• Set pots of humidity-loving houseplants on trays filled with pebbles and a shallow layer of water. Pots should sit on the pebbles, not in the water.
• Wash dust from houseplant leaves on a regular basis. This reduces pest problems and allows plants to gather light more efficiently.
• Hang suet cake feeders in trees to attract insect-feeding birds to your garden.
• Review seed and nursery catalogs for plants with improved insect-, disease- and drought-resistance.
• Sow pansy and geranium seeds indoors now to provide plants for the spring garden. Both species are slow growersand require many weeks to attain transplant size.
Drought alert
Use whatever means necessary to deliver water to plants. The most valuable plants in your garden are the ones that you can’t live without, and those that you consider to be the hardest to replace. Here are some other general guidelines:
Highest priority: All newly installed evergreens planted in the past 12 months. The term “evergreens” includes conifers, as well as broadleaf plants that typically retain green leaves all winter.
Second priority: All established evergreens that would be costly to replace.
Third priority: All other newly installed plants that were planted in the last 12 months.
Fourth priority: Large, established trees.
