• 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.

By Tamara Galbraith

Fresh or dried, herbs can make wonderful gifts for both the craft-lovers and cooks on your holiday list.

Rosemary is especially popular at this time of year. If you give this marvelous-smelling herb as a present, encourage the recipient to not only grow it, but to frequently take cuttings to cook with. After all, nothing wakes up holiday poultry better than a nice rub of chopped fresh rosemary.

Lavender makes a fabulous gift sewn into a sachet. The lavender maintains its wonderful fragrance for a very long time.

A few culinary herbs that stay relatively small, like sage, fennel and cilantro, placed together in a decorative planter can make a great present for anybody who enjoys cooking--if they have a sunny kitchen window, even better!

Dried herb mixes in jars and wrapped with a nice ribbon are fantastic gifts too. Share your personalized BBQ rub, creole soup spice or poultry seasoning, with instructions and recipes printed on an accompanying card.

As for presentation, there are loads of great spice containers in all shapes and sizes to pick from. Use your imagination with your herbs, and remember...Emeril's got nothin' on you!

The world's desire for safer foods and a better environment continues to build, and in turn has created a growing interest in organic gardening. Quite simply, organic gardening involves a natural approach to soil preparation, fertilizing, pest and disease management, and weed control. In the process your plants will become healthier, your garden will attract more beneficial insects and the food you grow will taste better and be safer to eat.

Soil Preparation
Organic gardening starts with amending your soil; the healthier your soil is, the happier your plants will be. Organic gardening has come a long way from the days of simply applying steer or chicken manure to one's garden and waiting weeks for the smell (and the salts) to dissipate. Rich organic soil amendments and balanced organic plant foods have all but eliminated the need for their use.

Start by adding an all-organic soil amendment, such as Gardner & Bloome Harvest Supreme or Gardner & Bloome Soil Building Compost. This could be as simple as mixing a 50/50 blend of amendment and native soil for each individual planting hole or rototilling the same blend into a large patch for a flower or vegetable garden. Many organic gardeners like to maintain a compost pile. Composting, done properly, can be an excellent way to enhance the soil and thereby improve plant health.

Feeding
Organic gardening involves using organic fertilizers instead of chemical fertilizers. The reason is simple. Organic fertilizers are more stable in the soil and become available to the plant more gradually. While they are feeding the plants, they are also improving the overall soil health. The more gradual growth in turn produces stronger plant cells, which helps the plants have a greater resistance to disease and be less tasty to garden insects.

We recommend using Dr. Earth Organic Fertilizers. They release nutrients faster than most other organic plant foods because they contain beneficial soil microbes which digest the plant food and make the nutrients available sooner to the plants. They also contains beneficial soil that feed on bad bacteria in the soil, making it a healthier place for your plants to grow.

Gardening organically can be a truly rewarding experience. Not only will your plants be healthier, but any food you grow organically will be extra-delicious--and worry-free!

December 12 is National Poinsettia Day, designated by Congress to honor the flower and Joel Robert Poinsett, botanist and the first United States Ambassador to México. Native to México, the poinsettia, with over 70 million sold annually, is the "Número Uno" flowering potted plant sold in the United States.

History of Poinsettias

The Aztecs called poinsettias "Cuetlaxochitl." During the 14th-16th century the sap was used to control fevers and the bracts ( modified leaves) were used to make a reddish dye.

Montezuma, the last of the Aztec kings, would have poinsettias brought into what now is Mexico City by caravan because they could not be grown in the high altitude.

Centuries later, Joel Roberts Poinsett became the first United States Ambassador to Mexico, being appointed by President Andrew Jackson in the 1820's; because of his interest in botany he introduced the American elm into Mexico. During his stay in Mexico, he wandered the countryside looking for new plant species.

In 1828 he found a beautiful shrub with large red flowers growing next to a road. He took cuttings from the plant and brought them back to his greenhouse in South Carolina.

Even though Poinsett had a distinguished career as a United States Congressman and as an Ambassador, he will always be best remembered for introducing the poinsettia into the United States.