This week, thanks to the Monday and Tuesday night chill, I got to thinking about what I could make this week’s email tip about related to the cold. As is typical in cases like this, I couldn’t think of a singular idea, because there are too many things to talk about. So, where I could link you to a story we’ve done in the past on the following topics, we’ve done so. If the topic has not been covered in 7-plus years of GardenLine Email Tips, then we tried to at least give you some links to the topic at hand.

Without further ado, here are the topics I thought of for this week’s email tip.

Poinsettia Celebration at Ellison’s Greenhouses -- This one has been written about in the past, but instead of linking you to the old story and running the risk of you getting the dates and times wrong, I’ll just give you the link on the web to the Poinsettia Celebration itself. If you’ve never been, it’s worth the trip to Brenham this weekend, mainly to see some of the most unique and some of the biggest poinsettias you’ll ever see. And it’s one of the best ways I know of to kick-off the Holiday season. Picking the Best Poinsettias -- Don’t wait too long to start picking out some poinsettias, and if you've never had good luck in caring for them in the past, then it may very well have to do with the quality of the plant you purchase in the first place.

Is it Too Late to Follow The Schedule? – Not really! But it probably isn’t necessary to do the brownpatch treatments as noted in the schedule or on the Nitro Phos Texas Three Step sheet. Since it looks like we aren’t going to have that dreaded 60s night time low/80s day time highs split that makes brownpatch worse, then you can probably forgo the brownpatch treatments. But as for “is it too cold” to do anything else, here is what I’ve written in the past on the subject.

Getting Ready for Freezing Weather -- While we were really only the 40s for the most part with our nighttime lows earlier in the week, it’s never too early in my book to be thinking about protecting plants well before the inevitable freeze. With that in mind, here’s what I wrote a few years ago on the subject. Here’s my best “inside secret.” Don’t wait until the first freeze to go buy some frost cloth or row cover. Get it soon before there’s a huge run on such products.

Perfect Time for Cool Season Herbicides -- We’ve definitely written about this in the past couple of years, and at this time in the calendar. But before we get to the Cool Season Herbicide Tip Sheet -- Let me explain a bit of what we mean by this. First, if you haven’t seen some already, there may soon be an influx of some broadleaf weeds popping up thanks to all the winds we’ve endured for the past couple of months. The temperatures have not been perfect enough to use these products, but they are now. The temperatures best to use these herbicides in. Lows no lower than 40, and highs no higher than 78.