All of a sudden, the holidays are upon us again!. Holiday music, evergreen scent and the smell of hot chocolate fill the air. Christmas trees, holly, poinsettia and mistletoe are the plants of the moment. Friends and family gather to wish each other well. Enjoy!

Happy Holidays
For festive holiday decorations try this simple trick: Drape branches pruned from pines or junipers on the mantel or railing. Finish with pine cones, glass ornaments and a touch of ribbon. A holiday decoration that’s easy and practical.

Consider a small live Christmas tree this holiday season. If you need screening in a certain area or a tree replaced in your yard, a live tree is the solution. Over a few years, a staggered row of trees will be a living reminder of family holidays past.
Dig a hole two to three times the size of the burlap ball and twice as deep with loose soil in the bottom. Pile the dirt removed next to the hole and cover securely with a tarp or plastic. Cover the hole with plywood. For best results, choose a small tree. Keep the tree on a porch or in a garage until a few days before the holiday. Water well during the time tree is indoors. Do not keep the tree indoors too long. By keeping the tree in the house for a just a few days, it will adapt well to being planted outside. After the holidays, place the tree in the garage for a day before planting. Water during dry spells when the temperature is above freezing. Continue to water the tree well for the first year, during dry periods afterward. They grow fast and are guilt-free.

Gifts for Gardeners
Gardening friends have commented that they seldom receive garden related gifts. Family members and friends may assume the serious gardener has everything they need, but this may not be so.
A few suggestions for the green thumbs on your list:

Gloves: Even the best equipped gardener runs out of cloth or canvas gloves used in the garden. The best ones are cloth with nubbly fingers. They come in a three pack, are inexpensive and indispensable.

Gardening care package: String, plant stakes, gloves, seeds, bulbs, marking pen in a small basket.

The winter darkness makes for lots of extra reading time in our household. Books and magazines keep the garden spirit kindled. If you don’t know your gardening friend’s exact areas of interest, you can’t go wrong with a gift certificate to a bookstore or nursery center.

A couple of especially good books we’ve found:
A Treasury of Gardening from Publications International, Ltd. is a comprehensive collection of articles covering a wide range of gardening topics, from planning your landscape to specific “how-to’s” describing step-by-step procedures to use for successful results.
Colorful illustrations accompany the text and there are many descriptive color photos.
Highly recommended for the serious and the weekend gardener.

For the perennial gardener: The Perennial Garden - Color Harmonies through the Seasons by Jeff and Marilyn Cox. A thorough month-by-month guide to keeping your garden in bloom throughout the year. An extensive plant list accompanies the text.
A subscription to a gardening magazine keeps the gardening spirit alive. Garden Design and Fine Gardening are both beautiful magazines, featuring exotic gardens and sophisticated tastes. Horticulture concentrates on plants and focuses on many unusual , exotic and old fashioned varieties. Although not strictly a gardening magazine, Architectural Digest often features celebrity and foreign gardens that are beautiful to behold and dream about.

Many catalogs, gardening or otherwise feature indoor blooming plants that are easy to grow and provide a welcome colorful relief to the winter gray. Amaryllis produce large colorful flowers on a tall graceful stem. Blooms are produced in about 4-5 weeks and they grow so quickly, you swear you can watch them get taller. Paperwhites and narcissus send up several stalks from rocky soil. Nurseries, florists and discount houses are good places to look.

A Holiday wish from the Master Gardener:
Keep life simple and love in your heart. Pay attention to the little things. Do a good deed, say a kind word, share a smile.

Robin Milliken is a Landscape Specialist and Master Gardener
The Master Gardener appears monthly in The Olathe Daily News.
© H&R Lawn and Landscape

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