Your Garden’s November Checklist: Plants to make your garden pop
As the vibrant colours of autumn begin to fade and many plants retreat for the winter, your garden doesn’t have to follow suit. November marks a crucial time for planting, especially for shrubs, trees, and hedging, as the cool, damp soil gives new roots the perfect conditions to establish themselves while the plants are dormant.
A well-planned garden offers beauty in every season. The key to maintaining year-round visual appeal (and keeping your spirits up through the colder months) lies in selecting plants that offer structure, fragrance, evergreen foliage, or striking stem colour when everything else is bare.
We’ve curated a list of our favourites at The Big Plant Nursery that are ready to plant right now. Whether you’re looking for the vibrant winter scent of Sarcococca, the fiery red new growth of Photinia, a stately screening tree, or a low-maintenance, brightly coloured shrub, these top choices will ensure your garden remains a source of beauty and life straight through to spring.
At The Big Plant Nursery we have plants of all shapes and sizes, here are our top choices that will look great in your garden in November:
Shrubs
Cornus (coloured stems) – Great for adding colour and interest without foliage.
Daphne × transatlantica ‘Summer Ice’ – A compact, semi-evergreen shrub admired for its delightful fragrance and nearly continuous blooms. With glossy, dark green leaves edged in creamy white, provides year-round interest. Its star-shaped, pale pink to white flowers appear in abundance from spring through autumn, releasing a sweet, captivating scent that attracts pollinators. Low maintenance, it is an excellent choice for borders, or as a focal point in smaller gardens.
Sarcococca confusa – An evergreen shrub prized for its glossy, dark green foliage and delightful winter fragrance. This low-maintenance plant produces small, creamy-white, highly scented flowers from late winter to early spring, attracting pollinators. The blooms are followed by shiny black berries, adding seasonal interest. An excellent choice for shady borders, woodland gardens, or containers. Its dense, bushy growth also makes it ideal for low hedging. Height and Spread 1.5m.
Viburnum tinus ‘Eve Price’ – An evergreen shrub known for its year-round beauty and fragrant blooms.
Climbers
Pyracantha Saphyr Orange (‘Cadange’) – Bright orange berries follow, providing valuable food for the birds throughout autumn into early winter making it an ideal plant for wildlife gardens. Great for screening, its thorns act as a natural security barrier where defence is needed.
Pyracantha ‘Golden Glow’ – Pyracantha ‘Golden Glow’ is an upright and spreading evergreen shrub with eliptical leaves and spiny stems. Small white flowers are produced in late spring and early summer followed by clusters of yellow berries which last throughout Autumn and into Winter, if the birds don’t get them first!
Deciduous Trees
Acer griseum – A small spreading deciduous tree with attractive peeling, paper like bark. Leaves turn a brilliant red and orange in autumn.
Betula nigra (River Birch) – A bushy, deciduous tree known for its distinctive peeling bark and tolerance to wet soils. The variegated leaves are dark green edged with creamy white and when young they are tinted with pink, turning to yellow in the autumn. The bark starts off a pinkish orange later maturing to dark brown, providing a glorious contrast with the variegated leaves. Height 8-12m Spread 4-8m. Will grow in a wide range of situations including by the water or in a drier, well-drained position. Prefers acidic to neutral soils. Full sun or partial shade.
Prunus serrula (Tibetan Cherry) – This captivating deciduous tree is celebrated for its distinctive and ornamental features. It boasts a polished, mahogany-coloured bark that exfoliates in thin, coppery strips, creating a unique and eye-catching visual texture. The leaves are dark green, turning yellow in the autumn. Clusters of small, white flowers bloom in spring, contributing to its seasonal charm. This is a sought-after choice for gardens, providing year-round interest and natural beauty. Height 4-8m. Grow in well drained or moist but well drained soil in full sun or partial shade.
Ornamental Grasses
Grasses are the glue that holds many gardens together, adding texture and movement through summer, then body, drama and colour from late August through to December. Ornamental grasses are also great at filling out beds and borders when they become sparser during the winter months. Generally happy in pots but definitely provide more impact as part of a border planting scheme.
Anemanthele lessoniana – Pheasant’s tail grass is a fantastic ornamental grass that provides colour, movement and structure. With evergreen foliage which emerges green but becomes striped with yellow, orange, and red with age it’s a super grass for year round interest. Sprays of airy flowerheads appear in late summer. Clump forming it’s easy to divide and multiply, it’s our ‘go-to’ grass of choice! Grow in full sun to partial shade in well drained fertile soil. Mature Height: 50cm
Stipa tenuissima ‘Pony Tails’ – Also known as Mexican feathergrass or ‘Ponytails’ due to its light airy habit, this grass’s thread-like fronds arch elegantly and appear to dance in the wind. A perfect choice for softening a hard landscape, creating movement and interest. It is an extremely versatile plant and thus used in many planting schemes. Mature height 60cm.
Lomandra longifolia Platinum Beauty – An evergreen grass like plant with variegated shades of blue and green. It’s drought tolerant and can thrive in various soil types making it a hardy and versatile choice for your garden. Due to it’s strong root system it is effective at soil erosion control. Suitable for borders and focal points.
Carex testacea ‘Prairie Fire’ (Ornamental Grass) – Carex testacea ‘Prairie Fire’ is one of the best evergreen plants for adding colour and interest to the garden during the winter months as it forms a dense, arching mound of eye-catching bright orange-green foliage. With insignificant brown flower spikes appearing in summer and drooping elegantly with age, it retains colour and adds contrast to any planting scheme. Like other Carex, it prefers full sun but can tolerate partial shade and thrives in moist, fertile, well-draining soils. Mature Height: 50cm.
Conifers
Pinus mugo ‘Mops’ – Similar to ‘Gnom’, ‘Mops’ has a naturally rounded shape, is slow growing and extremely hardy. In the spring, the new upright growth (candles) emerge with a striking silvery-green sheen before darkening. This seasonal colour change adds a lovely burst of soft light and interest to the plant. ‘Mops’ has been granted the prestigious Award of Garden Merit (AGM) by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). This award signifies that it is a proven, reliable, and excellent plant for the garden. Prefers well drained soil in full sun. Height and Spread 1m.
Pinus parviflora ‘Negishi’ (Japanese White Pine) – This specimen embodies the refined beauty of Japanese garden aesthetics in a dwarf, manageable form. It is a highly architectural, slow-growing conifer with distinctive silvery blue-green or steel blue needles. This cool, muted colour provides a striking and sophisticated contrast to the deeper greens and brighter colours found in a garden. The needles are relatively short (clustered in fives) and slightly twisted, giving the overall canopy a soft, fluffy, or ruffled texture that looks elegant and inviting. It grows in an irregular, open, and broadly conical or upright spreading habit with layered branching. This asymmetrical, natural shape is highly prized in Japanese and contemporary garden designs making it a standout specimen that adds a sense of tranquillity and artistry to any landscape.
Picea pungens ‘Edith’ (Colorado spruce) – Ideal for rock gardens, borders, or containers, it thrives in full sun to partial shade, tolerates most soil types (especially moist, well-drained acidic soil).
Feeling inspired?
If you would like to start the first step of your journey with us then get in touch to book our consultancy service.
For just £75*, our experienced horticulturalists will provide tailored guidance to bring your vision to life. Whether you’re interested in fast-growing solutions for quick impact, seeking the enduring beauty of evergreen plants or looking to add colour and fragrance, we can offer expert advice.
**£75 fee applies if you live within a 15-mile radius of our office. Additional fees apply outside this area.
All costs include VAT.
