• Choose and plant sasanqua camellias and early long-blooming azaleas.
• Purchase poinsettias early in the month.
• Continue to plant winter vegetables.
• Cut off flower spikes that have bloomed from dwarf foxgloves and delphiniums.
• Don't prune tropicals.
• Prune grapes, low-chill raspberries, and native plants.
• Prune wisteria by cutting off unwanted long twiners. Prune roots of vines that fail to bloom.
• Mow cool-season lawns, including Bermuda that's overseeded with winter ryegrass.
• Do not mow warm-season lawns, except St. Augustine (if it continues to grow).
• Continue fertilizing cymbidiums until flowers open.
• Feed cool-season flowers with a complete fertilizer for growth and bloom.
• Feed shade plants for bloom; give adequate light.
• Feed cool-season lawns, but don't feed warm-season lawns (except for Bermuda that's overseeded with winter ryegrass).
• Don't water succulents growing in the ground.
• Keep cymbidiums damp but not soggy.
• Remember to keep all bulbs, especially potted ones, well watered.
• Water dichondra if rains aren't adequate.
• Turn off the irrigation systems of all other types of warm-season lawns once they have gone brown.
• Spray peach and apricot trees for peach leaf curl if you didn't do so in November.
• Protect cymbidiums' bloom spikes from snails.
• Control rust on cool-season lawns by fertilizing and mowing them.
• Control aphids with insecticidal soap and beneficial insects.
• Prepare beds for planting bare-root roses next month.
• Harvest winter vegetables as soon as they mature.

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Fresh holiday greens such as wreaths and garlands have a definite life span, but with the following tips you can keep them looking good so you can enjoy their wonderful scent and beauty throughout the holiday season.

If you aren't hanging or mounting your greens right away, lay them outside on the ground (best side up) in a cool shady location until you are ready to use them. Try to avoid getting the greenery wet.

Sunlight, heat and wind are the worst enemies for holiday greenery, so keep that in mind when hanging them up. Outdoors, wreaths will last much longer on doors with northern or eastern exposures. Southern or western exposures can cause greenery to dry and discolor much more quickly.

If hanging or mounting greenery indoors, be sure to keep it away from heating vents, and try to maintain room temperatures of 70 degrees or less. Also shutter direct sunlight window exposures to prevent excess discoloration.

Anti-transpirants help to slow down moisture loss, helping to maintain the color and reduce a potential fire hazard. Be sure to apply anti-transpirant outdoors at least one hour before decorating the greenery, so it can dry before you add all those personal touches to it!

Happy Holidays!

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No matter where you live, there will be seasons either too hot or too cold for extensive outdoor gardening. In southern climates, we solve that problem by populating our gardens with cacti, agaves, aloes, and stonecrops. But what if you want to be surrounded by your garden, no matter the time of year or the weather outside?

The Victorians had the answer, and now we can follow their gracious lead. There are so many varieties of plants that can be grown indoors, but today we're going to focus on just a few, the palms. These are plants that should be placed in east-west or southern-facing windows, as they generally like strong indirect light; direct light will tend to brown the edges of the leaves. They take in carbon dioxide, which we exhale, and emit oxygen, thus clearing the air. When grouped by size, their impact is that of entering an old-fashioned conservatory.

The Howea fosteriana, or Kentia palm, is one of the most elegant and durable of all indoor palms. It has a remarkable record of surviving low light, dust, central heating, drought and general neglect. As it is rather large, 5 to 12 feet indoors, place this palm in the focal position to provide the perfect backdrop to your frond forest. Surround it with the areca palm, also known as Chrysalidocarpus lutescens, which will grow 6 to 7 feet tall indoors, with long, feather-shaped, arching narrow leaflets.

The Chamaedorea elegans, or 'Bella', is a miniature palm that ranges in height from 18” to 3 to 4 feet, making it the perfect “border” palm for your frond grouping. These three choices are somewhat similar in appearance, so for that extra added “pop” why not hang a Boston fern, or Nephrolepsis exaltata bostoniensis, above them? There are numerous varieties, most with frilly or lacy fronds.

All of these palms are easy to care for; they like cool temperatures of 65 degrees to 70 degrees at night, and easily tolerate daytime temperatures of up to 80 degrees. Keep them clean and fresh-looking by periodically taking a soft cloth dampened with water and wiping both the tops and bottoms of the leaves. Keep an eye out for spider mites and mealy bugs while doing this. An alternative method is to put your frond family in the bathtub and giving them a gentle shower.

Fertilize with a complete fertilizer, one that contains nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, water-soluble being the preferred kind so that any potential for fertilizer burn is reduced.

When temperate weather once again arrives, you may move your palms outside, being careful not to shock them by exposing them to conditions that are drastically different from what they've become accustomed to. Start them in an area that as nearly as possible duplicates their indoor abode, and allow them to gradually adjust to the warmer temperatures and the brighter sun. If you move them out to your porch or sunroom at the same time as your outdoor furniture, you will have created a delightful outdoor room that carries the gardens inside. And just as with the Victorians, the elegance of these graceful guardians of a bygone era will woo you with their beauty.

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Are you tired of purchasing a cut Christmas tree every year--just to throw it away after the holidays are over? Consider buying a living Christmas tree instead. Living Christmas trees are becoming more popular every year because of their many advantages over cut Christmas trees, which include a lower fire hazard, repeat use, and an increase in value once planted in the landscape, where they can become a yearly source of cut greens for each holiday season.

After the holidays, you can leave your tree outdoors in its original container for year-round beauty and bring it back in again for a second Christmas. However, because most living trees used for Christmas trees are fast growing, they should not remain in a container for more than two years. There are a few other things to consider when planning to use a living Christmas tree indoors.

Living trees can stay in the house for only a brief period, no more than 7 to 10 days. Prolonged exposure to warm household temperatures would force new growth to develop on the tree and this growth would be apt to suffer damage when the tree is transplanted outdoors after Christmas. Longer periods in a home can lead to death of the tree.

Be sure to water the tree regularly while it is being used in the home. Line the tub or container in which you place a living tree with plastic or place a larger saucer underneath the container to keep excess water from dripping through onto your floor or carpeting. One good way to water is to dump two trays of ice cubes on the soil--this waters the tree slowly and evenly. It also helps keep the roots cooler.

Use only the newer low watt lights on your tree to avoid burning or discoloring the needles, and do not spray your tree with colored Christmas paint or snow, even if the product says it is washable.

After Christmas, if the weather should happen to be very cold, place the living tree in the basement or garage where it is cool, but not below freezing, for a few days only: Then, when the weather improves, take the tree out of the container and plant it.

Make sure that the tree will fit into your landscape. Most trees used as Christmas trees will eventually reach heights of 40 to 60 feet. The tree will be inside for a very short time compared to the time that you will have it in your landscape.

We stock living Christmas trees that grow well in our local area. With care and planning, your Christmas tree will serve as a living memory for many years.

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One needn't be a professional gardener to appreciate a houseful of greenery. In fact, most of us are stumbling along, learning a bit more each day about the plants with which we share our lives. And in return for the pleasure of form and color they add to our living environments, not to mention the fresh oxygen they release into the air, we often are too eager to reciprocate by over-tending them.

Root rot in houseplants is most commonly caused by over-watering. When a plant wilts, our first instinct is to water it, but if it does not respond to watering, and the lower leaves begin to yellow and drop, these are sure signs of root rot. The roots need both water and oxygen, and if they are given too much water, the oxygen cannot reach the root.

When first choosing your new plant, pick one with a healthy green color and which shows signs of new growth. Check the bottom of the pot to ensure that the plant is not root bound, and avoid plants with white or brown lumps on the leaves or stems.

There is no one way to water all plants. Succulents have fleshy leaves and stems that enable them to store water, while plants with large or very thin leaves usually require more frequent watering.

If you're planting in clay pots, remember that they are more porous, thus water evaporates rapidly from the sides. Plants placed in glazed or plastic pots will require less water. Plants in warm, dry, sunny locations need more frequent watering than those in cool, low-light environments.

A large plant in a small pot needs more water than a small plant in a large pot. And after rewarding you with a flush of flowering, plants may slow in growth and become dormant, hence needing less water.

Here's an easy way to tell if your houseplants are thirsty; insert your finger into the soil up to the first joint--if it is dry, time to water. Rap your knuckles against the side of the pot; if the sound is dull, the soil is moist; if the sound is hollow, time to water.

Look closely at the soil of your plant; if it is lightening in color, time to water. And lift up the pot; as the potting mixture dries, the plant lightens in weight.

Of course, choosing easy-to-care plants is the most efficacious manner of filling your home with the outdoors. We have a variety of easy-to-care-for plants that are wildly different visually, but which all provide the sense of nature that we strive for when filling our homes with plants.

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