• 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.

Cyclamen

Cyclamen should be kept in cool temperatures. Too much heat can cause the leaves to yellow and the plant to stop blooming.

Provide your cyclamen with as much light as possible to encourage blooming. Sunburn usually isn't a problem in winter.

Keep the plant well watered. With good care, it should continue to bloom for another month or two.

Poinsettias

Keep poinsettias away from warm or cold drafts. Keep the soil moist, but not wet. Poinsettias need well-drained soil, so if your plant was wrapped in foil, tear the foil off the bottom so it can drain.

Like cyclamen, poinsettias prefer cooler temperatures, not above 70 degrees. If possible, move your poinsettia to a cooler area at night.

Give it plenty of sun and fertilize it about once a month.

Any active houseplants will also benefit from being fertilized once or twice this winter. But don't feed the ones that are dormant. Let them get some sleep so they'll be rested and ready in the spring!

By Tamara Galbraith

It's December and chances are, you've got a beautifully decorated Christmas tree in your home. When you're ready to take down the decorations, explore all your options of how to reuse or recycle a cut Christmas tree.

Many communities across the country offer a recycling program, whereby trees are collected and ground up into mulch for municipal use. Areas with lots of manmade lakes will sometimes collect and sink old trees into waterways to slow erosion. Check with your local city government or county Extension Office to see if such a tree collection program is in place.

Also, if you have the space and don't mind "the natural look" in your landscape, lay your an old tree in a remote corner of your yard; it makes a great hiding and nesting place for birds, rabbits and other small creatures.

In either case, just be sure all non-natural decorations, like tinsel and ornament hooks, have been removed. While sparkly mulch might have an interesting look, it's not very good for the environment.