12 Plants for the 12 Days of Christmas

12 Plants for the 12 Days of Christmas is a seasonal blog with planting ideas for a themed garden with year round interest. There are definitely some you haven’t thought of in relation to the Twelve Days of Christmas song!

I appreciate some people get confused as to when the Twelve Days of Christmas actually are. The First Day of Christmas is Christmas day itself, which makes the Twelfth Day of Christmas January 5^th. Traditionally, this whole period was one of festivities.

And if you’re inspired to add these plants to your garden, you have an excellent reason to visit local plant nurseries and garden centres in the New Year! For example, you may have Christmas money to spend or have been treated to gardening gift vouchers or you could even re-instate the excellent custom of New Year’s Gift giving. But read this first!

12 Plants for the 12 Days of Christmas

Whilst the theme is light-hearted, seasonal and festive, the list of plants may well spark some ideas for updating the planting in your garden. To help you with that, there are links at the end to articles on some of the plants mentioned and to other garden inspiration, including specific winter interest.

As you probably know, I encourage supporting wildlife as part of the garden designs and planting designs I create. No surprise then to find that at least some of the plants support winter active pollinating insects or offer habitats for hibernators.

All the shrubs, trees, herbaceous perennials and edibles I suggest will grow in most British gardens. Where they are especially needing of a particular type of soil, I mention that. I should also point out that, just because a plant comes into Day 10, does not mean you need to plant 10 of it!

But firstly lets remind ourselves of the 12 Days of Christmas rhyme itself –

First Day – a partridge in a pear tree
Second Day – two turtle doves
Third Day – three French hens
Fourth Day – four colly or calling birds
Fifth Day – five gold rings
Sixth Day – six geese a laying
Seventh Day – seven swans a swimming
Eighth Day – eight maids a milking
Ninth Day – nine ladies dancing
Tenth Day – ten lords a leaping
Eleventh Day – eleven pipers piping
Twelfth Day – twelve drummers drumming

12 Plants for the 12 Days of Christmas

First Day – a Pear Tree

Okay I admit it’s obvious but pear trees, Pyrus communis, do well in the British climate. They can be grown as standard or bush form if you have room for a garden orchard. Trained against a wall or fence as an espalier in a decorative kitchen garden or at the back of a mixed flower border. And even grown in a pot on a balcony on a dwarfing rootstock when trained as a cordon.
As the majority of pear cultivars can be eaten fresh from the tree or used in cooking they’re worth the space even in a small garden. by the way, roast partridge with pear sauce is an excellent Christmas dinner!

wild pear tree, fruit, pear blister mite, pests and diseases, Pyrus communis

Second Day – the Dove Tree

Davidia Involucrata, also known as the Dove Tree, Handkerchief Tree or Ghost Tree. The actual flowers are small, and it is the creamy-white, ovate bracts surrounding them which gave rise to its name of dove tree.
A deciduous tree, its spreading form looks attractive decorated with lights at Christmas. Or, if you prefer, bird feeders! NB, when deciding if it will fit in your garden, pay as much attention to the spread as to the height!

Cornus davidia involucrata, dove tree, handkerchief tree

Third Day – Hen and Chicks

I dithered a little over which ‘hen’ plant to choose, but Sempervivum won. Known as Hen and Chicks and Houseleeks, there are hundreds of varieties and cultivars and they are easy to grow and low maintenance. Native to the French Alps, evergreen Sempervivum are an obvious candidate for rock gardens and growing in the crevices of walls. But try them in containers too and in raised beds over recycling bins.

Fourth Day – Colly Birds

This day’s gift could refer to Colly birds or Calling birds (singing birds), but I’m using Colly birds. The word ‘colly’ means “black as coal or soot” which gives me the opportunity to suggest a black foliage plant: Ophiopogon planiscarpus ‘Nigrescens’ to be precise. Also known as ‘Black Dragon’, ‘Ebony Knight’, ‘Arabicus’, or Mondo grass it is a low growing evergreen. For the darkest foliage, grow this Ophiopogon in very well-drained soil in full sun.

Fifth Day – Gold Rings

Berberis thunbergii ‘Golden Ring’ is a deciduous shrub which is equally good in the border or grown as a thorny hedge. It has purple leaves edged with gold and gold-yellow flowers in the spring. This, and indeed virtually all Berberis, do well in coastal, maritime gardens and windy sites.

Sixth Day – Geese

It had to be the Gooseberry! The gooseberry bush, Ribes uva-crispa, Ribes grossularia, is shade tolerant so could be a useful fruit bush for you to grow if your kitchen garden area is not all in full sun. Home grown fruits are sweet and juicy, and there are a good selection of culinary and dessert varieties to choose from.

Although I’ve chosen the gooseberry bush, it is unlikely that the fruit is named after the bird. Unlike some other plants with common names such as goosefoot, the leaves of the gooseberry do not resemble a goose’s foot. However, it is quite possible that the fruit is named for the bird and the sauce eaten with the delicacy of green geese.

groseilles a maquereau, 113697, x700, gooseberries

We’ve reached the halfway point of our 12 Plants for the 12 Days of Christmas!

Seventh Day – Swimming Swans

Question – do I choose a plant that swans enjoy eating, a plant named for swans or merely an aquatic plant?
In the end I decided on a plant that met two of the criteria: a hardy waterlily, Nymphaea ‘Black Swan’. This has dark red flowers with a slight fragrance. The lily pads (leaves) are a dark green-maroon.

Eighth Day – Maids a Milking

Nasturtium ‘Milk Maid’ or Tropaeolum majus ‘Milk Maid’ is an easy to grow from seed annual with soft buttermilk yellow flowers. Good for hanging baskets, but make the soil poor or you’ll get lots of leaves and few flowers.

Ninth Day – Dancing Ladies

Primula seiboldii ‘Dancing ladies’, the Dancing Ladies Primrose is a woodland perennial. This tells us it is shade tolerant, so whether you have a woodland garden or a semi shady spot in your garden, you can enjoy these pretty Primroses with their fringed, pink-flushed, white flowers in late spring.

Tenth Day – Leaping Lords

Arum Italicum is a variegated form of the more commonly seen Arum maculatum. Also known as Lords-and-ladies and cuckoo pint it fits into our themes as if you don’t keep an eye on it the plant ‘leaps’ across your garden. It spreads by rhizomes and the glossy berries.
All parts of the plant are poisonous, so keep small children away from the tempting berries, or simply remove them as I do. This also reduces the spread of the plant. I grow my Arum Italicum in a sink garden in a shady corner to keep it under control – which works very nicely and brightens up the corner to!

Eleventh Day – Pipers

Piper is the genus name for pepper plants, in particular, the ones that we use as a spice in the kitchen. Piper nigrum, the black pepper we all know, really needs to be grown in a conservatory for the fruit to ripen. But there are others that could be grown as annual climbers outside and even produce a crop of pepper berries in a good summer.

Twelfth Day – Drummers

Because they are so wonderful in the late summer and autumn garden, I’ve gone with a dahlia – Dahlia ‘Drummer boy’. This has rich red flowers the size of a dinner plate so it will probably need to be supported. Random fact: Dahlia ‘Drummer boy’ was introduced in Australia sixty years ago.

We’ve done it! That’s all of our 12 Plants for the 12 Days of Christmas

And I hope it gave you food for thought as well as food plants and ornamentals for your garden.

What next?

As real gardeners know, gardens are never really ‘put to bed’ for the winter. It’s possible to have flowers blooming nearly every day of the year. Which is enjoyable for humans and a real boon to those pollinating insects who brave the weather.

And if you’d like help with designing a winter border with a festive theme, do get in touch!

Perhaps you have Christmas money to spend or a birthday coming up? Plews bespoke Gardening Lessons, where your classroom is actually your own garden make a wonderful and practical gift. We help you with both gardening basics and more ‘expert tasks’, depending on what you need. Have a read through this pdf download for info.

For further gardening advice and inspiration, check out Plews Potting Shed blogs, including the selection below. You could come and find us on Instagram Pinterest and Facebook too.

Feeling nosey? You can have a peek at the progress of my garden renovation, Spitfires and Slow Worms, on Instagram and Facebook

You’ll get to see it in person if you come to the Plews Gardening Workshops

Plus get your local garden club, allotment, WI, U3A or other group to ask me along to give a talk (and bring plants 😉)