This month's tasks When hard frost threatens on clear nights, tender plants can get the protection they need from an old bed sheet, plastic tarp or even newspaper. The object is to keep the frost from descending from directly overhead. If temperatures plunge, the heat from a single light bulb under the covering can prevent major damage. This is a good time to shop for flowering evergreens such as azaleas, camellias and rhododendrons. It's time to spray deciduous plants with a dormant oil to smother any overwintering pests.
Lawns suffer under layers of fallen leaves.
Rake them, and apply a pre-emergent herbicide to kill weed seeds before they sprout. Study those mail-order garden catalogs you've been stacking on the nightstand, and do your ordering now. Cash in on the savings offered by bare-root roses and other shrubs, vines and fruit and nut trees. Plant them now. Quite different are garden primulas, originally from China, which are considered the sophisticates of the flower world.