This Month in Your Garden – January 2025

Coastal Region- Brad Fowler

• The winter months are a great time to clean, sharpen, and perform any other general maintenance on gardening/landscaping tools. Clean, sharp tools help reduce the risk of opening plants up to disease as well as reducing the spread of disease throughout the landscape.
• Turfgrass typically does not need anything in January, but it doesn’t hurt to get materials and equipment ready for an early pre-emergent application in February.
• January is a great time to do a soil test so that any necessary amendments can be made before the growing season.
• It may be necessary to start some seeds indoors by mid-winter to make sure they are ready to go outside when spring arrives. Many vegetables, herbs, annual flowers, and even some perennials can be started indoors.
• Spring flowering bulbs like tulips and daffodils can still be planted in January.
• Don’t forget to take a break and enjoy the winter garden/landscape for what it is. Oftentimes, it can be just as beautiful and lively during the “dormant” season as it is during the spring and summer.

Wash, sanitize, and sharpen all tools so that they are ready to go when its time to use them.
Brad Fowler, ©2025, Clemson Extension

Most seed packets will give specific instructions about when to start the seeds indoors as well as when to transplant them outside.
Brad Fowler, ©2025, Clemson Extension

Midlands Region – Jackie Jordan

January is all about new beginnings and possibilities. January is also a great time to reflect on your garden and plan for new additions.

• If your New Year’s goals include starting a vegetable garden, include some herbs. Even if you don’t have a lot of space, many vegetables can be grown in containers.
• Peruse seed catalogs and look for different and exciting varieties to try this year. Maybe try starting seeds indoors this year. LED full spectrum lights are cheap and widely available, and building a seed starting station is easy.
• If you want to reduce pesticide use in your garden, attract beneficial insects and help pollinators, then your landscape will need to offer something in bloom most of the year. Inventory your blooming plants and determine if you need to add selections to fill in gaps in your landscape.
• Is this the year you want to add a butterfly garden? Butterflies need both host and nectar plants.
• Would you like to attract more songbirds to your landscape? There are many great native plants that provide food and shelter. Since our ground does not freeze, January is still a good time to plant trees and shrubs. This will allow time for the new plantings to become established before we experience summer heat. Make sure that you are picking the right plant for the right place by researching selections through the South Carolina Native Plant Society Native Plant Database. Plants can be chosen by size, light requirements, and soil conditions.
• Winterhazel, Chinese paperbush, sweetbox, and daphne are winter-blooming, highly fragrant shrubs that thrive in part shade. Consider adding a camellia to your landscape for showy blooms this time of year.
• Even though there is not much going on outside in the garden, don’t forget the many joys of indoor gardening. House plants typically need more water once the heat is turned on. Also, be careful not to place plants near drafts or too close to windows, where they might suffer cold damage.
• Many vegetables and herbs can be grown indoors with a hydroponic system.

Nuccio’s Cameo Camellia
Jackie Jordan, ©2024, Clemson Extension

Hydroponic garden.
Jackie Jordan, ©2024, Clemson Extension

Nuccio’s Pearl Camellia.
Jackie Jordan, ©2024, Clemson Extension

Spike Winterhazel (Corylopsis spicata) and Red Paper Wasp (Polistes species).
Barbara Smith, ©2024, Clemson Extension

Upstate Region – Ginger Long

• January is a good time to peruse seed catalogs and plan your spring garden. Are there new tomatoes or peppers you want to try? Order early to ensure the seeds you want are in stock.
• Cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower seeds can be started in mid to late January. Sow seeds 4 to 6 weeks before transplanting into the garden in March. Our Planning a Garden factsheet has a helpful planting chart with planting dates for coastal and piedmont regions.
• Consider adding more plants that bloom in the winter to your garden, including Camellia (Camellia japonica), Paperbush (Edgeworthia chrysantha), Winter Jasmine (Jasminum nudiflorum), Lenten roses (Helleborus x hybridus), and other hellebores.

Camellia April Remembered (Camellia japonica ‘April Remembered’) blooms through the winter and spring.
Ginger E. Long, ©2024, HGIC, Clemson Extension

Paperbush (Edgeworthia chrysantha) has very fragrant flowers that smell similar to a gardenia.
Barbara H. Smith, ©2022, HGIC, Clemson Extension

Winter Jasmine (Jasminum nudiflorum) can be grown as a shrub or a vine.
Barbara H. Smith, ©2019, HGIC, Clemson Extension

Lenten roses (Helleborus x hybridus) bloom in winter when little else is blooming.
Ginger E. Long, © 2024, HGIC, Clemson Extension

• Houseplants can dry out when heaters are on. Be sure your plants are far from vents or fireplaces. Check if plants need to be watered more frequently. For more information on watering houseplants, see HGIC 1459, Indoor Plants-Watering.
• Inside air can be too low in humidity for many tropical houseplants. Group plants that need higher humidity together and add a humidifier to the space. Plants that prefer high humidity are ferns, orchids, prayer plants (Calathea and Maranta spp.), pothos (Epipremnum aureum), rubber plants (Ficus elastica), African violets, split-leaf philodendron (Monstera deliciosa), air plants (Tillandsia ionantha), and spider plants (Chlorophytum comosum).

The leaves of the prayer plant (Maranta leuconeura) fold at night, giving the plant its common name.
Barbara H. Smith, ©2022, HGIC, Clemson Extension

Pothos (Epipremnum aureum) is a very popular houseplant that can be grown in a hanging basket or trained to climb a mossy totem.
Barbara H. Smith, ©2019, HGIC, Clemson Extension

• If amaryllis have stopped blooming, remove the flower stalks. Allow the foliage to grow and store more energy for next year’s blooms. Amaryllis are cold hardy in South Carolina and can be planted outdoors after the last spring frost date (usually mid-April).

Amaryllis’ Dancing Queen’ was planted in the garden several years ago.
Ginger E. Long, ©2024, HGIC, Clemson Extension

• Have your soil tested this month to be prepared for spring. Instructions on how to collect samples are in our factsheet, HGIC 1652, Soil Testing. Take samples to your county Extension office to be sent for testing by the Clemson Agricultural Service Laboratory. When you receive the emailed results, go to the step-by-step article by the Lazy Gardener, Jordan Franklin, on how to interpret the report. Call the Home and Garden Information Center with any questions at 888-656-9988.
• If possible, do not walk across a frozen lawn. It can injure the turf.