CORNELIUS NURSERIES, INC.
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November 23, 2007
Holiday Edition 2007
Keeping Christmas Trees Fresh and Safe
Make sure to keep your Winter annuals like Pansies, Cyclamen, Lobelia, Alyssum & Snapdragons well fed to keep them blooming!
Small checklist for freezing weather:
- Wrap plants in fabric instead of plastic.
- Inserting a small light bulb or strand of Christmas lights within wrapping helps keep temperature warmer.
- Water all plants WELL before temperature drops below freezing.
- Drain and move your garden hoses to a protected area so that you can water more quickly after the freeze passes.
Gardeners that experience problems with Spring- and Summer-blooming shrubs may be pruning at the wrong time of year.
The following shrubs should not be pruned in the Fall or Winter:
- Azaleas
- Oleanders
- Spiraeas
- Saucer Magnolias
- Wisterias
- And most all fruiting and Spring-flowering trees
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Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays!
We are offering this new look in our occasional Garden Notes newsletter for this Holiday season. We hope that you like it and that you will consider writing with your gardening questions and concerns.
Please enjoy this information and continue writing with your gardening questions and concerns. Check out the sidebar at the left for guidelines on how to make sure that The PlantMaster receives your questions.
The PlantMaster
Keeping Christmas Trees Fresh and Safe
What many people don't realize is that when Christmas trees are cut from their farms, their life cycle is over. Anyone who decorates with fresh flowers knows that once a plant is removed from its life-supporting root system, it has a very short display period. There are some steps, however, that you can take to give your Christmas tree the best possible display time in your home.
- Immediately fill the stand with warm water and preservative.
- If you do not intend to put it up right away, keep your tree in the shade with plenty of water in the stand.
- Central heating dries fresh-cut trees out quickly. Keep heating systems at their lowest possible settings and turn them on only if temperatures are extremely low. OR, keep the tree in a room where you can keep the vents closed.
We at Cornelius Nurseries want one of your most important purchases of the year to be enjoyable and long lasting.
There are many choices for garden plants in Houston Winter weather. Develop interest by combining colorful flowering plants with plants that have colorful and interesting leaves. Here are some suggestions:
- Using spiky, dramatic foliage plants like Acanthus or Cardoon (pictured above) as focal points, creates added interest with Snapdragons, Geraniums or Petunias - all ideal for sunny Winter gardens.
- For partially shady winter gardens, our best blooming plant is Cyclamen. And they are able to withstand short-duration freezes without damage. Consider combining these with foliage type plants like Dusty Miller, Aspidistra or English Ivy.
Other winter-blooming plants include Pansies, Lobelia, Alyssum, Dianthus and Carnations. And don't forget other winter foliage plants. Herbs like Parsley, Salad Burnet and Rosemary add flavor to your cooking as well as interest to your garden.
Now is a good time to begin planting bulbs for Spring flowers. Those bulbs that have been in refrigeration can be planted beginning now through the New Year's holiday. Tulips, Hyacinths, Crocus are particularly ones that need the chilling.
Other non-refrigerated bulbs like Daffodils, Narcissus & Paperwhites, Amaryllis, Freesia and Anemone can be planted later with two weeks or so between planting dates. This staggered planting method will give you prolonged blooming into the early Spring.
Heirloom bulbs in The Southern Bulb collections can also be planted now. These include Spider Lilies (Lycoris), Oxblood Lilies (Rhodophiala), Snowflake (Leucojum), Byzantine Gladiolus, Rain Lilies (Zephyranthes) and 'Campernelle', 'Grand Primo', 'Texas Star' & Jonquil Narcissus.
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A special note for people who visit our site and who write with questions - each week that we advertise, we post our ad a day or so early onto our website. If you are interested in getting a preview of what's on sale in the upcoming weekend, visit our Weekly Specials page.
Previous Garden Notes Newsletters
For those who are interested in our archive of previous HTML versions of our newsletter, we have posted links to them from our website. Just click on the link below:
Cornelius Nurseries
2233 S. Voss Rd.
713-782-8640
1755 FM 1960 W
281-444-1210
1200 N. Dairy Ashford
281-493-0550
E-mail:
We're on the Web!
This Holiday Season is especially beautiful. Decorators find the use of more natural, realistic colors to be a fresh departure from the "designer" colors of the '90s.
Real or not?
The manufacturing of silk and artificial flowers and foliages has taken a quantum leap forward. At this time of year, none are more noticeable than the new generation of artificial trees available. And with the option of having a pre-lit tree and this year the Instant Shape tree, all you have to do is decorate and enjoy.
Thank You ...
... for taking the time to read our newsletter. We encourage you to write us with gardening questions whenever you have the need. We often answer your inquiries in a few minutes.
January will bring trips to organize our spring selections, so if you have anything that has been eluding your grasp, let us know and we will keep our eyes open for it.
Happy Holidays!
The PlantMaster