Gardeners Checklist: Here is What to Do on the Week of Dec. 11

By Ron Kujawski

• Place a sheet of glossy white plastic or aluminum foil on the windowsill or table where potted herbs and sun-loving houseplants are growing. This will reflect light back onto the plants. At times I’ve placed aluminum foil on the surface of pots to reflect light. This has the additional benefit of discouraging aphid infestations since aphids typically occur on the undersides of plant leaves where it is shady. The reflected light annoys the heck out of these pesky insects and disrupts their illicit activities. Frankly, I enjoy annoying aphids.

• Examine gift plants for evidence of white flies, perhaps the most common insect pest of gift plants. You can look on the undersides of plant leaves for the small (1/16th inch long) white flies but an even easier way to check for whitefly infestation is to shake the plant. If whiteflies are present, you’ll quickly be surrounded by a cloud of the critters. If the infestation is severe, deposit the plant in a garbage can. Otherwise, make repeated applications of insecticidal soap or neem oil to the underside of plant leaves at three-week intervals.

• Check the water level in your Christmas tree stand daily. A fresh-cut Christmas tree will take up a quart or more of water every day. Don’t ever let the water reservoir go dry, unless you enjoy the sound of gently falling needles.

• Remove or puncture a hole in the bottom of the decorative foil covering pots of poinsettia. Otherwise, water cannot drain away, and poinsettias don’t like continually wet soil. 

• Give a snake plant (Sansevieria), cast-iron plant (Aspidistra), pothos (Epipremnum), or corn plant (Dracaena fragans) as a confidence builder to a friend with a brown thumb. These houseplants are practically indestructible and will tolerate the most inept of our gardener friends.

White and brown seem to be the dominant colors in gardens and landscapes at this time of year; white in the form of snow and most everything else in some shade of brown. Of course, we do expect to see some green, mostly the foliage of conifers and broadleaf evergreens such as holly, boxwood, and rhododendrons. However, it is a pleasant surprise, as I stroll around the yard, to find some herbaceous perennials showing off their green foliage. Two of which I am especially fond of are hellebore and Christmas fern. The hellebores are ones that we planted, but the Christmas fern is a native which settled in our yard of its own accord. These two plants stood above the recent snow cover as if in defiance of the pending winter. The Christmas fern derives its name either from the use of its green fronds in Christmas decorations or because it stands out in woodlands at Christmas time. I prefer the latter explanation since I so enjoy viewing their bright green fronds at this time of year in contrast to the white and brown of the winter landscape.   

Ron Kujawski began gardening at an early age on his family's onion farm in upstate New York. Although now retired, he spent most of his career teaching at the UMass Extension Service. He serves on Berkshire Botanical Garden’s Horticulture Advisory Committee. His book, Week-by-Week Vegetable Gardener’s Handbook, is available here.