• Check your outdoor plants. If mother nature is not watering them for you, you may need to provide extra moisture.
• Tender plants need more winter attention than hardy plants.
• Keep watering your housplants and holiday plants. Give them plenty of light and fertilize them regularly. Rotate your houseplants 1/4 turn every 2 weeks.
• Watch for insects. During warm winter days some insects may leave their winter hideaways.
• Check your houseplants, and any other plants you brought indoors for the winter, for insects that may have hitched a ride. With the heat on, insects can multiply quickly.
• Poinsettias are the traditional Christmas Flower. With proper care, poinsettias can last the entire winter season and be added to your annual flower garden in the spring.
• Check any bulbs, corms, or tubers that you put into winter storage.
• Start eating those stored vegetables and think about planting more winter squash next year.
• Feed the birds and provide unfrozen water.
• Winter is an important period in the gardening season, even more so than you’d think. While winter is in full swing, compost is continuing to decompose and get ready for use for the spring.
• Check your pond.
• Plant the tulip and daffodil bulbs that you bought in the fall but forgot to plant.
• Store your tools, lawn mowers and chemicals safely for winter.
• Prepare your outdoor potted plants for winter.
• Visit J&L's Christmas Shop during the winter and Pick out the perfect, 'Fresh Cut' or 'Potted' Christmas Tree. J&L also has an excellent selection of artificial Christmas trees to choose from.
  

Ideally, Fresh-cut Christmas trees should only be kept inside the house for two or three weeks. Many people want to have their cut tree decorated from Thanksgiving Day until New Years Day. Unfortunately fresh-cut Christmas trees just can't always last that long inside a warm house. However, with the proper care, you can extend the life of your tree, enjoy your tree the entire Christmas season, and decrease the fire hazard of your fresh-cut Christmas tree. Our 'Fresh-Cut' trees, garlands, and wreaths arrive the last week of November every year. We have them ready for sale the day after Thanksgiving.

Amaryllis

Nothing helps take the dreariness out of the winter days than fresh, blooming flowers. No flower is more spectacular than the Amaryllis. Amaryllis normally bloom in the spring, but when the bulbs are stored in cool temperatures of 55 degrees Fahrenheit for several weeks, the genetic timetable of the amaryllis bulb is set ahead and it can be in full bloom during the winter. Some varieties of Amaryllis will bloom earlier than others. Amaryllis bulbs are sometimes unpredictable. The bulbs may start growing and blooming immediately after planting but some bulbs may wait several weeks to start growing. Once the bulb starts growing it usually takes six to eight weeks for the blossoms to appear. After your blossoms have faded don't be too surprised if another blossom stem appears later in the spring or summer.

Amaryllis bulbs vary in size. As a rule, larger bulbs produce more stems and flowers than smaller bulbs. Small (26cm - 28cm size) bulbs produce one or two flower stems with three to five flowers on each stem. Medium (34cm size) bulbs produce two to four flower stems with four to five flowers on each stem. Large (40cm size) bulbs produce three to five flower stems with four to five flowers on each stem.

J&L stocks over 15 different varieties of Amaryllis. We have three sizes of bulbs; 28cm, 34cm and 40cm bulbs. The larger the bulb, the more flowers you will enjoy. The 28cm size bulbs produce 1 to 2 flower stems. The 34cm size bulbs produce 2 to 3 flower stems. The 40cem size bulbs usually produce 3 to 4 flower stems. One lady actually had 5 flower stems from her 40cm size bulb. Many gardeners are amazed when they see how big the 40cm size Amaryllis bulbs are.

Poinsettias | Wild Bird Feeding |

Watch for J&L's Winter Gardening Newsletter.