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At my house, some of the Christmas excitement from yester years is returning. There is nothing like small children to rivet one's attention to all aspects of the season.

Grandson Liam helped his mother give their house a new look before helping his graw (grandmother) with hers. They did a nice job with greens, lights, poinsettias and other decorative things inspired by the season. Liam's only problem was that there was no tree.

We assured him that would come. We never get in too big a hurry with the tree. Maybe it is because my wife doesn't like to clean up fallen needles or maybe its because that is one subject on which over the years I have developed a tradition of procrastinating.

By the time you read this we will make our annual trip to one of the many cut-your-own operations in the vicinity. We'll walk and walk and finally return to the first tree we saw that we liked.

Usually we end up with a rather tall Douglas fir, which my wife insists is necessary with our high ceilings. Since our son moved out we now settle for a one-man tree rather than a two-man tree.

Douglas fir are the easiest to find in the local plots, and with a tight growth habit and good needle retention, is a great choice. Over the years we have used an assortment of spruce, pine and Concolor firs.

The Concolors are the cadilacs. Pines are great but are much more difficult to train into the perfect shape in the growing fields. Spruce are also fine but will not hold their needles as long as the others.

Getting last year's tree was interesting. After it was cut, the seller took it and mechanically shook it. Next, it was attacked with a rather strong leaf blower. An amazing number of old needles did not come home with us.

We refer to conifers as evergreens, but that is not completely true. Depending on the species, conifer needles have a lifespan of just several years. I think four years is tops.

Needle shedding is natural, we just accelerate the pace when the tree helps us celebrate Christmas.

When we are ready to put the tree up, even if it has only been an hour or so, we will cut a sliver off the bottom. This reopens the channels that bring water to the tree and make it last longer. The base will callus within minutes after cutting, blocking water uptake and loss.

If your choice is to buy a tree with the roots so that you can later use it in you landscape, there are several things to remember. The less time it spends in your warm house in December the better.

After Christmas, if the ground is fit, plant it. If not, store it in a sheltered spot or in an unheated building. In all cases, protect it from the wind for the first winter.

Liam is excited. The girls are an old two and a pair that just learned to walk. We have lots of reasons to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas and the many traditions that mark our celebrations.

And it begins again. The pamphlet in your Sunday bulletin, the florists and garden centers, even the supermarkets boost them. Now that Thanksgiving is past, poinsettia season, better known as Christmas, is upon us. While I love Christmas, I have a love-hate relationship with poinsettias.

The plants we know today have come a long way from their wild, shrubby ancestors in Mexico and Central America. The colorful parts are not the flowers, but rather modified leaves called bracts. They are induced to flower under the shortening days of the fall and early winter, and color up just in time for Christmas.

Poinsettias continue to be the most popular holiday potted plant. According to the National Agricultural Statistics Service, in 2007 wholesale poinsettia sales were over 8 million dollars in Pennsylvania alone, and 153 million dollars nationally.

Such an important crop receives a lot of attention from the academic community. Greenhouse trials around the country study the effects of everything from different growing conditions, to the effects of shipping and indoor storage. For example, how long they'll sit in your 70 degree house on your coffee table with no water.

At the University of Florida where I spent four happy, very warm years, they trial over 200 varieties of poinsettias in the traditional red, pink and white colors as well as more novel purple and variegated forms. As a graduate student, one of my tasks was to put them in boxes on a big truck and drive them around to see which varieties were the most likely to break and drop their leaves.

We also did fun things like put them in a dark room to see how long they would stay alive. After three months of careful watering, pinching and special lighting, it was fun to torture them a bit. Have I mentioned I have a love/hate relationship with poinsettias?

Consumer surveys are very important for the breeding companies. Good storage, compact growth habits and long "bloom" time are important, but so are consumer preferences for shades of color and bract shape. The University of Florida holds open houses for the public where they collect opinion data of that nature. Red continues to be the most popular color, with roughly 75% of poinsettias grown. But opinion data shapes what shades of reds are sold.

Poinsettias are not poisonous. I repeat, NOT POISONOUS. This myth has been around since the early 1900s, and has prevented many pet owners and parents of small children from enjoying these beautiful flowers. However in a conclusive study done at the Ohio State University, no parts of the plant were found to be toxic to either pets or humans. Enjoy them with a clean conscious.

My neighbor boy is selling poinsettias for his daycare. I guess I'll buy some.

After evergreens and bark I think berries add significant fall and winter beauty to the landscape. To my thinking, berry-yielding plants fall into two broad groups. A lot of berries are immediate or migratory food for birds. Others often hang on nearly to spring and serve as late season food or fuel the return migration.

Focusing on the winter ornamental value of berries and treating the use by birds as secondary, we can limit the number of plants discussed.

It is difficult at this time of year to ignore the bright red winterberries in many yards. In fact, on my two favorite routes north there are small fields of these bright red berry-yielding bushes. I suspect the fields support cuttings, which will highlight Christmas wreaths and other decorations.

In the woods behind my house wild winterberries are rather common. Some of these fruit very heavily while some are quite sparse. I even found one that has a sparse crop of berries on the yellow side of orange.

For landscape purposes the process of breeding and selection have produced named varieties or cultivars that produce more or larger berries. Despite the claims of improvement, I think one of the first releases, 'Winter Red', is hard to beat. There are other good varieties, including a heavy bearing one with yellow-orange berries.

Not wishing to be negative, another old favorite 'Sparkleberry' seems to drop its berries prematurely in my plantings.

Winterberries are hollies that lose their leaves, so like their evergreen counterparts they need both male and female plants to produce berries. A single male will take care of a yard full of berry-producing females.

In fact, one in the neighbor's yard would probably be enough. There is some thought that you must match the bloom time of the males and females. Thus 'Winter Red' needs 'Southern Gentleman' to pollinate, etc. Sometimes I wonder if it matters.

In theory, the winterberry is too large for the birds to eat immediately so they survive until they start to ferment thus offering food to birds late in the winter.

Chokecherries are another native that fits the landscape well. Fall foliage is normally red with either red or black berries. As the name suggests, the berries aren't real tasty until they have fermented and withered to again become late winter food.

On a recent excursion to southern Maryland, I spotted a hedgerow dominated by a small-fruited crabapple, Malus bacatta. They were full of November birds but since they shined red I suspect that they will last well into the winter. Guess what plant is high on my yard wish list.

Before jumping into crabapples, there are several considerations. Apples are susceptible to a black scab that scars the fruit and causes early drop of the leaves. Look for varieties that are less susceptible.

Apples that yield heavily often bear fruit every other year. That means a heavy crop one year and a sparse or no crop the next. That sounds like a good excuse to go back to southern Maryland next year. Finally if you are thinking about attracting birds, the final size of the fruit on your crabapple is important.

That scratches the surface on ornamental berries for winter interest. As soon as I figure out the berry value of selected viburnums I might favor them just like I do the above.

Upper left River birch, lower left buttonwood, upper right oakleaf hydrangea, lower right shag bark maple.

There aren't many leaves left in the landscape, so now is a good time to evaluate your garden for winter interest. Bark, berries, conifers start my list and with a few other considerations offer grist for this week and next.

Every time my car and I leave the house we drive past nine river birches. These aren't one of the fancy cultivars. In fact, I retrieved them from the disposal pile at a nearby nursery.

River birch like it damp, so of course I planted them at the top of a dry hill. After ten years and at least 20 feet of growth, they are thriving and the white, tan, black peeling bark catches my attention every time I get near them.

Years earlier I had planted four or five of a named cultivar of river birch in what I thought was a perfect spot. It was damp because it was beside a runoff catch basin. What I failed to recognize was that the runoff slowly raised the ph and the trees eventually met their demise.

To finish with white birch, I suggest stick with the river birch and avoid lime or situations that provide high ph. There are many other white birches in the marketplace, but, in general, our warm temperatures encourage them to be insect prone and short-lived.

There are a number of other shrubs that create winter interest with their bark.

Oakleaf hydrangeas are another favorite. Not only do they bloom and have good long lasting fall color, they have interesting peeling bark when the rest of the show is finished.

There are a number of different cultivars of oakleaf hydrangeas which offer a gambit of sizes to fit most any garden space. Recently, one with bright yellow leaves has been introduced. In all honesty, I have a difficult time warming to plants with yellow leaves, but this one may cause an attitude readjustment.

My only bit of caution with hydrangeas and the next plant I will talk about is that I have seen problems from late winter (March) winds. For the hydrangea, it is loss of buds and thus, bloom.

After you have enjoyed the long summer bloom season of crape myrtles you again, get great bark. I will grant you that a trip to North Carolina's crape myrtles will outshine the ones in my yard.

We are on the northern edge of their tolerance, but they have rapid growth and bloom on new wood. All you need is the patience to wait for them to sprout in the spring and a willingness to remove a little dieback in the late spring, and this a plant that improves your landscape in every season of the year except the early spring when everything else is blooming.

If you think that last sentence is too long you will find it's ok if you don't try to read it out loud.

I have other bark specialties and regulars in my yard. I can't claim anything fancy about two clumps of common buttonwood that were on the hillside meadow/jungle when I built my house. At best, I claim that they are attractive, and at worst, they act like small children and need to be picked up after on a regular basis.

Other ornamentals I like for bark include ninebarks, itea, burning bush and a paper bark maple that was rescued at the Jennersville sale a decade ago.

If you look at your landscape and can't find some plants with interesting bark, that is one improvement I would definitely recommend.

Upper left River birch, lower left buttonwood, upper right oakleaf hydrangea, lower right shag bark maple.

I hope that you have your pruning shears, saws and whatever else you use well lubricated and ready to go. I also hope that they are stashed on some high shelf well out of sight and mind.

Now is not the time to prune and may even be a death sentence for a few tender shrubs. Butterfly bushes and crape myrtles quickly come to mind. Please spot that both of those shrubs do not bloom in early spring.

A simple pruning suggestion divides shrubs into spring bloomers and summer or fall bloomers. Spring bloomers are generally hardier and will withstand the wrath of our typical winter easily. Some of the most beautiful non-white hydrangeas may be an exception.

The problem with pruning the spring bloomers now is that you are removing next spring's flowers. As you have observed, in the spring it is always easy to find well-manicured specimens, which, thanks to our work, aren't blooming. Prune spring bloomers, if you wish, immediately after flowering.

It is also my opinion that summer and fall blooming shrubs are not as winter resilient. For these, I suggest you wait until spring growth starts, and then prune. It is always best to prune a plant while it is actively growing or just as it begins to actively grow. The growth process quickly heals the pruning wound limiting the time for insects and disease to attack.

Butterfly bushes, despite their vigorous warm season growth, often find fall or winter pruning lethal. I'm not sure why, however. That brings one to the hardiness questions and the hardiness zones one should consider when selecting plants.

We are border-line between zone 6 and zone 7. I can grow some zone 7 plants if I find the right spot out of the wind. Zone 7 suggests that we bottom out in the winter at about 10 degrees while zone 6 is 10 degrees colder.

Another question that sends shivers down my back is creating sustainable planters for the winter or using perennials in long-term containers. To survive outside in a pot you need to select a plant that is zone 4, which means it would survive in the ground to minus 20 degrees.

Several other thoughts about our yards and gardens as the colder weather approaches are:

Clip your yard grass at a shorter setting the last time you mow.

Do not let the leaves pile up too high on your grass or flower beds. Too deep a cover will smother the plants you want there. Maple leaves are easily the most problematic as they will mat more than most leaves.

In the vegetable garden remove the residues of spent plants. This will reduce insect and disease problems next year. Also chart where you had planted your various crops so that you practice a bit of crop rotation. In other words, don't put the tomatoes in the same spot next year.

I would suggest the same for annual flowers but would limit cleanup in the perennial garden. You must look at it, so do what you must, but the birds, the plants and a few other little critters will benefit if you wait for spring.

If you made some late season plantings that may not have had time to root in, it is a good idea to wait until the soil starts to stiffen and then apply some mulch. This will reduce freezing and thawing which can sometimes heave new plants partly out of the ground.

I started with pruning and will end there. If you have a few fruit trees, I suggest the following timetable. Apples and pears in late February or early March. Grapes, blueberries and sour cherries in March. Wait for all the rest until near bloom time for best results.