Skip to content

Top Navigation

Midwest Living Midwest Living
  • Travel
  • Food
  • Home
  • Garden
  • Holidays & Entertaining
  • Videos
  • Spring Getaways Sweepstakes

Profile Menu

Your Account

Account

  • Join Now
  • Newsletters
  • Email Preferences
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Help
  • Logout

More

  • Win Your Dream Getaway!
  • Give a Gift Subscription
  • Magazine Issues
  • Destinations
Login
Subscribe
Pin FB

Explore Midwest Living

Midwest Living Midwest Living
  • Explore

    Explore

    • Midwest Living's Best of the Midwest Winners 2021

      Midwest Living's Best of the Midwest Winners 2021

      Read More Next
    • Best Midwest Family Vacations

      Best Midwest Family Vacations

      Read More Next
    • 25 Top Easy-Care Plants for Midwest Gardens

      25 Top Easy-Care Plants for Midwest Gardens

      Plant these low-maintenance perennials and shrubs—including hostas, peonies, yarrow, daylilies, catmint and switchgrass—for a carefree Midwest garden. Read More Next
  • Travel

    Travel

    See All Travel
    50 Midwest Resorts We Love

    50 Midwest Resorts We Love

    Our favorite Midwest resort destinations range from cozy lakeside lodges to indoor water park behemoths. Dive in to check out our top picks for a fabulous Midwest getaway.
    • Illinois
    • Indiana
    • Iowa
    • Kansas
    • Michigan
    • Minnesota
    • Missouri
    • Nebraska
    • North Dakota
    • Ohio
    • South Dakota
    • Wisconsin
    • Around the Region
    • Free Travel Info
  • Food

    Food

    See All Food
    Midwest Living March/April 2021 Recipes

    Midwest Living March/April 2021 Recipes

    • Comfort Foods
    • Desserts & Baking
    • Breakfast
    • Quick & Easy
    • Chicken
    • Soups & Stews
    • Midwest Favorites
    • Fruits & Vegetables
    • Fish
    • Grilling
  • Home

    Home

    See All Home
    30 Ideas to Dress Up Your Deck

    30 Ideas to Dress Up Your Deck

    Furnish your deck or patio with accessories and designs that add comfort and style to outdoor living. Here are 30 suggestions to get you started.
    • Quick Decorating
    • Featured Homes
    • Organizing & Storage
    • Outdoor Living
    • Seasonal Decorating
    • Room Decorating
  • Garden

    Garden

    See All Garden
    10 Trendy Plants for Midwest Gardens in 2021

    10 Trendy Plants for Midwest Gardens in 2021

    • Container Gardens
    • Flowers
    • Featured Gardens
    • Midwest Gardening Calendar
    • Garden Ideas & Inspiration
  • Holidays & Entertaining

    Holidays & Entertaining

    See All Holidays & Entertaining
    50 Easy Spring Decorating Ideas

    50 Easy Spring Decorating Ideas

    Add pretty spring flair to your home with our ideas for centerpieces, table settings, door decorations, Easter egg displays and more.
    • Easter
    • July 4th
    • Halloween
    • Thanksgiving
    • Valentine's Day
    • Christmas
  • Videos

    Videos

    See All Videos
    • How to Make an All-Butter Pie Crust
    • How to Make Pumpkin-Spice Icebox Cake
  • Spring Getaways Sweepstakes

    Spring Getaways Sweepstakes

    See All Spring Getaways Sweepstakes
    • Best Vacation Sweepstakes
    • Spring Getaways Sweepstakes

Profile Menu

Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
Your Account

Account

  • Join Now
  • Newsletters
  • Email Preferences
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Help
  • Logout

More

  • Win Your Dream Getaway!
  • Give a Gift Subscription
  • Magazine Issues
  • Destinations
Login
Sweepstakes

Follow Us

  1. Midwest Living
  2. Garden
  3. Midwest Gardening Calendar
  4. December Garden Calendar

December Garden Calendar

By Veronica Lorson Fowler
Updated November 02, 2019
Skip gallery slides
Pin
Care for houseplants and bulbs

How to keep your plants happy over the winter!

Start Slideshow

1 of 4

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Care for houseplants and bulbs

Care for houseplants and bulbs

Keep poinsettias well-watered. They dry out easily. Position them in a bright spot away from cold drafts and blasts of heat from a vent or fireplace.

Don't fertilize houseplants this month. Let them have a little break, as they would in the outdoors.

Check on forced bulbs you have in cold storage. Keep soil lightly moist. And once the bulbs have sent up shoots a half-inch to 1-inch high, take them out and put them in the sunniest, brightest spot possible.

1 of 4

Advertisement
Advertisement

2 of 4

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Winter mulch and compost

Winter mulch and compost

Mulch with snow. Perennials love snow. When shoveling, as long as the snow doesn't have salt in it and isn't slushy, don't worry about tossing it onto perennials and small shrubs. Fluffy snow is called white mulch and actually insulates against weather extremes.

Collect ashes from your fireplace. Then put them onto your compost heap to increase the potassium content, which is valuable to plants when you reuse your compost in the garden.

Recycle your live Christmas tree. Cut off the branches and lay them over plantings as a light winter mulch.

2 of 4

3 of 4

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Deck the halls

Deck the halls

Cut evergreens from your yard and use them for indoor decorating. They make beautiful and aromatic holiday touches. Just remember that you are essentially pruning your evergreens when you take these clippings. So make clean cuts at the fork of a branch or a stem, and use your cuts to enhance the overall shape of the evergreen.

3 of 4

Advertisement

4 of 4

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Landscape care

Plant ornamental grasses

Evaluate your landscape for winter interest. Note good places to plant native grasses, evergreens or shrubs with interesting bark. Then you'll be ready with a plan when you're itching to plant in the spring.

Keep walks and plants safe. Instead of sodium chloride rock salt for your icy walks and drives, use calcium chloride, sand, or even kitty litter. It's less harmful to concrete and plants.

4 of 4

Replay gallery

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook

Up Next

By Veronica Lorson Fowler

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook
Trending Videos
Advertisement
Skip slide summaries

Everything in This Slideshow

Advertisement

View All

1 of 4 Care for houseplants and bulbs
2 of 4 Winter mulch and compost
3 of 4 Deck the halls
4 of 4 Landscape care

Share options

Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Login

Midwest Living

Magazines & More

Learn More

  • Contact Us
  • Help
  • Free Newsletters this link opens in a new tab
  • Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
  • Customer Service this link opens in a new tab
  • Renew this link opens in a new tab
  • Advertise this link opens in a new tab
  • Content Licensing this link opens in a new tab
  • Affiliate Program
  • Free Travel Info this link opens in a new tab
  • Special Promotions this link opens in a new tab
  • Sweepstakes this link opens in a new tab
  • Video
  • Home Advisor this link opens in a new tab

Connect

Follow Us
Subscribe to Our Newsletter
Other Meredith Sites

Other Meredith Sites

  • 4 Your Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Allrecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • All People Quilt this link opens in a new tab
  • Better Homes & Gardens this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Insights this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Surveys this link opens in a new tab
  • Cooking Light this link opens in a new tab
  • Daily Paws this link opens in a new tab
  • EatingWell this link opens in a new tab
  • Eat This, Not That this link opens in a new tab
  • Entertainment Weekly this link opens in a new tab
  • Food & Wine this link opens in a new tab
  • Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Hello Giggles this link opens in a new tab
  • Instyle this link opens in a new tab
  • Martha Stewart this link opens in a new tab
  • Midwest Living this link opens in a new tab
  • More this link opens in a new tab
  • MyRecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • MyWedding this link opens in a new tab
  • My Food and Family this link opens in a new tab
  • MyLife this link opens in a new tab
  • Parenting this link opens in a new tab
  • Parents this link opens in a new tab
  • People this link opens in a new tab
  • People en EspaƱol this link opens in a new tab
  • Rachael Ray Magazine this link opens in a new tab
  • Real Simple this link opens in a new tab
  • Ser Padres this link opens in a new tab
  • Shape this link opens in a new tab
  • Siempre Mujer this link opens in a new tab
  • Southern Living this link opens in a new tab
  • SwearBy this link opens in a new tab
  • Travel & Leisure this link opens in a new tab
Meredith Midwest Living is part of the Meredith Home Group. © Copyright 2021 Meredith Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policythis link opens in a new tab Terms of Servicethis link opens in a new tab Ad Choicesthis link opens in a new tab California Do Not Sellthis link opens a modal window Web Accessibilitythis link opens in a new tab
© Copyright . All rights reserved. Printed from https://www.midwestliving.com

View image

December Garden Calendar
this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines.