozen.

but December is still a perfectly good time to plant tulips. Many growers actually prefer late planting because it avoids tulip fire. If you go too early, and this year in the UK it was very warm, if you went early in early November or late October, the soil was probably too warm. And you may get away with not getting tulip fire, but it is prevalent if the soil is warm. So if you've got bags of bulbs just glaring at you and we have boxes of them, this is your sign to get them in.

You can add crocuses or alliums as well if you have any extras, but it is a chance to do your bulb planting. Caring for wildlife and soil number seven. I always used to think, and it was always sort of told to you by people on the allotment and older gardeners that you actually, you know, need to get ready for winter, you need to cut it all down. But actually we don't. We don't cut any of our perennials down at this time of year. We leave them for the birds and the insects and also to protect the plant from frost.

So you've got to support the wildlife in the winter. Top up your bird feeders as well. Birds are your allies come the spring when those aphids come alive and start eating specifically your roses. Create a little log pile or leave a quiet corner untouched for overwintering insects and lightly mulch your beds with compost. Don't dig it in. The worms will do this perfectly for you. So number eight, if you're into a business, you can look at your business. can plan your

2026 strategy. What are you going to do? How are you going to do it? What crops are you going to grow? Where are you going to sell them? Have you written your 2026 and December is your CEO month in order to do that. You need to sit down, you know, what did you sell well? Which bouquets of crops were truly profitable? What did you enjoy growing and what felt like a real drag? What didn't work? It's time to map out next year. What are you going to do? Workshops, courses, events. Who are you selling to?

It's a month full of vision rather than action. We kicked off our Blooming Business course this month and we will again in the late spring. But we've been working really hard on our strategies this week, putting in all the numbers, seeing where the gaps are, and being honest with ourselves and taking a reality check on some things that didn't work and won't give us the profit we actually want.

And it's time to be creative at this time of year. So what do you want out of 2026? If you're not in business, what are your goals? Do you want more time in the garden? And speaking of events, we're talking about Blooming Business, I'm delighted to share that in January we'll be running our sixth free cut flower festival. I can't believe it's our sixth year of running here. Last year, more than six and a half thousand people joined us, which still amazes me. can't quite...

gather what six and half thousand people looks like. And this year we're going to go even bigger and welcome growers from all over the world. So this is a hobbyist, people who want to grow in their garden, people who want to set off a cut flower farm, it's all about growing. So make sure you're on my email list so you don't miss a sign up. It's going to be absolutely wonderful. And you can see the sign up to this either on our websites or you can, have two websites, fieldgateflowers.co.uk or the cut flower collective.

co.uk or the link will be in the show notes. And a gentle December challenge for you. Before I go, I'd like to leave you with a December challenge. Just take 10 minutes this week to simply walk your garden. No tools, no tasks. Just look. Notice what the structure is telling you. Notice what's working, what worked this year and what next year might invite you to change. This reflective time is part of being a grower. It's the work no one sees but shapes.

everything that follows. But do have a lovely Christmas break wherever you are. But do take time out and get out into the garden.