Dish gardens: plant one for a friend—or treat yourself

Sunset, Dec, 2002 by Ann E. Ellingson

FULL-COVERAGE SLIP-ONS

These provide full support and are more useful for heavy jobs. Insulated liners provide warmth. Made of waterproof rubber with reinforced heels and toes.

Pictured: Edgewater Camp Shoe (C) is foam-insulated for warmth and has air-mesh lining for breathability. About $50. Muck Boot Company www.landscapeusa.com or (800) 248-1981.

Another great choice:

* All Weather Shoe, from Sloggers. Neoprene liner. $40. www.sloggers.com or (877) 750-4437.

Seasonal scents in a basket

Few greens bring the fragrances of the season indoors like fir, pine, or redwood. Such prunings are festive enough when displayed alone, but arranged around potted narcissus plants, they're elegant.

This basket, lined with black plastic, contains three pots of narcissus (each 3 inches in diameter). If you don't have conifers to fill in around them, buy prunings at a nursery or use other long-lasting evergreens such as holly or juniper.

Kathleen N. Brenzel

WHAT TO DO IN YOUR GARDEN IN DECEMBER

SHOPPING

* LIVING CHRISTMAS TREES. Good choices include alpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa), Colorado blue spruce (Picea pungens glauca), Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii), and white fir (A. concolor). Keep the tree in its nursery container and try to limit its indoor stay to 10 days. Water regularly. If you don't have space to plant your tree in the garden after the holidays, consider the subtropical Norfolk Island pine (Araucaria heterophylla), which can be grown as a houseplant.

MAINTENANCE

* CARE FOR POINSETTIAS. Poinsettias with brightly colored bracts and dark green foliage, like the one pictured on page 65, will keep their lovely hues over a long season if you treat them right. Set the poinsettia in a brightly lit, cool room with indirect sunlight, away from cold drafts and heater vents, for six hours a day. Water when the soil's surface feels dry; never let soil get soggy or let water pool up in the saucer.

* COAX CHRISTMAS CACTUS TO REBLOOM. So-called Christmas cactus (Schlumbergera x buckleyi, also sold as S. bridgesii) are actually able to flower several times a year. Place blooming plants near a sunny window, water just enough to keep the soil evenly moist, and fertilize every 7 to 10 days. When bloom ceases, rest the plants for six to eight weeks in a cool, darker room and water very little. Then move the plants back to a sunny window, water more frequently, and within a few weeks they will bloom again.

* HARVEST GREENS. Prune conifers now so you can use the cut boughs for holiday garlands and wreaths. Don't leave stubs; cut just above side branches that you want to grow. Prune evenly for shape.

* INSULATE ROSES. After temperatures drop below freezing for a few weeks, mound soil over the plant's base; if it's a grafted rose, be sure the soil covers the bud union (the enlarged knob from which canes emerge). Once the soil surface freezes, set a cylinder of chicken wire or a tomato cage around each plant and fill with a mulch of leaves, pine boughs, or straw. Postpone pruning until spring.