What gift can you get a gardener for Christmas?

AS YOU sit by the fire enjoying your glass of mulled wine and mince pie, now’s a good time to start planning your garden for next year – and there are plenty of ideas out there in books.

So, put some late additions on your Christmas wish list to satisfy your own gardening needs and to help create a new chapter in your garden. Here’s just a few of the latest books to provide inspiration.

Coffee table
One of this autumn’s most talked-about botanical books is The Cabaret Of Plants: Botany And The Imagination by Richard Mabey (Profile, £20), which draws on plants in history, art and literature. Mabey, author of Flora Britannica, explores plants that have awoken our sense of wonder and changed our ideas about science and beauty. Picked from every walk of life, the self-contained chapters feature everything from weeds to water lilies, featuring prints and drawings.

Find out the intricacies of how flowers communicate with their pollinators in award-winning wildlife photographer Heather Angel’s dazzling tome, Pollination Power (Kew, £25). Through her stunning photography, see how plants use colour, shape and guiding lines to attract insects, which gather nectar in most unusual ways.

The Private Gardens Of England, edited by Tania Compton, (Constable £75) is a glorious celebration of the art of gardening through some of the country’s hidden horticultural jewels. Some 35 English private gardens, thoughtfully selected by the writer and designer Tania Compton, are vividly described in the words of their owners, who bring a sense of intimacy to their own creations, as well as their collaborations with leading garden designers.

Grow your own
If you’re thinking of getting an allotment, or you’re wondering what to grow on your existing plot, The RHS Allotment Handbook & Planner (Octopus, £12.99) is an invaluable guide. Experts from the Royal Horticultural Society take all abilities through the different stages, and the book includes a planner setting out seasons, what should be sown and grown and when.

Design
Anyone looking for inspirational design will welcome The Art Of Gardening by R William Thomas (Timber, £25), which focuses on Chanticleer, a 37-acre public garden in Pennsylvania, renowned for encouraging experimentation in design and many areas including a fantasy garden, formal borders and woodland shades. Readers will learn how to make the most of a landscape’s natural features, integrating structures and creating themes to tie areas together, as well as tips on the right plants for specific purposes.

Practical
If you’ve never grown plants of any sort, edible or otherwise, bag a copy of Frances Tophill’s First-Time Gardener: How To Plan, Plant And Enjoy Your Garden (Kyle, £16.99). Whether you’ve bought your first home, are new to renting or just feel you should do something about the jungle outside your door, Frances will help you create an original garden, from the initial site survey through to the design, hard and soft landscaping, building, planting and aftercare.

Quirky
If you want to dig out some fascinating facts about gardening, look no further than The Sceptical Gardener (Icon, £12.99) by The Telegraph’s columnist Ken Thompson. He asks – and answers – questions like, ‘How can a gardener improve the flavour of their veg?’ and ‘What do bees do that improves strawberries?’ It’s a dip-in miscellany of gardening titbits, perfect if you want to spout unusual green-fingered facts at the relatives.

BEST OF THE BUNCH: ORCHID

ORCHIDS have become increasingly popular in the last decade as home-owners realise that most of the popular types in this country are not difficult to maintain.

They also add a touch of elegance in the house over the festive season. The most popular orchid pot plant is the phalaenopsis, which can produce flower spikes in any season, usually reflowering within the year.

They grow best in indirect sun, with daytime temperatures above 20C and not below 16C at night. Water thoroughly once a week, plunging the pot into water so the roots absorb the moisture, but keeping the surface dry.

Drain thoroughly for around 15 minutes and then put them back in their resting place. Orchids can be repotted every other year between March and June, but not when in flower.

When they’ve finished blooming, cut the flowering stem with secateurs just above the second node from the base of the plant.

GOOD ENOUGH TO EAT: CELERIAC

THIS knobbly swollen root, which looks a bit like an oversized turnip, is delicious mashed with potato and garlic or grated over winter salads, its flavour is very similar to that of celery. 

But celeriac is more hardy than its cousin and can be harvested from October throughout the winter months.

It is best sown in a frost-free greenhouse or on a windowsill in pots in a propagator in March.

Transfer single seedlings to larger pots when they are big enough to handle, maintaining temperatures of 15-18C and plant outside after the last frosts.

Grow on in full sun if possible in fertile, moisture-retentive soil rich in organic matter.

Keep the soil moist throughout the seasons and mulch before summer. When the plants are mature, remove the outer leaves as they fall, exposing the crown.

Harvest from October to the following March, covering the celeriac with straw during the winter months.

WHAT TO DO THIS WEEK

IF ANY of your pansies have the fungal disease pansy sickness, in which the whole plant turns yellow and dies off, dispose of the plants and the soil if they are in pots, as the disease is carried in the soil.

Prune birch and acers while they are dormant to stop the wounds bleeding sap and weakening the plant.

Shred the prunings from ornamental plants and fruit trees and bushes. Use the shreddings as a mulch on flower beds.

Bring bay trees grown in pots indoors or move them to a sheltered position if really cold weather is forecast.

Continue to harvest Brussels sprouts, parsnips and leeks.

Plan any landscaping jobs which you are going to undertake next year.

If soil is workable, continue winter digging.

Keep off the lawn when it’s frosty l Fork over vacant ground to reduce the chance of pests.

Check on stored fruit and veg, discarding any showing signs of rotting

Prevent the pond from freezing over by floating a tennis ball on the surface or melting a hole by standing a hot saucepan on it for a few minutes, to allow an air hole for fish to breathe.