Happy Holidays to all. Here is hoping you are celebrating the Holiday Season with colorful plants in your home and landscape.  Some you might be enjoying include the poinsettia, holiday cactus, kalanchoe and chrysanthemum.  All can provide weeks of color and  be grown on into the new year. Here are some tips that should extend the life of your plants.

• Keep them in bright light but out of the direct sun.
• Keep them in a cool to warmish spot but away from air vents.
• Check the water frequently.  It's surprising how quick they dry in the home.
• Remove or puncture pot coverings to allow good drainage.
• Water when the surface soil begins to feel dry to the touch for all but the holiday cactus.  It is best watered when the soil becomes a little dry to prevent rots.
• Withhold the feedings until the new year.  Most can be given a light feeding in January except the holiday cactus.  Feeding for this plant begins in March.

Plants can help us celebrate the holiday season.

Lawn care:

• Lawns have a good green look but need water during the drier months ahead.
• Operating a sprinkler systems is limited to once a week in most areas.
• Dry spots can be moistened as needed with a hand-held hose where permitted.
• Repair bare spots left from piles of hurricane debris with sod or plugs.
• Fall is a good time to install new lawns or patch large areas due to weeds or insects.
• Feeding time is over but iron or minor nutrients can be applied to keep the lawns green.
• Brown or large patch has been spotted in St. Augustine & zoysia; control with a fungicide.
• Use chemical weed controls  for patches of weeds that cannot be controlled by mowing.
• Mowing can be reduced to every other week in most landscapes.
• Over seeding with ryegrass is normally not needed  except for a temporary winter lawn.

Fruit and vegetable gardening:

• Warm season crops may linger through fall due to late plantings.
• If crops stop producing or are affected by cold replant with the cool season crops.
• Soils were compacted by torrential rains; loosen and add organic matter before replanting.
• Small but successive vegetable plantings guarantee continual harvests.
• Tomatoes, peppers & eggplants stop producing during cool weather; replant in March.
• Continue herb plantings in ground or in containers; they love the cool weather.
• Harvest herbs frequently to encourage fresh growth; preserve or share extras.
• Caterpillars and mites are frequent fall pests; control with natural sprays.
• Start seeds of the cool season crops as needed to have transplants available.
• Trellis peas and similar vining crops to harvest  the most from garden plots.
• Gardeners with limited space can grow their favorite vegetables in large containers.
• Use clean containers and fresh potting soil to reduce pests and encourage growth. 
• Feed vegetable gardens every 3 to 4 weeks with composted manure or a general fertilizer.
• Feed container plantings every other week or use a slow release fertilizer as labeled.
• Delay deciduous fruit tree prunings until next month; citrus pruning until mid February.

Landscape plantings:

• Lots of twigs are hanging in trees; remove or let them gradually fall.
• Remove large limbs that may fall to damage property or injure residents and visitors.
• Wood chips from fallen trees are best added to compost piles to decompose before use.
• Thick layers of fresh wood chips bind up nutrients that inhibit plant growth.
• Fresh wood chips can be used as walkways and once decomposed in planting sites.
• Fall and winter are a good times to replace lost trees.
• Replant with a majority of hurricane proof trees and shrubs.
• Shrubs heavily damaged by wind and debris many need pruning to near the ground.
• Revive dreary looking landscape with cool season color.
• Consider fresh color combinations like pink petunias, dusty miller & snapdragons.
• Avoid planting the same flowers each year in the same spot to reduce pest problems.
• Incorporate organic matter with older annual beds and sandy soils to encourage  plant vigor.
• Add holiday poinsettias to the landscape in their pots to easily remove during extreme cold.
• Fertilize annual flowers monthly or use a slow release fertilizer as labeled.
• Apply a slow release fertilizer to container plantings for a winter feeding.
• Pruning time is over for most plants; out of bounds shoots can be removed as needed.
• Feeding time is over for all trees, shrubs and vines.
• Water new plantings plus annuals and perennials frequently to keep the soil moist.
• Divide and replant perennials.

Foliage & house plant care:

• Move container grown plants in landscapes, susceptible to cold, to a warmer location
• Remove yellow leaves from plants already affected by cold and give a warm spot to regrow.
• Look for poinsettia selections with new bract colors to display in the home.
• Give holiday plants a cool bright location away from air vents.
• Over watering Christmas & holiday cactus can cause them to rot; wait until the surface dries.
• Delay fertilizing holiday and foliage plants until the warmer weather returns in late winter.

 December 2019 Plantings

Vegetables: Beets, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, collards, horseradish, lettuce, mustard, onions, peas, radicchio, radishes, spinach, Swiss chard and turnips.

Flowers: Alyssum, baby's breath, bacopa, begonia, bush daisy, calendula, California poppy, candytuft, carnation, chrysanthemums, delphinium, dianthus, dusty miller, foxglove, geranium, goddetia, hollyhock, Iceland poppy, licorice plant, lobelia, million bells, ornamental cabbage & kale,  pansy, petunia, salvia, shasta daisy, snapdragon, statice, stock, sweet pea, verbena and viola.

Herbs: Anise, arugula, basil, bay, chives, cilantro, coriander, dill, fennel, garlic, lavender, mint, oregano, parsley, rosemary, sage, sweet marjoram, thyme and watercress.

Bulbs: African iris, amaryllis, anemones, bulbine, crinum, day lily, paper white narcissus, ranunculus, society garlic, spider lilies, rain lilies;  refrigerate for future planting -  Dutch iris, tulips, daffodils and hyacinths.