Not all plants are created equal in the eyes of children. Although they don't differentiate when it comes to flowers and vegetables or annuals and perennials, kids have their hands-down favorites. They prefer huge flowers like marigolds, petunias, and sunflowers and small vegetables like cherry tomatoes, dwarf carrots, and radishes.

They love unique color shades, too, so make sure to include flowers with multi-colorings such as pansy, snapdragon and striped impatiens, and vegetables such as purple carrots, and 'Easter Egg' radishes, along with striped beets and tomatoes.

Textured plants are irresistible. If your conditions are right for them, include the fuzzy woolly thyme and lamb's ears, the prickly coneflower and strawflowers (for sunny locations) and donkey tail fern, maidenhair fern and columbine (for shadier spots).

Fragrant plants transport the imagination. If you grow them now, your child will always remember the scents of gardenia, heliotrope, roses, peonies, and lilacs. If you show them which plants to rub between their fingers, they'll never forget lavender, chocolate and pineapple mint, lemon balm, rosemary, basil, and scented geraniums.

Butterflies fascinate children, and there are many colorful plants that that will attract them. Consider including butterfly bush, lantana, monarda, salvia, sweet peas, and veronica--but don't overlook carrots, dill, fennel, and parsley to round out their diet.

Positively pickable plants also get the thumbs-up from kids. While mom's landscape may be off-limits for bouquet gathering, children should have free rein over certain cutting gardens. Cosmos, snapdragon, salvia, zinnia, coleus, and celosia are just a few that will produce more blooms if frequently picked.

Don't overlook spring- and summer-flowering bulbs that hold the promise and surprise of things to come. Use the same rules as above when selecting colors and varieties.

Gardening can truly be a fun experience for children. So start planning their garden today. You'll be getting started on creating memories that will last a lifetime.

By Tamara Galbraith

So, your once-fresh Christmas tree is moving from Christmas to crispness. No matter. When you're ready to take down the decorations, explore all your options of how to reuse or recycle.

Many communities across the country offer a recycling program, whereby trees are collected and ground up into mulch for municipal use. Areas with lots of man-made lakes sometimes collect and sink old trees into waterways to slow erosion. Check with your local city government or county Extension Office to see if such a tree collection program is in place.

Also, if you have the space and don't mind "the natural look" in your landscape, lay your old tree in a remote corner of your yard; it will make a great hiding and nesting place for birds, rabbits and other small creatures. If you have a compost pile, you can cut the branches into small pieces, and add them to the compost pile. It will take time, but they will break down to beautiful soil.

Whatever you choose, be sure all the non-natural decorations, like tinsel and ornament hooks, have been removed. While sparkly mulch might have an interesting look, it's not very good for the environment.

By this time of year, many people are running out of gift ideas. Well, if you have a gardener (or a potential gardener) among your friends and family, we have a few ideas for you!

You can always buy a plant for your gardener. But that's too easy--let's be a little more creative.

If you know a fellow gardener who would like food plants but just can't resist those beautiful flowers and decorative plants, plan a decorative food garden for him/her! Many vegetables and herbs have lovely flowers or foliage. Ornamental kale, for instance, is often grown simply as an ornamental but it is both pretty and nutritious. Many herbs have not only pretty flowers but also edible flowers! Plan and design the garden, slip a gift card to your favorite nursery into the plans, and you've got the perfect garden gift.

Some herbs grow well inside, too; you might also consider designing and planting a decorative herb planter for the kitchen. Pretty, and nicely fragrant as well!

A gardening book can rarely go wrong. You might want to buy them something about an aspect of gardening that they haven't tried yet. Do they have limited space? Perhaps a book on bonsai and a starter plant or two would be just the thing.

If you still are looking for ideas, we invite you to come in and look around--we're sure you'll find some here!

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Mistletoe, in older times, was believed to have protective properties and was hung to ward off evil spirits. Celts believed that mistletoe, a parasitic plant that grows on trees, had special powers that could heal diseases, make poisons harmless, protect against evil spells and bring fertility to childless women. For many years, Christian places of worship did not allow it inside because of its pagan associations. But nowadays it is mostly used as an excuse to steal a kiss.

The origin of our tradition of kissing under the mistletoe is lost in the mists of antiquity. Some say it probably stemmed from the Druids, who considered it sacred and would declare a truce in an area where it grew.

Others say the custom comes from the old festival of Saturnalia, and still others claim it comes from old Norse mythology and the tale of Baldur's death from a twig of mistletoe. Legend has it that the tears of his mother, Frigga, changed the berries of the mistletoe from red to white.

Whatever the origin of the tradition, most consider it a good deal of light-hearted fun to steal a kiss under the mistletoe. Just be careful whom you kiss--a jealous spouse may be lurking.

Despite its use as a holiday decoration and its association with love, peace, and stolen kisses, mistletoe is actually a parasite. It lives on trees and shrubs, tapping into the plant's nutrients by sending its roots under the bark. Mistletoe can weaken, or even kill, a plant. It is also poisonous (all parts), so keep it out of the reach of children and pets!

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• The first commercial Christmas cards were commissioned in London, in 1843, by Sir Henry Cole, with illustration by John Callcott Horsley. President Dwight D. Eisenhower issued the first official White House card in 1953.

• "Rudolph" was actually created by Robert May for Montgomery Ward in the late 1930's as a holiday promotion. The song was written later by Johnny Marks, and recorded by Gene Autry in 1949; it promptly sold about 2 million copies.

• Christmas became an official national holiday in the USA on June 28, 1870.

• Poinsettias are the most popular Christmas plant and are the number one "flowering" potted plant in the United States.

• Franklin Pierce put the first Christmas tree in the White House (in 1856), for a group of Washington Sunday School children. Benjamin Harrison is credited with starting the tradition of the White House tree, being the first to have a decorated family Christmas tree in the White House in 1889, and Calvin Coolidge put the first National Christmas Tree on the White House lawn (not in the White House) in 1923.

• The first reported electrically lit Christmas tree was in December, 1882. The world's first practical light bulb was invented by Thomas Edison in 1879, and a mere three years later, in 1882, an officer of Edison's electric company, one Edward Johnson, electrically lit a Christmas tree for the first time. In 1917, after a tragic fire in New York City that was caused by Christmas candles, Albert Sadacca (fifteen years old at the time) invented safety lights for Christmas trees. Decorating a live Christmas tree outdoors became popular, and eventually moved to indoor trees. The outdoor lights also moved onto houses, and decorating houses in lights became (and has remained) popular.

• Christmas trees are grown in all 50 states, including Hawaii and Alaska.

• In 1979, the National Christmas Tree was not lighted except for the top ornament. This was done because of the American hostages in Iran.

• According to the Guinness World Records, the world's tallest cut Christmas tree was a 221' Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) erected and decorated at Northgate Shopping Center, Seattle, Washington, USA, in December 1950.

• By the way, NORAD tracks Santa around the world every Christmas. If you'd like to find out how they do it, and how you can follow along, check out NORAD's website here.

• Fertilize your plant every two weeks after the blooming season with a balanced, all-purpose fertilizer. Continue through August.
• By March or early April, when the colored bracts begin to turn or fall, cut the plant back, leaving 4 to 6 buds.
• Re-pot into a slightly larger container (2-3 inches larger in diameter).
• Keep the plant indoors near (not directly in) a sunny window or outdoors in a morning sun-afternoon shade location. Water and fertilize regularly, and by the end of May you should see vigorous new growth.
• Make sure to turn the plant so that the new growth grows evenly on all sides.
• If you have been growing them outdoors in the summer, when fall comes bring your poinsettia indoors to a sunny location before night temperatures fall below 55-60°F at night. Check for pests and diseases and place the poinsettia in a south window.
• Poinsettias begin to set buds and produce flowers as the nights become longer.
• Beginning October 1, keep your plants in complete darkness for 14 continuous hours each night by moving it into a dark room or placing a large box over it.
• During the day, allow 6-8 hours of bright sunlight. Flowers should mature in 60-85 days.
• Continue this for 8-10 weeks, and your poinsettias should develop a colorful display of holiday blooms!

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